Law Of Conservation of Energy

Energy conservation laws define the essence of life and Universe. In this write up, a simple definition of law of conservation of energy has been provided.
One of the most profound laws of Universe is the law of conservation of energy that always holds true. There is a fact, or if you wish, a law, governing all natural phenomena that are known to date. There is no known exception to this law—it is exact so far as we know. The law is called theconservation of energy. It states that there is a certain quantity, which we call energy, that does not change in manifold changes which nature undergoes. That is a most abstract idea, because it is a mathematical principle; it says that there is a numerical quantity which does not change when something happens. It is not a description of a mechanism, or anything concrete; it is just a strange fact that we can calculate some number and when we finish watching nature go through her tricks and calculate the number again, it is the same."- Richard Feynman, Nobel Physics Laureate and Celebrated Physicist.

The concept of law of conservation of energy has been beautifully put forth by one of the most renowned physicists of the late century, Richard Feynman, in the above lines. In fact, describing the concept of energy is a fairly simple task, as it is an integral part of Universe, an inseparable part of life. Without energy, there is no existence of Universe. Energy is manifested in every walk of life. Be it the supersonic jet planes or merely riding a bicycle, energy is manifested in every act we do. Although, there are different forms of energy, there is one Universal law that applies to all of them, that is, the law of conservation of energy.

What is the Law of Conservation of Energy

The development of numerous theories related to "energy" occurred in the 19th century when legends like Lord Kelvin, Rudolf Clausius and Walther Nernst conceptualized numerous thermodynamics laws that triggered the rapid acceptance of energy to explain numerous chemical processes. Moreover, energy was also established as a mathematically entity after Clausius formulated the law of Entropy. So what does the energy conservation law state? A simple law of conservation of energy definition would be that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed but it can be transformed from one body to the other. This is perhaps the simplest definition of energy conservation that we were taught in our school physics classes.

In higher physics, understanding the law of conservation of energy is a bit challenging as there are numerous other fundamental laws that govern the entire energy conservation law. Most notably, the Noether's theorem that is a basis of modern theoretical physics. Discussing the energy conservation law in the light of higher physics is not possible in the limitations of this article, however, the basic essence of conservation law remains the same, that is energy can only be transformed from one body to the other, but it can't be destroyed.

For instance, the gravitational potential energy stored in a dam is converted into kinetic energy, in the form of moving water or chemical energy in a battery is converted into electrical energy. All these are perfect examples of conversion of one form of energy into the other.

Even mechanical energy, that is the kinetic and potential energy, always remain conserved in an isolated system. The law of conservation of mechanical energy is based on similar lines, just like the energy conservation laws. Even mass is related to energy and this revolutionary theory was put forward by the genius Albert Einstein, who gave the mass energy equivalence theorem or E = mc².

Is there any specific law of conservation of energy equation? Well, depending on the system we're considering, there are numerous energy conservation equations. In mechanics, thermodynamics, relativistic mechanics, we've different energy equations, which requires one to define the kinetic and potential energies of the respective systems. The most generalized form of energy conservation equation is,

E = T + V, where T = Kinetic Energy, V = Potential Energy and E = Total energy of the system.

Although, in higher physics, there are numerous conditions on law of conservation of energy. In essence, the fact is that energy conservation is a universal law and it amazes physicists about the precision of nature's law. They're true everywhere and does not change over time.