first law of thermodynamics

[zoner]

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One of TBR questions asks which thermo law gets violated in a process that converts matter into energy. The answer is the first law. However why is that? Eistein's E=MC^2 says exactly that matter is energy and vice versa.

 

[cartman1980]

doesn't the first law states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed... in the process that converts matter into energy, energy is being 'created'?

 

[zoner]

doesn't the first law states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed... in the process that converts matter into energy, energy is being 'created'?

but that doesn't violate the law, its just a conversion

 

[cartman1980]

perhaps someone more qualified might weigh in.. but atleast my understanding was that first law states energy can only be transferred from system to surrounding and vice-versa; never created nor destroyed.. einstein's theory of relativity (and special relativity) work on the notion of matter, not mass... matter doesn't always equate to mass... therefore, when matter converts to energy it is created (destruction works vice-versa), and not transferred.. this is the violation..

 

[ModernAlchemist]

but that doesn't violate the law, its just a conversion

I'm actually fairly confident that it does violate the law. Energy can be converted between different types of energy. A "conversion" from matter to energy is not just a conversion. Energy is being created in that situation. If you're thinking of it from the perspective of catabolism, which yields energy, that energy is being derived from the process, but the matter itself is not being made into energy.

 

[h9i9j9]

mass is not a type of energy..... until that formula.....🙂

 

[Rabolisk]

I don't think that Einstein violated the first law of thermodynamics, and that's what Einstein himself has said, but I would be interested in what modern physicists say.

 

[ilovemcat]

I'm actually fairly confident that it does violate the law. Energy can be converted between different types of energy. A "conversion" from matter to energy is not just a conversion. Energy is being created in that situation.

I second that. 👍