[WildTurkey]

ok. this is the first time I have heard of chemical and kinetic reactions having anything to do with conversion of energy to mass and vice-versa.

Understood. Most HS's and even a lot of college courses teach otherwise.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0003691.html

E = mc2 This conversion of mass into energy is the basis of atomic power. Einstein’s special theory of relativity (1905) correlates any gain, E, in energy with a gain, m, in mass, by the equation, E = mc2, in which c is the speed of light. The conversion of mass into energy in accordance with this equation applies universally, although it is only in nuclear reactions that the percentage change in mass is large enough to detect.

[King Prout]

again, thanks. either they didn't teach this in chem 101 at Tulane in '89... or I didn't learn it ;)