Roxane Marie

perpetualwisdom@outlook.com

Monday, September 20, 2010

E = mc2 What Does It Mean



We have all heard of Einstein's famous equation E = mc2, but have you really considered what it means? While the basis for this study is very profound in it's context, it is astounding just how many people cannot give an answer except to say that they know that it is Einstein's famous equation. Surprising since our very existence, yours, mine, everyone and everything in this universe in its total existence is dependent on this equation. With out it, nothing in this physical world and universe could possibly exist!  Einstein's famous but rarely understood equation means, Energy is equal to Mass (or Matter) times the speed of light squared. Which is also to say that there is an equivalence between mass and energy. What does this really mean?  The equation E = mc2 shows that energy always manifests it's self as matter in whatever form the energy take. Modern theory says that mass cannot be destroyed by normal chemical reaction, although it can be moved from one location to another and it's substance can be changed by atomic reaction. Scientists have realized the truth of that statement when they recently discovered "Dark Matter". Dark matter (which is really transparent) constitutes 80% of the matter in the universe, while ordinary matter makes up only 20%.  The simplest and most important thing to understand here is that EVERYTHING is ENERGY!

Einstein's theory of Relativity accurately predicts that mass cannot travel at the speed of light, which happens to be 186, 282 miles per second.  As if that isn't astounding enough, c2 = 34,700,983,524 miles per second! His theory has stood one hundred years of testing and this has served to reinforce what Einstein wrote, that objects gain mass as they speed up, and of coarse the more mass, the more energy is required. Einstein calculated, by the time an object reached the speed of light, its mass would be infinite, and so would the amount of energy required to increase its speed. Donald Schneider, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State said, "There is no experiment that has contradicted special relativity. We have accelerated sub-atomic particles to well over 99 per cent of the speed of light, but not equal to or exceeding the speed of light. Theoretically, strange things happen when you exceed the speed of light",  Schneider added. "Time travel, for one thing, and a breakdown in cause and effect". The example Schneider used was of hitting a target with a gun that shoots bullets faster than the speed of light. "Some observers would see the bullet hit the target before they saw the shooter fire the gun."

It's the fact of the Matter!  =D

1 comment:

  1. Fascinating! Saw a documentary called E=MC2. Two of the scientists from whose work Einstein based his theory on were women.

    ReplyDelete