• Question: What does E=mc2 mean ??

    Asked by hepworthandsimmons to Ben, Clare, Ezzy, Mario, Sam on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Clare Burrage

      Clare Burrage answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      It means that energy and mass can be changed into one another, and that the total amount of energy you can get from something is equal to its mass times the speed of light squared.

      This formula comes from Einstein’s theory of relativity, and without it we wouldn’t understand how energy can be produced in nuclear reactions.

    • Photo: Mario Campanelli

      Mario Campanelli answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      that mass is a form of energy, and therefore you can transform matter into energy (as it is done in a nuclear power plant) and energy into matter, as is done in CERN’s particle accelerators!

    • Photo: Elizabeth Pearson

      Elizabeth Pearson answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Energy = Mass x the speed of light x the speed of light.

      When you get down to the fundamentals all matter is made up of energy. It is possible (though not practicle) to convert all matter into energy.

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