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That Famous Equation and You
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/opinion/30greene.html ^ | September 30, 2005 | BRIAN GREENE

Posted on 10/01/2005 8:10:18 PM PDT by GummyIII

That Famous Equation and You

By BRIAN GREENE

Correction Appended

DURING the summer of 1905, while fulfilling his duties in the patent office in Bern, Switzerland, Albert Einstein was fiddling with a tantalizing outcome of the special theory of relativity he'd published in June. His new insight, at once simple and startling, led him to wonder whether "the Lord might be laughing ... and leading me around by the nose."

But by September, confident in the result, Einstein wrote a three-page supplement to the June paper, publishing perhaps the most profound afterthought in the history of science. A hundred years ago this month, the final equation of his short article gave the world E = mc².

In the century since, E = mc² has become the most recognized icon of the modern scientific era. Yet for all its symbolic worth, the equation's intimate presence in everyday life goes largely unnoticed. There is nothing you can do, not a move you can make, not a thought you can have, that doesn't tap directly into E = mc². Einstein's equation is constantly at work, providing an unseen hand that shapes the world into its familiar form. It's an equation that tells of matter, energy and a remarkable bridge between them.

More here...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Philosophy; Technical
KEYWORDS: albert; einstein; emc2; equation; physics
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To: longshadow

We should not simply add speeds or velocities since that would not conform to the measurements made of phenomena in the universe we inhabit. The laws remain invariant under transformation. Anyway, time is an illusion and should be removed from the equations by change of variable.


81 posted on 10/02/2005 12:19:49 PM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: William Tell

Greene is one of the sharper knives in the drawer. His explanation of the observed flatness of the universe is mind-expanding.


82 posted on 10/02/2005 12:21:49 PM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: neverdem
I'm quite surprised that the thread became so big without being in a sidebar.

I just added it to "philosophy." I do that with all the science threads that I post.

83 posted on 10/02/2005 1:24:28 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Disclaimer -- this information may be legally false in Kansas.)
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To: neverdem

Not I...it's the subject, not the sidebar. I never look at the sidebars. Well, almost never.


84 posted on 10/02/2005 1:32:13 PM PDT by GummyIII (If you have the ability, it's your responsibility." Marine Sgt. John Place, Silver Star recipient)
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To: PatrickHenry; neverdem
Wait...it was/is in a sidebar from the minute I posted it.


85 posted on 10/02/2005 1:44:39 PM PDT by GummyIII (If you have the ability, it's your responsibility." Marine Sgt. John Place, Silver Star recipient)
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To: PatrickHenry
I just added it to "philosophy." I do that with all the science threads that I post.

The following is the configuration of my sidebars, which I thought was the same for everyone.

News/Activism Activism/Chapters
News/Activism Announcements
News/Activism Breaking News
News/Activism Editorial
News/Activism Free Republic
News/Activism Front Page News

What am I missing? The NY Times posted this article as an OpEd column.

BTW, I was the one who suggested to anyone on my health and science list to post this thread in the editorial sidebar. I often link a number of unrelated health and science unposted articles and posted threads when I ping my health and science list, because the admin mods want me to post these articles in chat. GummyIII posted it like a routine article.

86 posted on 10/02/2005 1:52:07 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

Go to the bottom of your sidebar, and click on "configure sidebar".


87 posted on 10/02/2005 1:56:42 PM PDT by GummyIII (If you have the ability, it's your responsibility." Marine Sgt. John Place, Silver Star recipient)
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To: GummyIII

How did you get the URL for that image in your last comment?

http://users.adelphia.net/~staticnrg/sidebar.png


88 posted on 10/02/2005 1:58:48 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

I took a screen shot (Used SnagIT from techsmiths.com) and uploaded it to my webspace.


89 posted on 10/02/2005 2:03:10 PM PDT by GummyIII (If you have the ability, it's your responsibility." Marine Sgt. John Place, Silver Star recipient)
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To: GummyIII
"A little known fact about Einstein's September 1905 paper is that he didn't actually write E = mc2; he wrote the mathematically equivalent (though less euphonious) m = E/c², placing greater emphasis on creating mass from energy (as in the joust) than on creating energy from mass (as in nuclear weapons and power stations).

