It has been proven that scientists are able to "create" (using quotations because I do not understand if it is creating or not) matter from light in a particle collidor. How is this possible if matter cannot be created or destroyed?
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3In everyday life matter cannot be created or destroyed. But it is not true in general. Matter and antimatter react to form gamma rays, which is very energetic light. And as you say, the reverse can be done. – mmesser314 Jan 31 '24 at 02:54
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This article may help clear your confusion https://www.britannica.com/science/matter – anna v Jan 31 '24 at 05:10
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3Does this answer your question? How does rest mass become energy? – John Rennie Jan 31 '24 at 08:03
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Matter can be created and destroyed. Matter is not a conserved quantity.
Conserved quantities include energy, momentum, charge, angular momentum, etc. Those cannot be created or destroyed, at least not locally.
Dale
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It is more accurate to think about conservation of mass as conservation of energy. That is, in an isolated$^1$ system, the total (mass + energy) will remain constant (as opposed to just the total mass remaining constant). Mass-energy equivalence is reflected in the Einstein relation $$m=\frac{E}{c^2}$$
What always holds true is that energy can never be created or destroyed.
Particle colliders can do many things like break large nuclei into smaller ones with the release of energy (and a mass defect). We can also have particle + antiparticle annihilation, or the converse, pair production where light can form particle + antiparticle pairs. You can loosely refer to this as the "creation of matter", but always keeping in mind the mass-energy equivalence. So, in reality you are not actually "creating" anything, but merely converting light into matter, both of which are (fundamentally) the same.
$^1$ An isolated system is one that does not allow the transfer of matter and energy. $^2$ Charge and momentum are also always (locally) conserved.
joseph h
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Matter can be created and destroyed! The conditions required to do it don't happen in everyday life, which is why we have the "law of conservation of mass", but those conditions can happen in a particle collider.
The key equation is this one: $E = mc^2$. Note it equates energy to mass. You can therefore create mass if you have enough energy, and you can destroy mass if you turn it into energy. An example of the former is the processes used to create heavy particles in particle accelerators (where very high energy proton-proton collisions create new particles), while an example of the latter is antimatter annihilating with matter.
Because of this, we no longer consider mass as conserved, but rather mass-energy. Mass-energy is what cannot be created and destroyed, not mass alone.
Allure
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