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PBS Features Einstein's Famous Equation

Posted by Zonk on from the einstein's-party-years dept.

porp writes "On Tuesday, October 11th at 8PM EDT, PBS will feature a docudrama about Einstein's discovery of his famous E=mc^2 equation. The program will include details explaining those who came before him and the development of his miracle year. The pinnacle of which according to the program was his discovery that matter and energy are two sides of the same coin. Yahoo summarizes the program details in length." From the article: "Based on David Bodanis' best-seller 'E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation,' the program explores the lives of the men and women who helped develop concepts behind each term: E for energy; m for mass; c for the speed of light; and 2 for 'squared,' the multiplication of one number by itself."

4 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Get the formula right. by pmj · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you are going to be pedantic, you should at least put in the right form of the equation.
    E=[(pc)^2 + (mc^2)^2]^(1/2)

    --
    Are you BioCurious?
  2. WTF @ summary by Sartak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is, ostensibly, a site which features news for nerds. If you can show me a true nerd who doesn't know what E=mc^2 represents, or even what ^2 means, then I will weep. Couldn't the submitter use something a little more interesting to us?

  3. Re:Get the formula right. by mako1138 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Note that the page you mention is a mirror of the Wikipedia article on mass. And it doesn't really have anything to do with quantum mechanics - we are taught non-relativistic (and time-independent) QM in undergrad courses.

    The main things to take from E^2 - (pc)^2 = (mc^2)^2:

    1. Set the mass m equal to 0. We get E = pc, or p = E/c. Thus momentum is defined for massless particles in special relativity. Newtonian mechanics can't handle this correctly.

    2. Set the momentum p equal to 0. We get E = mc^2, popularly known as energy-mass equivalence. There's subtleties to it, though; see Relativistic mass.

  4. It's a semantics, the formula WAS right by Newton+IV · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Nah, the formula is right E=mc^2, except the mass m is the RELATIVISTIC mass, defined as m_0/sqrt(1-(v/c)^2). m_0 here is the mass of the body at rest. But indeed, the rest mass m_0 is a better quantity to use. See for example http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/S R/mass.html