Question

In the equasion E=mc2, What does e, m, & c stand for?

Answer 1

Hi there Danman, E is energy (measured in joules), m is mass (measured in kilograms) and c is the speed of light (roughly 3 times 10 to the power of 8 meters per second)

Answer 2

Thanks

Answer 3

To further that answer, strictly speaking \(m\) is the rest mass of the object, since the energy \(E\) of a particle in relativity (from whence this equation comes) depends upon the velocity of the object as well as its mass energy. The full equation is \[E=\sqrt{p^2c^2+m^2c^4}\] Where p is the momentum of the momentum of the particle, and other symbols defined as above.

As you can see when a particle is not moving (i.e. it is at rest), momentum is zero and the equation reduces to \[E=mc^2\] . Conversely, if the particle has zero rest mass, then its energy is given by \[E=pc\] .