Conservation Laws

Conservation laws refer to physical quantities that remain constant throughout the multitude of processes which occur in nature. If these physical quantities are carefully measured, and if all known sources are taken into account, they will always yield the same result. The validity of the conservation laws is tested through experiments. However, many of the conservation laws are suggested from theoretical considerations. The conservation laws include: the conservation of linear momentum, the conservation of angular momentum, the conservation Figure 1. Illustration by Hans & Cassidy. Courtesy of Gale Group. of energy and mass, and the conservation of electric charge. In addition, there are many conservation laws that deal with subatomic particles, that is, particles that are smaller than the atom.