Why is Einstein’s E=MC2 such a big deal that everyone’s heard of it? How important was that discovery actually, is it like in the top 3 most important discoveries of all time or is it kind of overhyped?

Question

Why is Einstein’s E=MC2 such a big deal that everyone’s heard of it? How important was that discovery actually, is it like in the top 3 most important discoveries of all time or is it kind of overhyped?

In: 1393

Answer 1

In case anyone happens to read this and is curious what e=mc^2 actually means, it means that the energy released in a nuclear reaction can be solved by taking the mass that was lost and multiplying it by the speed of light squared.

The speed of light (in a vacuum) is 299,792,458 m/s (meters per second.) When you square that value, you get 89,875,517,870,000,000 m^2/s^2 (meters squared per second squared.) When you convert the mass lost to kg and multiply it by c^2 you get a unit of kg*m^2/s^2 (kilogram meter squared per second squared) which just so happens to be the Joule (the SI unit of energy.)

When a nuclear reaction happens, the nuclear (in the nucleus of the atom) configuration changes to a more energetically favorable one; the result is a slight loss of mass. By multiplying that loss of mass by c^2 we get the energy of the reaction in Joules. This number (per unit of reaction) is orders of magnitude (like 10 million times) greater than a comparable chemical reaction (like the combustion of gasoline.)

Answer 2

In case anyone happens to read this and is curious what e=mc^2 actually means, it means that the energy released in a nuclear reaction can be solved by taking the mass that was lost and multiplying it by the speed of light squared.

The speed of light (in a vacuum) is 299,792,458 m/s (meters per second.) When you square that value, you get 89,875,517,870,000,000 m^2/s^2 (meters squared per second squared.) When you convert the mass lost to kg and multiply it by c^2 you get a unit of kg*m^2/s^2 (kilogram meter squared per second squared) which just so happens to be the Joule (the SI unit of energy.)

When a nuclear reaction happens, the nuclear (in the nucleus of the atom) configuration changes to a more energetically favorable one; the result is a slight loss of mass. By multiplying that loss of mass by c^2 we get the energy of the reaction in Joules. This number (per unit of reaction) is orders of magnitude (like 10 million times) greater than a comparable chemical reaction (like the combustion of gasoline.)