Question

Can matter be destroyed? Mass and energy cannot, I know, but they are properties of matter.

Answer 1

Why don't we start with the definition of matter...
Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space.
Now there exists a theory that states that matter has mass and energy!!
There actually exist MANY MANY theories, string theory, some of albert einsteins theories that surround matter.
But we surely know that If mass IS destroyed it gets converted to ENERGY.
Let us say we have 10g plutonium for a nuclear reaction.
Thus if that 10g of plutonium decomposes then it gets converted to ENERGY.
And we know that surely by
E = mc^2
This 10g if destroyed would produce 0.01 * 9 * 10^16J of energy.



we don't actually consider it in a chemical reaction but even in a chemical reaction, mass is actually lost and converted to energy in an exothermic reaction.
But the mass which is given by E/c^2 is so less that it is negligible.
[Because it is divided by speed of light SQUARED]
I hope this helped. :)

Answer 2

lets take a moment, and rethink the words in the question. destryoing matter.... what do we really mean when we say destroy ?? its just a simple human way of seeing things.. when we think of something as 'stable', we think of it as 'destroyed' in our minds, when that something changes form.
So, when we are thinking of matter as getting destroyed, we just mean it changing its form to something that we don't comprehend. and in that case, yes, the answer it can be destroyed i.e. it can be converted to some other form ..one of which we so lovingly call 'Energy'.