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How did ancient philosophers predict that mass cannot be created or destroyed?
In the fields of physics and chemistry, the "law of conservation of mass" is one of the fundamental principles. This law states that in a closed system, mass is constant and cannot be created or destroyed. In fact, this convention began to receive attention as early as ancient philosophy, especially in the philosophical systems of ancient Greece and ancient India, where the eternity of quality has been considered a basic feature of nature.
"Nothing comes from nothing" is an important concept in ancient Greek philosophy, which means that things that exist now have always existed; new matter cannot be produced from a place that does not exist.
For example, in 520 BC, the philosophy of Jainism had already advanced the idea that matter cannot be destroyed or created. The Jain scripture "Truth Sutra" clearly states that although matter itself is eternal, its form changes with time. The ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles went a step further. He stated: "It is impossible for anything to arise from something that does not exist, and it is impossible for anything to completely disappear." These early ideas actually provided the basis for later ideas. Scientific development paved the way.
In the 3rd century BC, Epicurus further elaborated on the nature of the universe, believing that "the totality of everything will always remain as it is now."
By the 18th century, the application of the law of conservation of mass to chemical reactions was widely accepted and became a basic assumption in experiments. Although the understanding of mass and gravity was still somewhat vague before this, with the experiments of the famous scientist Antoine Lavoisier, the law of conservation of mass was clearly confirmed. Through a series of meticulous experiments, Lavoisier revealed that mass remains constant during chemical reactions. This discovery overturned the then-popular theory of flame generation.
"I concluded in 1773 that the total mass after any chemical reaction carried out in a closed system is the same."
However, with the development of modern physics, the equivalence of mass and energy was proposed in Einstein's 1905 theory of relativity, which challenged the traditional law of mass conservation. Einstein's equation E=mc² reveals a profound connection between energy and mass, meaning that under certain circumstances, mass can be converted into energy. For example, in nuclear reactions and particle cancellation, changes in mass are observable, which complicates the concept of mass conservation.
While discussing modern physics, conservation of mass remains an important principle in many fields such as chemistry and fluid mechanics. Although in the most extreme cases of the universe, the conservation laws of mass and energy need to be further revised, this shows that human beings' understanding of the material world is still deepening.
The conservation of mass and energy becomes more complicated in general relativity.
Therefore, the concept of mass conservation is not only related to the understanding of chemical reactions or physical phenomena, but also builds a bridge between ancient philosophy and modern science. This kind of thinking from ancient times to the present reminds us that human exploration and understanding of the universe are endless. Can we truly achieve a comprehensive understanding of the laws of nature?
