eli5 I read that no particles in the universe can be created or be destroyed but changes form. Is this true?
In: Physics
How are you defining “particle”? Energy cannot be created or destroyed, just changed from one form to another.
However, we can “break” particles, ranging from bigger ones like molecules very easily (through burning, chemical reactions, enzymatic processes etc.), and we can break atoms through nuclear fission – it turns them into lighter elements, neutrons, and releases energy too. This means that if you gathered the neutrons and lighter elements up, they’d weigh less than the original atom because energy was lost, and e=mc^2. In one sense, the particle has been destroyed, but in another you’ve converted it into other atoms and free neutrons with the loss of some energy.
In this second reaction, you’ve converted nuclear potential energy into heat and light, for instance.
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