Question

why was the mass lost when the reaction was done in the normal setup but stayed the same when it was done in the gas collection setup

Answer 1

Answer : Law of conservation of mass

Explanation :

The law of conservation of mass states that in any reaction mass is neither created nor lost it has to remain constant in a system.

In this case, when the reaction setup was done in normal way the mass was  lost in surrounding was not considered nor being calculated; whereas when the reaction was studied in a closed system where the gas was collected after the reaction the mass changes was noted down which helped to prove the point of law of conservation of mass and energy.

One can consider an example of soda can where the carbonated drink contains pressurized carbon dioxide gas. when opened the gas bubbles gets lost into the surroundings and we don't measure the mass changes. Instead if the soda can was opened in such a way where the gas evolved was measured then the mass changed would remain the same.