Matter is regularly converted to energy, for example; Fire. My Q: Is energy regularly converted to matter?

Answer 1

Sorry, that's not quite right.

Combustion (fire) does NOT convert matter to energy. Instead, combustion releases energy stored in the chemcal bonds of the material being burned. This takes place because the oxidation reaction (combustion) breaks the fuel down into simpler components.

For example, when the engine in your car burns gasoline, it converts the C8H18 (theoretically) into CO2 and H2O. There is no loss of mass. The mass of the CO2 and H2O is the same as the mass of the O2 and C8H18 but, all the carbon-carbon bonds are broken as are the carbon-hydrogen bonds. It is the heat produced by the reaction that cause the gases in the cylinder to expand and push the piston down.

The only reliable process we have today in which matter is converted into energy is nuclear fission.

Answer 2

If you are talking about burning coal or wood or gas to get energy in the form of fire or movement, the answer is no: The laws of thermodynamics tell us that the energy is never lost, it is transformed into a less profitable kind of, that is stated by the the second principle of thermodynamics i.e heat can be used to move a locomotive, but when the steam escapes you get a higher volume of gas at a lesser temperature but although the total heath remains the same you can not use that energy anymore.
The second part of your question. The energy can be transformed into matter in great cataclysmic reactions within the stars. In the nuclear laboratories like the Centre Europeane des Recherche Nucleaire (C.E.R.N.) in Geneve (Schweitz), particles are accelerated to speeds close to that of light and allowed them to collide with each other having gotten a higher amount of matter than that before the collision.

Answer 3

Matter has been converted to energy (on earth) only in high-energy particle physics experiments. This usually is a result of a matter-antimatter interaction. I believe (but am not sure) that in some high-energy physics reactions energy has disappeared and a sub-atomic particle appears. No one has succeeded in converting mass to energy on a large scale; even in the atomic bomb, which is supposed to be an example of E=mc^2, the mass being converted is just the equivalent of the binding energy in the nucleus. No atomic particles (electons, protons, neutrons) disappear into energy.

That being said, any loss of energy from a system will be exhibited as a change in mass, even if that energy is from combustion. If we could collect all of the physical elements involved before and after combustion, they will have less mass after. For ordinary combustion this mass is so small as to be unmeasureable.

Answer 4

The reason there is no regular transformation of energy into mass is that the universe is running down (entropy). Energy is able to be directly converted into mass when electron pairs are formed, due to high frequency electromagnetic energy entering an atom (one of few times when energy directly converts to mass). Our universe was created in a wound up state, it has but the capacity to run down.

Answer 5

how about growing a plant... sunlight (energy) => plant (matter)

ok...all joking aside: burning wood in a fire is NOT converting matter into energy.. it is a chemical reaction which releases heat.
The end products still contain all of the original atoms present in the wood at the start.

When matter is truely converted into energy... the matter no longer exists.. that is.. the atoms are no longer there but have become energy.

I do not recall any matter being produced by man... yet

Answer 6

This is the most intelligent question I have seen on the site in a while. I totally agree with Tom. "Matter cannot be created, nor destroyed." There is the same amount of matter on Earth now, as there was thousands of years ago. It is just in a different form.

Answer 7

Sex that produces offspring. It is energy converted into matter.

Answer 8

haha no it is not as easy but yes some of it is there is more to energy that alot of people dont understand but i do