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Is energy just a manmade concept? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/askscience

38 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Energy in physics feels analogous to money in economics. Is a manmade medium of exchange used for convenience. It is the exchange medium between measureable physical states/things.

Is energy is real in the same way money is? An incredibly useful accounting trick that is used so frequently it feels fundamental, but really it's just a mathmatical convenience?

Small aside: From this perspective 'conservatipn of energy' is a redundant statement. Of course energy must be conserved or else the equations are wrong. The definition of energy is it's conservation.

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[–] kalkulat 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

If a one-ton boulder rolls down an Earthly hill in my direction and I don't move, what happens is not a manmade concept. Call it what you will.

Time on the other hand exists only as a useful mental tool to describe change. When I repeat the experiment of going to sleep, when I wake up it's still always now. That experiment -always- produces the same result.