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In physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves over time. Exact conservation laws include conservation of mass-energy, conservation of linear momentum, conservation of angular momentum, and conservation of electric charge.
The first law of thermodynamics is a formulation of the law of conservation of energy in the context of thermodynamic processes. The law distinguishes two principal forms of energy transfer, heat and thermodynamic work , that modify a thermodynamic system containing a constant amount of matter.
It can be linked to the law of conservation of energy. [10] Conceptually, the first law describes the fundamental principle that systems do not consume or 'use up' energy, that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but is simply converted from one form to another. The second law is concerned with the direction of natural processes. [11]
In physics a conserved current is a current, , that satisfies the continuity equation =.The continuity equation represents a conservation law, hence the name. Indeed, integrating the continuity equation over a volume , large enough to have no net currents through its surface, leads to the conservation law =, where = is the conserved quantity.
As another example, if a physical process exhibits the same outcomes regardless of place or time, then its Lagrangian is symmetric under continuous translations in space and time respectively: by Noether's theorem, these symmetries account for the conservation laws of linear momentum and energy within this system, respectively.
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 6 February 2025. Law of physics and chemistry This article is about the law of conservation of energy in physics. For sustainable energy resources, see Energy conservation. Part of a series on Continuum mechanics J = − D d φ d x {\displaystyle J=-D{\frac {d\varphi }{dx}}} Fick's laws of diffusion Laws ...
The law of conservation of mass and the analogous law of conservation of energy were finally generalized and unified into the principle of mass–energy equivalence, described by Albert Einstein's equation =. Special relativity also redefines the concept of mass and energy, which can be used interchangeably and are defined relative to the frame ...
According to Noether's theorem, the conservation of energy is a consequence of the fact that the laws of physics do not change over time. [6] Thus, since 1918, theorists have understood that the law of conservation of energy is the direct mathematical consequence of the translational symmetry of the quantity conjugate to energy, namely time.