what is the equation E =mc squared used for ?I need to know how to explain this to an 8 year old ?

Question

My daughter asked me this question earlier and I said Its Einsteins equation- it is used to show how mass is related to energy and speed. Its needed for space travel". lol. I feel that she was not very happy with this answer. Can anyone else help please and maybe give an analogy or recommend a good kids book to demonstrate the theory?

hi everyone , So much consternation ? Shes an ordinary 8 year old girl who just asked this actual question,, out of the blue this evening. I'm not teaching her advanced physics but I like to give her an answer to her questions which she can make sense of in her world.Her reading age is 15+ so is reading things beyond her actual age so that is where its come from.
At least I didnt say , "I dunno love,shut up and play with your bratz"!!

Answer 1

Of course you will have the some trouble as to explain for an 80 years old...

But that equation is used to determine dimensions of "black holes" , and to converting mass to energy ... critic mass to build atomic bombs...and some more else... but this is enough... to get the guy some confused somehow

Answer 2

8 years old? Aren't they great. I have a ten year old grandson like that.
Hopefully you can give her a basic idea of how an atom is made up and how the atom's parts are held together by forces. then you can point out that if you change E=mc sq. in to numbers stating how many atoms you have and the speed that light travels you can then work out how much energy will be released if you rip the atoms apart.
This makes it possible to workout how hot you can get an atomic furnace in a power station for making electricity or how big the bang will be if you make an atomic bomb. That's if you work hard at school and become very cleaver.

That's about the most basic way I can think of putting it.

Answer 3

The Equation is-------The Theory of Relativity, proposed by the Jewish physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in the early part of the 20th century, is one of the most significant scientific advances of our time. Although the concept of relativity was not introduced by Einstein, his major contribution was the recognition that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant and an absolute physical boundary for motion. This does not have a major impact on a person's day-to-day life since we travel at speeds much slower than light speed. For objects travelling near light speed, however, the theory of relativity states that objects will move slower and shorten in length from the point of view of an observer on Earth. Einstein also derived the famous equation, E = mc2, which reveals the equivalence of mass and energy. When Einstein applied his theory to gravitational fields, he derived the "curved space-time continuum" which depicts the dimensions of space and time as a two-dimensional surface where massive objects create valleys and dips in the surface. This aspect of relativity explained the phenomena of light bending around the sun, predicted black holes as well as the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) -- a discovery rendering fundamental anomalies in the classic Steady-State hypothesis. For his work on relativity, the photoelectric effect and blackbody radiation, Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921.

Answer 4

I hope that in various previous answers you've found what you were looking for. In very simple terms (which is all I understand it in, really): mass can be converted to energy, and vice versa (although it is not an 'easy' thing to do). E=mc^2 gives the proportions of the relationship, with E being energy, m being mass and c being the speed of light.

Applications: the biggest one is nuclear reactions. Where atoms react to form compounds, the mass sometimes goes down. The amount is very small, but with a lot of the reactions significant energy can be produced. Those happening in the sun are a good example. Or in a nuclear power station. Or in simple chemistry experiments which produce heat (which is of course a form of energy).

Answer 5

The energy released when matter is anhiliated is directly proportional to its mass and to the square of the speed of light.


Would have thought any 8 year old would know that.

shame on the idiots who think it has some connection to Einstein's general theory of relativity or even Einstein's special theory of relativity.

Obviously nuclear physics is not being taught as well in Primary Schools as it used to be.

Answer 6

We learn in chemistry class that matter cannot be created or destroyed, but that's not entirely true. In chemical reactions matter is not destroyed - if you start with carbon and hydrogen and oxygen in some molecular configuration, after your chemical reaction you will still have carbon and hydrogen and oxygen, just in a different molecular configuration. That is, you have the same number and type of atoms as you started with.

But in nuclear physics, we learn that you can "destroy" matter - and when you do it turns into energy. How much energy? E=mc^2 tells us exactly how much energy. So when 4 hydrogen atoms at the center of the Sun are combined to form 1 helium atom (actually it's the nuclei that are being combined) a little bit of mass is lost (mass of 4 H > mass of one He) - this mass is turned into energy, and this is the energy that powers the Sun. Nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants also rely on turning mass into energy.

Now, how do you explain this to an 8 year old? Beats me - I struggle to explain it to college students every year!

Answer 7

So those people were retards, here's a real answer.

E=mc^2 relates energy to mass. It says that mass is made up of energy at a ratio of the speed of light squared. So you need millions of kilowatts of energy to make a tiny amount of mass, but this also means that for a tiny amount of mass, you get a rediculous amount of enegy if you could convert it 100%.

i.e. you could power New York City for a day using the matter contained in an ordinary pebble (if you had 100% conversion).

BTW check out www.howstuffworks.com for info on how anything works. It explains things basically and then complexily.

I'm sure it can satisfy her curiosity for awesome knowledge.

Answer 8

Cool kid :D

The c^2 is not too important. You can try to explain to her what a large number it is perhaps with a comparison.

The two main points of the equation are that you can get a lot of energy from a little mass. If she is familiar with multiplication already you can remind her that multiplying a smallish number by a big number gives another big number.

And second, that energy and mass are interchangeable. Here I would show her examples with nuclear fusion such as an atomic bomb or the sun. The mass that is lost in the sun during nuclear fusion is expelled in the form of energy.

Answer 9

You're trying to explain Einsteins theory of relativity to an eight year odl child? That's mad. There are fully grown adults who still can't grasp the concept!
The theory states an equivalence between energy (E) and mass (m), in direct proportion to the square of the speed of light in a vacuum (c2).
It basically stated that energy can not be wasted only converted into other energy. A car forward moving energy is transfered into heat and sound when it is brought to a stop by the brakes being applied or tyres skidding on the ground.
Also if you weigh an elastic band on prescision scales and then stretch it and weigh it again it will be heavier because fo the energy used to stretch it being converted and stored within the band.
You can try to explain this to an eight year old but I wish you good luck. It's very advanced science!

Answer 10

When I was 8 I asked the same question so it isn't silly at all to ask.

I found the answer in the library that anything solid (matter) contains energy if the solid gets destroyed completely the equation tells you how much energy you get released (as heat, light, radiation).