He editorializes too much. The title of the paper is, "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon its Energy Content?". What he did was to calculate the energy difference measured for a body emitting radiaiton, in the stationary frame of the emitter, and one moving paralell to it's reference frame.

The result from the paper is:
K0 - K1 = 1/2*L/c2*v2.

Ks and Ls are energy. His conclusion was,
"If a body gives off the energy L in the form of radiation, it's mass diminishes by L/c2." His stated equivalent was, "radiation conveys inertia between emitting and absorbing bodies."

The more general conclusion stated was,
"The mass of a body is a measure of its energy content."

"If the energy changes by L, the mass of the body changes by L/(9*1020), the energy being measured in ergs, and the mass in grammes."

His concern in this was with knowing the physics of the world, not with creating anything. To test the theory, he proposed, "It is not impossible that with bodies whose energy content is variable to a high degree(e.g. with radium salts) the theory may successfully put to the test."

90 posted on 10/02/2005 2:03:22 PM PDT by spunkets
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To: neverdem

It's a personal judgment call as to what sidebar you want to use -- subject to being overridden by the mods, of course. I don't think a science thread is an "editorial," but that's just my opinion. When I post a science thread, I click on the topics of "philosophy" and "culture/society." I've always done it that way. Every now and then they get dumped into "chat," but that's up to the mods.


91 posted on 10/02/2005 2:04:48 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Disclaimer -- this information may be legally false in Kansas.)
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To: GummyIII; PatrickHenry

Nevermind, I finally stumbled into adding more topics and sidebars.


92 posted on 10/02/2005 2:06:02 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: GummyIII

Gummy dear.

I am into science than you can use on a daily basis.

Where does the energy come from on a humid day to turn my smoothed and coiffed hair into a frizzy mess.

Is energy expended or conserved when my hair goes south?

Are my wild locks actually a battery that could resolve the worlds energy woes?


I hear it moving as it crinkles, energy is happening.


93 posted on 10/02/2005 2:17:25 PM PDT by TASMANIANRED (Nagin Cried, People died.)
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To: PatrickHenry; GummyIII

BTW, Thank you!


94 posted on 10/02/2005 2:22:27 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: TASMANIANRED

It depends on whether you are a no0b who has just been zotted or an "old timer" who's energy is being expended. ;-) In your case, I'd say the latter. I'm sure others on here have more enlightened answers than I.


95 posted on 10/02/2005 2:28:25 PM PDT by GummyIII (If you have the ability, it's your responsibility." Marine Sgt. John Place, Silver Star recipient)
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To: spunkets

They say the a-bomb proved the equation. Maybe, but measuring the mass of the particles after the explosion must be quite a task.


96 posted on 10/02/2005 2:32:59 PM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: TASMANIANRED
"Where does the energy come from on a humid day to turn my smoothed and coiffed hair into a frizzy mess.

Frizz is normally caused by static electricity. Dry air makes it worse, because the surface conductivity to drain the charge away is lower.

Your problem sounds like something else. The cross section of your hair is not round, or symmetric, so it has different curvature for different humidity values. It may also have twist, which varies as a function of humidity. That would also cause it to move out of place.

The energy, or driving force here is the "energy of hydration." Water absorption and adsorption occurs with an energy release. It takes energy to drive the water off.

97 posted on 10/02/2005 2:47:24 PM PDT by spunkets
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To: GummyIII
No no0b..

Just ponder the imponderables.

Just to think all those millions of years of humanity that managed to live, work and prosper without the benefit of E=MC squared.

Pyramids, Parthenon, Wall of China, Steam Engines, electricity.
98 posted on 10/02/2005 2:49:34 PM PDT by TASMANIANRED (Nagin Cried, People died.)
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To: gondramB

I thought E=MC2 is what happens in fission and fusion, the result of splitting or adding protons from an atom.
The gas in the car is chemical energy.


99 posted on 10/02/2005 2:52:41 PM PDT by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it. Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: RightWhale
"They say the a-bomb proved the equation. Maybe, but measuring the mass of the particles after the explosion must be quite a task."

That's only one of the many dramatic pieces of evidence. The important data after the explosion is the energy release. The calculations before the release contain both the mass converted and the equivalent energy release. The theoretical calculations made before the explosion are used to engineer the device and its energy release.

100 posted on 10/02/2005 2:56:19 PM PDT by spunkets
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