When timing cannot differentiate the actual causal process from the counterfactual one, process-tracing accounts like Dowe's conserved quantity theory must do the explanatory work Lewis's account cannot.

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Conserved quantity(in physics and philosophy of science): Something physical that never disappears or gets created from nothing—it can only move from one place to another, like energy or mass.
Dowe's conserved quantity theory(in philosophy of science): A philosophical theory by Paul Dowe that says causation happens when conserved physical quantities (like energy or momentum) are transferred between objects.
Lewis's account(in metaphysics and philosophy of causation): A theory by philosopher David Lewis about how causation works, based on comparing what actually happened to what would have happened under different circumstances.
Process-tracing(in philosophy of science and epistemology): A method of explaining how something happened by carefully following and documenting each step in the chain of events.
causal process(used in philosophy of causation): A series of events where one thing happens because of another, like dominoes falling in a line where each one knocks down the next.
counterfactual(Modal logic and epistemology): A conditional statement concerning what would be the case if some antecedent condition were true, evaluated across possible worlds; contraposition does not hold in general for counterfactuals.

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