Copper (Cu) reacts with Sulfur (S) to form copper sulfide as shown in the equation. A scientist adds 12.7 grams of Cu to 3.2 grams of S to start the reaction. In this reaction, all of the copper and all of the sulfur react. Before running the experiment, the scientist expected the products of the reaction will be a total of 15.9 grams of copper sulfide. In 1-2 sentences, explain the law that the scientist used to predict that the product of the reaction would be 15.9 grams of copper sulfide.

The scientist used the law of conservation of mass to predict that the product of the reaction would be 15.9 grams of copper sulfide. According to this law, mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction, so the total mass of the reactants should be equal to the total mass of the products.