What does E = mc2 actually mean in mathmatical form?

I had the same question. How can anything go twice the speed of light? Anyway, I went hunting and researching and I finally understood the equation. But now I forgot. This is going to be good!

Mass and energy are expressions of the same thing. The total energy of any object at rest equals its mass multiplied by the speed of light squared

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hW7DW9NIO9M

Would you feel better if it’s written like this: c= sqrt(E/m)
The main question energy = mass times the speed of light times the speed of light again.

It means everything is energy.

@Dutchess_III It’s not a movement equation. It’s about a relationship between energy and mass. It doesn’t have many direct applications, though it does apply to the energy released in a matter-antimatter annihilation reaction. That is, if you had some matter and some antimatter and brought them together so they annihilated each other and all the mass was converted to energy, the total amount of energy released (E, in Joules) would be equal to (=) their combined mass (m, in kilograms), multiplied by a constant equal to the speed of light (c, in meters per second) multiplied by c again (^2).

Apart from calculating energy released in anti-matter annihilation, it also sets an upper bound on the amount of energy that could be released by methods that don’t entirely use all of the matter (i.e. it has to be a lot less).

I’m listening.

That is why a small amount of Uranium material produces and large explosion.

What it means is that there is a nearly unbelievable amount of energy tied up in even the tiniest bit of matter. The speed of light squared is an enormous number, which is why a hydrogen bomb needs to convert less than 1% of its mass to energy in achieving such horrific effects on detonation.

Yep, in any nuclear reaction (fission or fusion), a small amount of mass is converted to a huge amount of energy. Nuclear Physicists have figured out the equations of those reactions, and the mass lost in the equations equals the energy released, so there is a quantitative calculation for it. (Physics actually works)

E=mc^2 is an approximation.

Newtonian formula for energy is E=(mv^{2)/2. Relativistic energy mass conversion is similar to that in that E=(mc}2)/sqrt(1—(v^2/c2)). As v approaches c, that bottom term simplifies to 1, which simplifies to E=mc^2.

^I love it when you talk dirty, @Rarebear.

Heh. Actually I got the equation kind of wrong as I was trying to type with my iphone. But you get the point.

No, I don’t think @Dutchess_III got the point, unless you were just trying to make her wet her panties.

Ew.