• Question: why does e=mc2

    Asked by adamrussell to Fiona, Joanna on 25 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 25 Jun 2010:

      Hello again! E=mc2 because the E stands for energy and the equation tells you how much energy is released when a particle that has a mass (m) reaches the speed of light (c).

    • Photo: Fiona Randall

      Fiona Randall answered on 25 Jun 2010:

      Hi Adam, that is the formula Einstein came up with to define energy and mass as the same things.
      E=energy in joules
      m=mass in kg
      c=speed of light in m per sec.
      I think this is a hard thing to understand but it is basically used to define the energy a given thing can have and how it can be calculated from its mass (how much resistance to acceleration it has) and the speed of light. So knowing the mass of a piece of wood and the speed of light I think you can calculate how many joules of energy you would get from burning it. Sorry I can’t give you a better description. Your physics teacher can probably explain better than me!

Comments