Law of conservation of mass and Theory of relativity, E=mc^2: An introduction

What is mass?

According to Newton, all material bodies are described by inertia. Inertia is the resistance of any
physical object to any change in its state of motion; this includes changes to its speed, direction, or
state of rest. Newton attributed the term "inertia" to mean "the innate force possessed by an
object which resists changes in motion". Mass of a body is a measure of its inertia and hence the
measure of the matter contained in it. Mass is a fixed property of a body. The usual symbol for mass
is m and its SI unit is the kilogram.

History

As early as 150 B.C. some Greek philosophers as quoted by Aristotle, were of the opinion that
“nothing can be made out of nothing” and it is impossible to destroy anything. More than 2000
years later Lavoisier made similar statement: “Nothing can be created and in every process there is
as much substance [quantity of matter] present before and after the process has taken place. There
is only a change or modification of matter” Extensive investigations carried out by various scientists
tested and confirmed the truth of this principle.

Law of conservation of mass turned an approximation post Einstein’s E=mc^2

Although the law of conservation of mass has been well established from an experimental point of
view it is now regarded as approximation in the present set up of physical sciences after
introduction of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
Theory of Relativity

Most of the changes of physical or chemical nature are associated with absorption or generation of
energy in the form of heat. Such heat effects are according to this theory; involve a certain amount
of loss of matter by equation

E = mc^2

Where E is energy in J/Kg, m is mass of matter in Kg and c is velocity of light in meter/sec.

If this energy E is evolved there will be a loss of mass m Kg which will completely disappear as
matter and appear as energy. If this energy is small, say dE, the loss of mass will be dm, since c is
constant.

What does Theory of Relativity mean in real life?

In ordinary chemical reactions the energy change is very small and hence the change in mass is
negligible for which it is not detected. An idea of such loss will be formed by the fact that by an
evolution of about 2x10^13 calories of heat there will be a loss of 1 gm. of matter. A specific
example could be combustion of 3.75 ts of phosphorus may have a loss of 1 mg of the reaction
products. This change in weight is beyond detection by any known method of determination of
weights. Therefore, Lavoisier’s Law of Conservation of Mass holds good for all practical purposes.

Matter is therefore found to be destructible and tremendous amount of energy liberated by the
destruction of 1 gm. matter has been taken advantage in the atomic bombs used in World War.

In nature also such changes are continuously proceeding in radioactive substances wherein matter
is spontaneously being converted to energy.

Hence in the light of Theory of Relativity the law of conservation of mass is but an approximation.
But for ordinary purposes it may be regarded as sufficiently accurate for our guidance in all
chemical changes which we ordinarily come across.