Such a simple equation ... 3 variables ... and you have recipe for how matter and energy are equivalent. But is it accurate? Does it hold up even decades later as our understanding of the quantum world deepens? A new round of experiments by a host of institutes finds Einstein's famous equation to be accurate out to .00004% ... I'd say that's pretty good eh?
I love that equation as I think it really shows the fingerprint of God...simple, elegant, and to the point.
BEST DIRECT TEST OF E=mc^2. Albert Einstein's formulation of how matter and energy are equivalent is an important enunciation of the principle of conserved energy. As far as we know, it is at work at the moment an atom bomb explodes, when the fissioning of uranium is exploited for making commercial electricity, or when an electron and positron annihilate inside a PET scanner. A new experiment---conducted by scientists from MIT, Universite Laval, Florida State, Oxford, NIST, and Institut Laue-Langevin---keeps careful account of both matter mass and electromagnetic energy for a process in which ions of sulphur and silicon absorb neutrons, transforming them into new isotopes as they emit gamma rays. In this transaction Einstein's equation is shown experimentally to be true at a level of 0.00004%, a factor of 55 better than the previous best test. (Rainville et al., Nature, 22/29 December 2005.)
I love this stuff. What always amazed me is that the speed of light has always been presented as being 186,000 miles/second. Such a round number! Physicists aren't the kind to round.
And don't get me started on pi! Talk about God's fingerprint. It's infinitely deep, it's everywhere (embedded in the fabric of the universe), it never changes (if it did, everything as we know it would be catastrpohically changed)
Posted by: Jason Kergosien | January 12, 2006 at 12:07 PM
E=mc^2 is energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.
In college, the class I enjoyed most was Relativistic Physics. That is the theory or relativity and all that Albert Einstein stuff. I was a new Christian and I saw God everywhere. For example, the symmetry of all the equations has brilliant design all over it. And the full equations for Energy, Mass, Length, and Time ALL include "c". And "c" is light. Did you know that as you travel closer to the speed of light, your mass increases closer to infinity. And time slows down too. In fact, if you travel a lot you actually get younger than people not traveling. You can compute it. Pretty cool!
When God created everything, he first said, "Let there be Light." So why would he do that first? My theory is that he was creating the foundation for matter and energy and everything physical. And all of that includes light. And Jesus is the Light of the world -- literally because all that we see and feel is governed by light.
One more thing. Did you know that if you have mass, it is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light (sorry Star Trek fans). So I guess that means we can't go faster than God. Makes sense I think. :-)
In Christ,
Mark Stephenson
http://WebEmpoweredChurch.com
Posted by: Mark Stephenson | January 23, 2006 at 06:36 PM