Thread: If matter cant be created or destroyed, where did all this stuff come from?

Originally Posted by Scatterbrain

Because we haven't found evidence pointing it's open.

And there is no evidence that it's a closed system, so we can also assume that it's an open system.

paradigm

Originally Posted by paradigm

And there is no evidence that it's a closed system, so we can also assume that it's an open system.

paradigm

Logic doesn't work like that. (You don't assume an asteroid is hitting Earth tomorrow just because there's no evidence saying it won't.)

It's impossible to prove the universe is closed (it's impossible to prove a negative), but it should be possible to prove the universe is open. The burden of proof always lies on the positive claim.

A system is closed if there's the absence of the properties of an open system, ie: the system doesn't experience losses or gains of energy to/from the outside. Until we observe such energy exchanges, the logical assumption is that the reason we don't observe them is because they don't happen.