# is all matter in the universe constant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817 "2004-09-24T03:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/1 "2004-09-24T03:31:11Z")
i was just wondering, is matter created or destroyed or does it simply change forms? ---
**Author:** ![jweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/2 "2004-09-24T03:33:16Z")
In almost all circumstances, matter is not created nor destroyed. The only time matter is destroyed is in a nuclear fission reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/3 "2004-09-24T04:15:51Z")
Mass may be converted to energy, or vise versa, but mass-energy (E=mc^2) is conserved. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/4 "2004-09-24T04:18:48Z")
> [@jweb](#): > > In almost all circumstances, matter is not created nor destroyed. The only time matter is destroyed is in a nuclear fission reaction. Nuh uh. Matter is converted to energy even in chemical reactions. It is just too negligable to mat… uh, notice. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/5 "2004-09-24T05:45:21Z")
> [@jweb](#): > > In almost all circumstances, matter is not created nor destroyed. The only time matter is destroyed is in a nuclear fission reaction. But fission is a very common process in the universe, so I’m not sure what you mean by your first sentence. Matter is converted into energy in the [sun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun) and every star like it. > [@](#): > > At the centre of the Sun, where its density is 1.5×105 kg/m3, thermonuclear reactions (nuclear fusion) convert hydrogen into helium. About 8.9×1037 protons (hydrogen nuclei) are converted to helions (helium nuclei) every second. This releases energy at the matter-energy conversion rate of 4.26 million tonnes per second (about 9.1×1016 tons of TNT per second) which escapes from the surface of the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation and neutrinos (and to a smaller extent as the kinetic and thermal energy of solar wind plasma and as the energy in the Sun’s magnetic field). ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/6 "2004-09-24T13:05:21Z")
Not intended as a hijack, but what about the other end of the equation? I mean, ok, so you can turn matter into energy, and it happens in nature all the time… fission reactions and the like. So where in nature does ENERGY turn into MATTER? Fission doesn’t count… that’s turning matter into another type of matter, and releasing energy that was part of some of the matter. Does it work the other way? Ever? Or is this part of that whole entropy business? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/7 "2004-09-24T13:32:08Z")
Well, almost any time you have energy stored, you can find it as matter. For instance, a molecule of methane is slightly heavier than the separate molecules of carbon and hydrogen (there’s energy stored in the methane bonds). But maybe the better way to look at it, which is pretty much the modern physics view, is that matter and energy are really just different aspects of the same thing, and how much of each aspect you see depends on your point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/8 "2004-09-24T13:40:50Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > But fission is a very common process in the universe, so I’m not sure what you mean by your first sentence. Matter is converted into energy in the [sun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun) and every star like it. The reaction occuring in the sun and other stars is, of course, **fusion** not fission. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/9 "2004-09-24T15:06:18Z")
But, there **are** naturally occurring fission reactions: [http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0010.shtml](http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0010.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/10 "2004-09-24T15:12:36Z")
> [@Earthworm Jim](#): > > But, there **are** naturally occurring fission reactions Um, no one disputed that. In other news, one plus one **does** equal two. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/11 "2004-09-24T15:18:27Z")
> [@Desmostylus](#): > > Um, no one disputed that. In other news, one plus one **does** equal two. Hey, I didn’t think it was terribly clear, so I added a cite. Beat me with a stick, why dontcha. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/12 "2004-09-24T16:00:33Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > The reaction occuring in the sun and other stars is, of course, **fusion** not fission. Yes, my bad. My cite even said fusion! ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/13 "2004-09-24T17:55:32Z")
Do quantum fluctuations violate the conservation law? ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/14 "2004-09-24T18:15:19Z")
> [@Phnord Prephect](#): > > Not intended as a hijack, but what about the other end of the equation? > > I mean, ok, so you can turn matter into energy, and it happens in nature all the time… fission reactions and the like. > > So where in nature does ENERGY turn into MATTER? > > Fission doesn’t count… that’s turning matter into another type of matter, and releasing energy that was part of some of the matter. > > Does it work the other way? Ever? Or is this part of that whole entropy business? It is fairly common for a high-energy photon to spontaneously change into a pair of particles, such as an electron and a positron. In these reactions, it’s always one particle and one antiparticle created. if the two partcles meet up again, they’ll turn back into a high-energy photon. Of course, you can only see these sorts of things in particle detectors, so most people aren’t aware they’re going on all the time. Also, in degenerate stars, fusion can be driven to fuse nuclei of iron or above in atomic number. Fusion among these nuclei doesn’t create energy, it uses it up. So, all the heavier elements we see around us are partially made up of energy that was condensed to make matter. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/15 "2004-09-25T00:17:50Z")
> [@vinniepaz](#): > > i was just wondering, is matter created or destroyed or does it simply change forms? Oh No!! Not another Hawking radiation/Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle thread!? :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-all-matter-in-the-universe-constant/265817/16 "2004-09-25T03:04:17Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > Do quantum fluctuations violate the conservation law? In short, no. The net amount of mass-energy remains the same, as all of the fluctuations average out to precisely zero. It does, however, prevent any system from getting down to Absolute Zero (0 K). Doing a Google search on this info is somewhat difficult because it seems all of the kooks have jumped on this topic as part of their `free energy’ delusions. Wikipedia has some good articles on these topics: [Vacuum energy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energy) [Zero-point energy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-point_energy)