Energy apparently equals mass times the speed of light squared

[russ_watters]

But if you are correct (and I believe you are) ...and 1 is a valid number to represent C (1light year per year) then C is not only random in the equation but irrellavent which is exactly the reason so many people ask WHY is it even in the equation? And that is the whole point of the question. If C can =1 and energy is SIMPLY the mass then what idiot decided to complicate it and add C2 in there ...and why ...because a big boom deserves a big number so make it look bigger or what?

This is still wrong. Please go back and reread my post #15, which explains how units work. You need to understand the reality that 186,000=300,000=1 if the units attached to those numbers are related properly. And more importantly, you need to understand what that means: it does not mean that "C" is irrelevant and can be removed from the equation.

 

[maxplankj]

First of all, if you talk about random numbers you have to give the probability density function.

If the speed of light is a random number as blackbird86 suppose but the standard deviation is very small like 10^{-100000} maybe we cannot differentiate if the speed of light is a constant or a random number.

 

[Dunce]

I think I may understand what the poster is confused about. They don't understand why the speed of light comes into the equation at all, so they're assuming that IN REGARDS TO THE EQUATION, the speed of light is a randomly chosen number.

If matter could be completely converted into energy, that energy would basically BE light. That's the speed the converted energy would travel, and that's why the speed of light comes into the equation. If an atom decays and we capture every particle emitted by the atom, and measure the energy of those particles(and the energy emitted by the decay of some of those particles), they all add up to e=mc^2.

I'm just a total layman, hopefully I haven't made things more confusing.

EDIT(further elaboration): As far as I can tell, we use the speed of light because it's the only universal constant we know when it comes to energy(light energy). In order to measure energy, you need to have a unit of distance, a unit of time, and a unit of mass. The speed of light takes that all into account. If we want E to be measured in Joules, we have to use the units used to calculate Joules(kilograms, meters, and seconds). So with Joules, C becomes how far light travels in a second, measured in meters. If we wanted to measure in Ergs, we'd use grams, meters and seconds instead. C would still be the same for the equation, but M would have 3 extra zero's. So your E would be a different and larger number, but equivalent to your Joule answer. So the units used in regards to measure the energy, are arbitrary in that sense. From your Joules answer, you can calculate how many BTU's that energy could generate, how many megatons it could create, whatever.

I think most people get confused about this because they don't fundamentally know how energy is measured to begin with.