Re: Energy

In article <1130635620.139195.158450@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
don@xxxxxxxxxxxx (don findlay) wrote:

> Can somebody please explain to a poor dumb geologist what 'energy' is?
> Something about doing work, I know, and (getting fancy) has an
> equivalence in mass (E=mc^2)
>
> I sort of know what mass is (though am a bit uncertain when it comes to
> fundamental particles and elctrical force binding them), but how do I
> possibly conceive of 'squaring' the SPEED of light. And why 'light'
> anyway? And then why
> 'squared'.
>
> When we look at both sides of the equation, and switch between talking
> about one or the other, what is it that we're really talking about?

Alchemy ;-)


> But mainly it's the 'light' thing, and squaring it, that bothers me.
>
> Can you do it in words? I can't understand equations. I have to
> visualise it.

It's the velocity of light in a vacuum. That is important because light slows
down through a medium such as glass. That is the velocity at which energy
becomes mass, a photon being a particle of matter that supposedly has no mass
and yet is a light particle.

Like any other equation you can play with it:

e = mcc or e/c = mc and you could if you wanted express c in m/sec or km/hour

It's only basic algebra and it's just that the square of the velocity of light
in a vacuum expresses the relationship between mass and energy.

e = grams x metres/seconds x metres/seconds because you need to express mass in
grams and velocity in metres per second and velocity has a directional factor
which you can ignore because we are talking of light moving in a straight line.


Alan

http://unitedeuropeanworkersunion.blogspot.com/

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http://www.planetarybillofrights.org/

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
.

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