E MC2
E MC2
E MC2
Walter Benenson Lyman Briggs School of Science and Department of Physics and Astronomy
Answer is simple: The nucleus was discovered 13 years later! Many books make this mistake. The idea that this equation works only in atomic bombs etc.
What is Mass?
Mass, M, is the resistance of a body to acceleration. The bigger the mass, the harder it is to accelerate. This is called the inertial mass. Weight is the attraction of the Earth on a body. This turns out to be proportional to the mass. This type of mass is called the gravitational mass. an experimental fact: inertial mass = gravitational mass we dont know why this is so.
What is Momentum?
Momentum is the amount of inertia which a moving body possesses. It has a direction and is proportional to the mass M of the body and its speed. Except for one case: electromagnetic radiation which has momentum but no mass. The reason SUVs are safer than sedans for the occupants is because they have much more momentum at the same speed. They are harder to stop. The faster you stop the more the damage to the driver.
What is E = Mc2?
Review: light consists of particles called photons. For a photon E = h! = cp where p is the momentum. But even classical theories (no photons) give light a momentum. Comet tails bend away from the sun because of this. This is an experimental fact which has been veried many, many times. For example when an atom or nucleus emits an x-ray or "-ray, it recoils with precoil = h!/c. The energy of this recoil reduces that available for the emitted photon. (Mossbauer effect)
Nucleus
PAN, July 27, 2005, slide 9
Photon
Conservation of Momentum
You can think of this three ways: 1. Newtons third law (man pushes on boat, it pushes back) 2. Momentum is conserved (man goes to left, boat goes right) 3. Center of mass of man plus boat can not move
If radiation E is emitted from the left end of the box, the box must recoil to the left with a calculable momentum. Hence the box moves a calculable distance before the radiation is absorbed at the other end, and the box stops. Since the center of mass can not move, the radiation must have transferred mass.
The Algebra
recoil of box due to light momentum time light is in ight distance box moves center of mass doesnt move plug in for !x
Mv =
E c L c
v =
E Mc
!t =
!x = v!t =
EL Mc2
0 = !M"x + mL
EL c2
= mL
solve
PAN, July 27, 2005, slide 12
E = mc2
In Class Exercise
According to what we have said, which has a larger mass, The bound hydrogen atom on the left or the unbound proton plus electron on the right?
<
bound electron
unbound electron
You have to add energy to the left system to make it into the right system. Therefore it has less mass by an amount Ebinding/c2
PAN, July 27, 2005, slide 13
!E = !Mc2
Another
How much mass is converted to energy when 2 moles of water are produced from H and O? It takes a net of 118 kcal to decompose 2 moles of H2O into its elements 2H2 + O2 # 2H20 2 moles = 36 g = 0.036 kg 118kcal = 118kcal4186J/kcal= 4.93105 J = E =mc2 m = E/c2 = 4.93105/(91016) = 5.510-12 kg fraction of mass lost = 5.510-14/0.036=1.510-10 too small to observe.
! = 1/(1-(v/c)2 ) 1/2
even at v/c = 0.02, (3,720 miles/second), " = 1.0002. Mass is only 0.02% bigger than the rest mass. Conclusion: relativity unimportant for macroscopic systems. Certainly not useful in space exploration. But GPS systems would not work without it.
0.2
0.4
v/c
0.6
0.8
1.0
f =
qB qB 2!m m
What happens as particle accelerates in the cyclotron? Its mass increases so f must change. Solution: B increases with R just the right way. At a xed B, f depends only on Q/m. So 6Li would have the same frequency as 12C. Small binding difference makes frequency different by 0.25%.
PAN, July 27, 2005, slide 19
Magnetic eld of the K50 increases right at the outer edge where the mass changes.
Massinitial
Massnal
Reaction
Massconverted = fMassinitial
Conclusions
E=Mc2 refers to the change in mass when you impart energy to a body. The mass of a solid body can not be converted entirely to energy. In fact only a tiny fraction. E=Mc2 refers to all systems not just nuclei Recommended reading: Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps: Empires of Time, by Peter Galison, E=Mc2 by David Bodanis. Main reference: Special Relativity, by A. P. French.
m1 m1
This takes into account the fact that recoil m1 has a reduced mass and m2 an increased mass. Complicated proof, but answer is the same.