Remarks on the possible failure of energy conservation

Possibility of Failure in the Case of Elementary Processes. -- The possible failure of the principle of the conservation of energy, in the case of the continuous β-ray spectrum accompanying radioactive decompositions, and perhaps also in the case of processes occurring in the interior of stars, has several times been suggested by Bohr.(1) From a theoretical point of view such a failure might be due to a breakdown in the applicability of ordinary mechanical notions under circumstances where the electron would have to be regarded as localizable within regions small compared with its classical dimensions.