Question

A camper burned a piece of paper to start a campfire. is burning paper a physical or chemical change? why? 

Answer 1

A camper burning a piece of paper to start a campfire is a chemical change - the way you can think of this is to consider the fact that the paper cannot be put back together and has become ash, so this is therefore a chemical change. The carbon in the paper is oxidized into other chemical including carbon dioxide. Mass was conserved during this reaction because the mass is still the same, just in a different form.