# If E=MC2

## What would happen if Einstien was wrong about E=MC2

• ### What would happen if E=MC2 was wrong?

• Total voters
0
• Poll closed .
If E=MC2....

What would be the reprocutions if Einstien's e=mc2 was found to be wrong.

chroot
Staff Emeritus
Gold Member
Neither nuclear reactors nor nuclear bombs would work. Oh, and the Sun wouldn't work either.

- Warren

Yea ok nuc plant and bombs along with countless other things wouldn't work but think about it E=MC2 says speed of light is equal to at best 50% the speed of light how is that be? Specialy since light is suppose to move in waves yet some how it is present in a vacume, how? Wouldn't that imply the light is some kind of organized energy?

chroot
Staff Emeritus
Gold Member
E = mc2 doesn't say anything at all about light being 50% of anything -- and I have no idea what makes you think it does.

E = mc2 says that the mass and energy are equivalent; that's all. In units were c = 1 (time measured in seconds and distance measured in light-seconds, for example), the equation is just E = m.

- Warren

chroot
Staff Emeritus
Gold Member
And since your poll doesn't make any sense, I have closed it.

- Warren

chroot said:
your poll doesn't make any sense

- Warren

Indeed =x I looked at it for like a minute before scrolling down, 'cause I thought there was something I missed =x

chroot said:
E = mc2 says that the mass and energy are equivalent; that's all.
IMHO - That has no meaning for me. It'd be like interpreting the equation E = hf as saying that frequency and energy are equivalent.

E0 = m0c2 says that if a body radiates energy in the amount E then its proper mass m0 will be reduced by the quantity E0/c2.

Pete

E = mc^2 its a general equation. E = hf its not... Its valid for a photon. It says that the energy of a photon is equivalent to its frecuency.

If E=MC^2 was wrong, we would not observe predictions from occurring as expected, as in chroot's example, nuclear bombs woudn't work, etc.

Einstein thought long and hard about this equation, basing it on observations and making predictions that have shown its accuracy.

It would be kind of like saying what if Newton was wrong? We couldn't calculate projectile motion or determine ahead of time how fast something will be moving when it hits the ground when dropped from a known height. If Newton was wrong would the object just float there?

MiGUi said:
E = mc^2 its a general equation. E = hf its not... Its valid for a photon. It says that the energy of a photon is equivalent to its frecuency.

E=mc^2 isnt that 'general' either. It is only correct if the momentum of the object is zero. The general relation is:

$$E^2=m^2c^4-p^2c^2$$