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Lesson XI: Matter and Force.447
and that not a single particle of Energy may be created, nor destroyed—that
no matter how it may change form and transform itself into varying forms,
that such changes are like the changing forms and combinations of Matter,
and are merely relative and not actual, inasmuch as Energy as a whole is
not affected and remains the same in principle and amount. This theory or
principle of physical science is known as “The Principle of the Conservation
of Energy.”
It will be seen from a consideration of the above that science holds that
no material power can bring into existence a single particle of Matter, or a
single particle of Energy. Nor can any material power take out of existence
a single particle of either Matter or Energy. Both are regarded as fixed
and unchangeable. We may change the form of Matter, or rather the
combinations of its atoms, and we may transform one form of Energy into
another, and so on, but neither may be created nor destroyed. Energy is the
principle that works change in Matter, and many scientists speak of it as a
“property or quality of Matter,” while others regard it as a separate principle,
working in connection with Matter. An example of the transformation of
one form of Energy into another, and so on, is as follows:
An electric lamp shows a light, which light is produced by the passage of
electricity through the little thread of carbon, the latter offering a resistance
to the electricity—resistance causing the energy of the electricity to be
transformed into heat and light. The electricity is produced from a dynamo,
the power of which is imparted by a steam engine. The steam engine takes up
motion from the Energy of steam, which steam is produced by the expansion
of water by the Energy of heat. The heat is a form of Energy transformed
from the Energy in the coal, which energy is released by combustion. The
coal obtains its chemical energy from the sun which imparted it to the trees
from which the coal originated, or else, perhaps, from the Energy inherent in
its atoms. The sun or atoms obtained their Energy from the Universal Energy.
So you see, the whole process is a chain of transformation. It might be
carried much further; for instance, the electricity might have been used to