उन भौतिक नियमों को विज्ञान के नियम कहा जाता है जो सार्वत्रिक (universal) समझे जाते हैं तथा जो भौतिक जगत के अपरिवर्तनशील तथ्य हैं।[संदिग्ध – वार्ता] किन्तु फिर भी, यदि कोई नया तथ्य या साक्ष्य मिलता है जो इस नियम के विरुद्ध हो तो विज्ञान के नियम असत्य सिद्ध हो सकते हैं। "नियम", परिकल्पना (hypotheses), सिद्धान्त (theories), अभिगृहीत (postulates), प्रिंसिपल (principle) आदि से इस मामले में अलग है कि नियम विश्लेषणात्मक कथन (analytic statement) होता है जिसमें प्राय: प्रयोग द्वारा कोई नियतांक प्राप्त किया गया होता है। किसी सिद्धान्त में कई नियम हो सकते हैं या वह सिद्धान्त किसी नियम से इंगित होता हो सकता है।
Other less significant (non fundamental) laws are the mathematical consequences of the above conservation laws for derivative physical quantities (mathematically defined as force, pressure, temperature, density, force fields, etc):
This law is really just the low limit solution of Einstein's field equations and is not accurate with modern high precision gravitational measurements.
Additional laws of chemistry elaborate on the law of conservation of mass. Joseph Proust's law of definite composition says that pure chemicals are composed of elements in a definite formulation; we now know that the structural arrangement of these elements is also important.
Dalton's law of multiple proportions says that these chemicals will present themselves in proportions that are small whole numbers (i.e. 1:2 O:H in water); although in many systems (notably biomacromolecules and minerals) the ratios tend to require large numbers, and are frequently represented as a fraction.
More modern laws of chemistry define the relationship between energy and transformations.
In equilibrium, molecules exist in mixture defined by the transformations possible on the timescale of the equilibrium, and are in a ratio defined by the intrinsic energy of the molecules—the lower the intrinsic energy, the more abundant the molecule.
Transforming one structure to another requires the input of energy to cross an energy barrier; this can come from the intrinsic energy of the molecules themselves, or from an external source which will generally accelerate transformations. The higher the energy barrier, the slower the transformation occurs.
There is a hypothetical intermediate, or transition structure, that corresponds to the structure at the top of the energy barrier. The Hammond-Leffler Postulate states that this structure looks most similar to the product or starting material which has intrinsic energy closest to that of the energy barrier. Stabilizing this hypothetical intermediate through chemical interaction is one way to achieve catalysis.
All chemical processes are reversible (law of microscopic reversibility) although some processes have such an energy bias, they are essentially irreversible.