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thunderyoats t1_jd1l820 wrote

Reply to comment by Badtrainwreck in Student built satellite launched by SpaceX and powered by 48 AA batteries and a $20 microprocessor shows a low-cost way to reduce space junk by DukeOfGeek

I assume it burns up in the atmosphere (hopefully).

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UncleFukus t1_jd1sxc2 wrote

Mass is neither created nor destroyed

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TeaKingMac t1_jd41m0k wrote

Only in specific circumstances. From Wikipedia on conservation of matter

> In reality, the conservation of mass only holds approximately and is considered part of a series of assumptions in classical mechanics. The law has to be modified to comply with the laws of quantum mechanics and special relativity under the principle of mass-energy equivalence, which states that energy and mass form one conserved quantity. For very energetic systems the conservation of mass only is shown not to hold, as is the case in nuclear reactions and particle-antiparticle annihilation in particle physics.

> Mass is also not generally conserved in open systems. Such is the case when various forms of energy and matter are allowed into, or out of, the system. However, unless radioactivity or nuclear reactions are involved, the amount of energy escaping (or entering) such systems as heat, mechanical work, or electromagnetic radiation is usually too small to be measured as a decrease (or increase) in the mass of the system.

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UncleFukus t1_jd4kawp wrote

So per the greater context, satellites burning up in the atmosphere still uphold conversation of mass as no nuclear reactions are involved?

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