No new creation or destruction of matter is within the reach of chemical agency. We might as well attempt to introduce a new planet into the solar system, or to annihilate one already in existence, as to create or destroy a particle of hydrogen.
Interpretation
Matter cannot be created or destroyed through chemical processes, similar to how planets cannot be added or removed from the solar system.
This quote by John Dalton asserts the principle of conservation of mass, which states that during a chemical reaction, the total mass of the reactants equals the total mass of the products. Dalton emphasizes the impossibility of creating or destroying matter at a fundamental level, reinforcing the understanding that matter is neither generated nor eliminated, akin to the fixed nature of celestial bodies within our solar system.
In practice
This quote can be used in a science class when discussing the laws of chemistry.
Matter, though divisible in an extreme degree, is nevertheless not infinitely divisible. That is, there must be some point beyond which we cannot go in the division of matter. ... I have chosen the word “atom” to signify these ultimate particles.
Still, it is an error to argue in front of your data. You find yourself insensibly twisting them round to fit your theories.
After that cancellation [of the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas, after $2 billion had been spent on it], we physicists learned that we have to sing for our supper. ... The Cold War is over. You can't simply say "Russia!" to Congress, and they whip out their checkbook and say, "How much?" We have to tell the people why this atom-smasher is going to benefit their lives.
Any objective look at what science has to say about climate change ought to be sufficient to persuade reasonable people that the climate is changing and that humans are responsible for a substantial part of that - and that these changes are doing harm and will continue to do more harm unless we start to reduce our emissions.
More stars in the north are seen not to set, while in the south certain stars are no longer seen to rise.
If there is anything that can bind the heavenly mind of man to this dreary exile of our earthly home and can reconcile us with our fate so that one can enjoy living,-then it is verily the enjoyment of the mathematical sciences and astronomy.
My Design in this Book is not to explain the Properties of Light by Hypotheses, but to propose and prove them by Reason and Experiments: In order to which, I shall premise the following Definitions and Axioms.
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