On some websites, it states something regarding the process of
electrons in the creation of the site. For example, something like
this from (http://home.uchicago.edu/~khopper/hamradio.html) :
"I certify that no electrons were created, destroyed, injured,
exploited, or confined in the creation of these pages."

Can someone explain this from its scientific basis. (the more
technical the better)

kind regards,
JAZ

Hi Jaz,

This is actually a little inside joke amongst scientific types. In a
way it is a sort of parody that is based on "No animals were harmed in
the production of this film" or ""No animals were harmed in the
testing of this product" statement made by movie studios or
cosmetic/hygiene product companies.

The reasoning behind this joke is quite straight forward and is based
on simple physics and chemistry. As you may know, matter is made up of
atoms, which themselves are composed of electrons, protons, and
neutrons. The statement that you are referring to is based on two
basic laws:

The law of preservation of mass states that mass cannot be created or
destroyed, only transferred to another state (solid, liquid, gas).
This, of course, only changes the density of the matter, but if the
matter is all collected, its weight will be the same.

The law of preservation of energy states that sources of energy (of
which an electron is one) cannot be created or destroyed, only
transferred between entities.

Since electrons are considered to be bound by both laws, either one
(or both) can be used to justify the statement. If you apply the
statement to either of the above laws, it is clear that the whole
statement is pointless because electrons can NEVER be created or
destroyed.

As for being injured, exploited, or confined, this makes the statement
even more nonsensical because injury, exploitation, and confinement
are qualities that we can apply only to living entities. These
concepts have no meaning when applied to subatomic particles!

I hope this helped...thanks for using Google Answers!

answerguru-ga

I don't believe their statement.  (Perhaps I am using a more general
definition than answerguru's)

Since they used a computer to create the pages they used electricty. 
The basis of electricty is to control the flow of electrons.  I would
call that exploited ("to make productive use of").  Most memories use
stored charges (electrons) as the method for retaining information.  I
would consider that as being confined ("to hold within a location").

To go the next level of technicality, maybe they aren't "confined";
some memories might use "holes", the absence of electrons in the
orbits, to retain a value (haven't researched that answer).

Also, electrons are exchanged between atoms that are bonded (by
definition), hence they are free to roam.  Perhaps you would consider
them free-range electrons.  Also they molecules can become ionized
which might free electrons.

As for, "created, destroyed, injured", this generally doesn't occur at
the low energy levels inside a computer.  Cosmic rays could cause the
above radical changes to electrons.

Actually, electrons CAN be created or destroyed :
All that needs to be conserved is energy - mass is equivalent to
energy by the Theory of Relativity (Einstien). Other quantitites need
to be conserved, but these are a little more abstract - the most
important three in this example are mass/energy, momentum and
(electric) charge.

According to Quantum Electrodynamics (Feynman, Shwinger, Tomonaga),
every particle has its antiparticle - a particle with the same mass,
but opposite charge (and certain particle numbers). The electrons
antiparticle is the positron (not to be confused with the proton).

When an electon and a positron collide, an 'annihilation' occurs -
both particles disappear, and two photons (particles of light) are
created. Energy is conserved, because the mass-energy of the two
particles is converted to the energy or the photons. Momentum is
conserved in the same way. Charge is conserved, because before the
reaction there was the -ve charge of the electron, and the +ve charge
of the positron, giving zero overall charge; and photons have no
charge, so that works out.

But, effectively, the electron (and positron) have been destroyed.

The reverse can also take place, where a photon can spontaneously turn
into an electron/positron pair. So electrons can be created (so long
as a positron is simultanously created).

But maybe I'm just being pedantic.

If you really want a mind-bending experience without taking illegal
substances, take some time to have a look at some introductory pages
on relativity and particle physics (and quantum mechanics). I didn't
post any links because it really depends on (a) your level of
education (b) the sort of explanation you want and (c) whether you
like flashy pictures.