Tömegállandóság

Tömegállandóság, often translated as mass conservation, is a fundamental principle in physics and chemistry. It states that for any system closed to all matter and energy, the mass of the system must remain constant over time. This means that mass cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. In chemical reactions, the total mass of the reactants before the reaction is equal to the total mass of the products after the reaction. Similarly, in physical processes like phase changes, the mass of a substance remains the same whether it is in solid, liquid, or gaseous form.

The principle of tömegállandóság was first rigorously formulated by Antoine Lavoisier in the late 18th century through meticulous experiments. His work demonstrated that combustion reactions, which were previously thought to consume or produce matter, actually involved rearrangements of atoms, with the total mass remaining unchanged. This concept became a cornerstone of modern chemistry and paved the way for quantitative analysis.

While tömegállandóság is an excellent approximation for most everyday phenomena and chemical reactions, it is important to note that it is superseded by Einstein's theory of relativity at very high energies. According to relativity, mass and energy are interconvertible (E=mc²), meaning that mass can be converted into energy and vice versa. However, for typical chemical and physical processes, the mass-energy conversion is so minuscule that the principle of mass conservation holds true with remarkable accuracy.