I understand it’s “energy equals mass times the speed of light squared”, but it’s always portrayed as the most significant equation.
Is this just because Einstein was a popular figure, or is it particularly important in understanding the universe? Moreso than other equations?
In: Physics
the TLDR version: it offers a mathematical link between Mass and Energy that allowed us as a result to link Mass with Gravity and explains some of oddities we noticed regarding the universe(specifically how bodies like Stars affect the space around them)
it also offers an explanation as to why reaching lightspeed might not be physically possible for anything that has Mass(which is a bit of pickle because we still aren’t quite sure if light itself is a particle or wave. the 1st would mean there is something about this particle that we dont understand, while the latter would mean that this wave would carry infinite energy, which is a big “Nope”.)
Lastly this equation also proves that it is possible to turn Mass into energy and viceversa, which came in handy at understanding nuclear fusion/fission.
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