Skip to main content

Why does E = mc squared?

The equation, E=mc2, is perhaps the most famous piece of information Albert Einstein introduced to the world. The equation describes the relationship between mass and energy. Prior to Einstein's work, scientists believed mass and energy were two distinct things. Einstein argued mass and energy were not necessarily separable, instead claiming the two are just different forms or qualities of the same thing. In the equation, E stands for energy, m for mass, and c for the speed of light in a vacuum. With this in mind, the equation essentially reads that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the speed of light in a vacuum.


The c2 (speed of light squared) portion of the equation represents a conversion factor. If we convert a substance's mass into pure energy, the speed of light squared establishes a dimensional constant.


Why this formula makes sense is a much bigger and more philosophical question than we can dwell upon here. Einstein's equation merely describes mass-energy relations in special relativity. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more