e=mc2. So what? whats all the fuss is all about?

Answer 1

It is about the energy held in mass and how mass and energy are the same. A massive object has a massive energy, an energetic object has a high mass. So, if we were converting from a mass to energy, we'd get the mass of the object times the speed of light to the power of 2, a lot of energy. Also, times is another word for time. Or that mass is time of the speed of light.

Answer 2

I think the popular fascination with that equation is twofold.

First, it's a relatively simple result coming from a theory that the average person would find terribly complex. So it makes people feel smart to say it and understand it even if they don't know the first thing about relativity.

Second, it quantifies the amount of energy available at the subatomic level in particle and nuclear physics reactions. Before people understood nuclear physics, noone could understand how the sun had enough energy to burn for billions of years. Gravitational energy would give it about 10,000 years max. It explains how ounces of hydrogen can make a bomb more powerful than millions of tons of TNT. It explains how (if we can solve the plasma containment problem) seawater could provide a virtually endless supply of energy. That sort of thing stokes popular imagination.

It really is much less important than F=ma or many other equations that touch our everyday lives, but for the reasons I explained above, it's much sexier.

Answer 3

The deep connection Einstein discovered between energy and mass is expressed in the equation E=mc² . Here E represents energy, m represents mass, and c² is a very large number, the square of the speed of light. Full confirmation was slow in coming. In Paris in 1933, Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie took a photograph showing the conversion of energy into mass. A quantum of light, invisible here, carries energy up from beneath. In the middle it changes into mass -- two freshly created particles which curve away from each other.

Answer 4

Because this equation shows that you can get a LOT of energy from a little material. This is how nuclear bombs work -- they convert a little bit of material into pure energy, and BOOM! you have miles and miles of destruction.

In fact, it takes only the conversion of about 2 ounces of material to make a one Megaton explosion.

Or, you can do it really slowly, and use the energy to make electricity. That's how a nuclear power plant works. This way, conversion of about 2 or 3 pounds of material (usually uranium) can supply electricity for a small city for a year.

Answer 5

What fuss?

Answer 6

Beats me, it's no more important than F= ma.