I might just be stupid because math is not my strong suit, but it seems like the fact that metric units are able to convert between mass and energy so cleanly is astounding. Especially since the metric system was invented so long before relativity, meaning these units were obviously not designed with this in mind.
What’s am I missing here? Is it possible to write an equivalent equation for imperial units?
In: Mathematics
it’s the other way around.
If you multiply a mass unit by a speed-squared, you get a unit that’s energy.
In metric, if you multiply 1 kg * (1 m/s)^2, you get a 1 kgm2/s2, or a joule. The joule was chosen specifically to be a unit of energy that made immediate sense and a clean result from that kind of multiplication.
But there are other ways you might want to think about energy, like having to do with temperature. Kilocalories are another way to think about energy — how much energy do you need to raise the temperature of 1kg of water by 1 degree centigrade? If you ask “If I turn this microgram of stuff into energy, how much will it raise the temperature of this 1000 liters of water?” then you’re going to need to do more math after you run e=mc2 to convert from joules to kilocalories.
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