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Comment on If a virtual particle dips or blips out of existence then where do they go? Do they come back at a different point showing movement when the blip occurs? Are they some how different when returning?

AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

Virtual particles appear and disappear as part of the interactions between real particles. The general phenomenon of particles appearing and disappearing in interactions happens with both real and virtual particles; the interactions are such that momentum, charge, etc. are conserved. So the things you should expect to see persisting in existence aren’t particles, but those conserved properties.

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bookmeat@fedinsfw.app ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
But where are they coming from and going to if matter and energy cannot be destroyed? Appear and disappear just means they merely become detectable/detected?

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- AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Think of particles as bundles of conserved quantities like charge, energy, mass, etc. In interactions, these quantities can be re-bundled into different particles—but the re-bundling isn’t creating or destroying the conserved quantities themselves.
  
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  - bookmeat@fedinsfw.app ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Ok. universe is made of Lego. Got it. :)
    
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- rah@hilariouschaos.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  But where are they coming from and going to if matter and energy cannot be destroyed?
  
  From nothing. No new energy is created because virtual particles are always created in a way that does not disturb the total energy of the universe. For example, one positive particle and one negative particle. It can’t be any other way.
  
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