Quantum mechanics fundamentally challenges the traditional conservation of matter law, as articulated by Nils Henrik Gregersen in Paul Davies' "Information and the Nature of Reality." The uncertainty principle indicates that particles do not possess a fixed state, instead emerging from and disappearing into a field of subatomic events. This phenomenon suggests that the conventional understanding of matter's permanence is inadequate, as energy conservation remains intact even during the emission or absorption of virtual particles.
PREREQUISITESPhysicists, philosophers of science, and students interested in the intersection of quantum mechanics and foundational concepts of matter and energy conservation.
Even more revolutionary for the concept of matter was quantum mechanics, which gave up the idea of material entities having a simple definable state at the ultimate level of matter. The uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics suggests that particles emerge out of and perish into a field of subatomic events with an ontological status that defies description in terms of simple location or duration.