Formulation of the laws of conservation and non-conservation

TL;DR

This paper discusses the formulation of conservation and non-conservation laws for various substance-like quantities, emphasizing the need for clear, unified statements to improve understanding and teaching.

Contribution

It proposes a simplified, consistent framework for expressing conservation laws, addressing ambiguities in traditional formulations.

Findings

Unified formulation enhances clarity of conservation laws

Simplifies teaching and understanding of physical quantities

Addresses inconsistencies in traditional conservation statements

Abstract

For each substance-like quantity, a theorem about its conservation or non-conservation can be formulated. For the electric charge e.g. it reads: Electric charge can neither be created nor destroyed. Such a statement is short and easy to understand. For some quantities, however, the proposition about conservation or non-conservation is usually formulated in an unnecessarily complicated way. Sometimes the formulation is not generally valid; in other cases only a consequence of the conservation or non-conservation is pronounced. A clear and unified formulation could improve the comprehensibility and simplify teaching.