# Mutability

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{{Short description|Theory in physics}}
{{for|the concept of mutability in programming|immutable object}}

The principle of '''mutability''' is the notion that any physical property which appears to follow a [conservation law](/source/conservation_law) may undergo some physical process that violates its conservation.<ref>{{citation| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y4AMA8mhYA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/0y4AMA8mhYA| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live| title=John Wheeler - Principle of mutability (Part 2) (89/130)| date=October 6, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{citation| title=From Relativity to Mutability| work=The Physicist’s Conception of Nature| doi=10.1007/978-94-010-2602-4_9| pages=202–247| author=[John Archibald Wheeler](/source/John_Archibald_Wheeler)| year=1973| isbn=978-94-010-2604-8}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=General Relativity and John Archibald Wheeler|author=Richard A. Matzner|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2010|isbn=9789048137350|pages=34}}</ref> [John Archibald Wheeler](/source/John_Archibald_Wheeler) offered this speculative principle after [Stephen Hawking](/source/Stephen_Hawking) predicted the [evaporation of black holes](/source/Black_hole) which violates [baryon number conservation](/source/Baryon_number).<ref>{{citation| title=John Archibald Wheeler: A Few Highlights of His Contributions to Physics| editor=[Kip S. Thorne](/source/Kip_S._Thorne)| date=October 28, 1985| work=Between Quantum and Cosmos|pages=9}}</ref>

==See also==
* [Philosophy of physics](/source/Philosophy_of_physics)

==References==
{{reference list}}

Category:Philosophy of physics
Category:Theoretical physics
Category:Conservation laws

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