I always though of energy as motion – heat is atoms vibrating and moving, sound is a wave of atoms pushing each other in a specific direction, electricity is the movement of electrons, etc. But I’ve heard that e=mc^2 means energy can become matter and matter can be energy. How can motion become physical matter?
In: Physics
Energy is not motion. Energy is the ability to do work. Motion is an example of work, or rather the effect of work, because a force, F must be applied to move a system a distance, d from rest or to change its existing motion, i.e. W = F×d.
When atoms vibrate, that is an example of kinetic energy, but particles and systems can also have potential energy.
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