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Mass-energy relation
The equivalence of mass and energy becomes visible in the formula
Explanation
Substitution of the relativistic mass in the formula E = mc2 gives
where
m0 Rest mass v Velocity c Speed of light
From the binomium development follows
The first term is the rest-mass energy. The second term is the ordinary kinetic energy of classical physics. For particle velocity v ≪ c all further terms can be neglected.
HistoryThe German physicist Albert Einstein published the expression in the special theory of relativity in 1905. |