Related papers: Is E=mc^2 an exclusively relativistic result?
The equivalence of mass and energy is indelibly linked with relativity, both by scientists and in the popular mind. I prove that E = mc^2 by demanding momentum conservation of an object that emits two equal electromagnetic wave packets in…
The article traces the way Einstein formulated the relation between energy and mass in his work from 1905 to 1955. Einstein emphasized quite often that the mass $m$ of a body is equivalent to its rest energy $E_0$. At the same time he…
In 1905, Einstein discovered the famous equation: E=mc^2, which means that the rest mass of a particle is some kind of energy. This energy is generally referred to as "rest energy", since the particle is believed to be at rest. This paper…
Since the appearance of Einstein's paper {\em"On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"} and the birth of special relativity, it is understood that the theory was basically coded within Maxwell's equations. The celebrated mass-energy…
The Einstein's mass-energy relation $E=mc^2$ is one of the most fundamental formulae in physics, but it has not been seriously tested by an elaborated experiment, and only some indirect evidences in nuclear reaction suggested that it holds…
It is universally believed that with his 1905 paper "Does the inertia of a body depend on its energy content?" Einstein first demonstrated the equivalence of mass and energy by making use of his special theory of relativity. In the final…
There are several ways to derive Einstein's celebrated formula for the energy of a massive particle at rest, $E=mc^2$. Noether's theorem applied to the relativistic Lagrange function provides an unambiguous and straightforward access to…
The energy-mass content of Einstein's E = mc^{2} is well known. For a fixed value of mass, E = mc^{2} is an energy-momentum relation which takes the form E = \sqrt{m^{2} + p^{2}}. This relation was formulated in 1905 for point particles.…
The E=mc^2 relationship is not unique to special relativity. Einstein published one exact derivation from special relativity and two approximate derivations that used general extensions to Newtonian mechanics, and an exact derivation is…
We review in the present article the conjecture of electromagnetic mass by Lorentz. The philosophical perspectives and historical accounts of this idea are described, especially, in the light of Einstein's special relativistic formula {E =…
It has recently been claimed that relativity's most famous equation, E = mc^2, has a cosmological basis, representing the gravitational binding energy for a particle to escape from the origin to a gravitational horizon of the universe. In…
The expressions of momentum and energy of a particle in special relativity are often derived in a quite unconvincing manner in elementary text, by resorting either to electrodynamic or quantum considerations, or via the introduction of the…
Based on relativistic velocity addition and the conservation of momentum and energy, I present derivations of the expressions for the relativistic momentum and kinetic energy, and $E=mc^2$.
A major consequence of special relativity, expressed in the relation $E_0 = m c^2$, is that the total energy content of an object at rest, including its thermal motion and binding energy among its constituents, is a measure of its inertia,…
In relativistic mechanics the energy-momentum of a free point mass moving without acceleration forms a four-vector. Einstein's celebrated energy-mass relation E=mc^2 is commonly derived from that fact. By contrast, in Newtonian mechanics…
The famous equation $E=mc^2$ is a version of particle mass being essentially the magnitude of the (energy-)momentum four-vector in the setting of `relativistic' dynamics, which can be seen as dictated by the Poincar\'e symmetry adopted as…
Although Einstein's name is closely linked with the celebrated relation E = mc2 between mass and energy, a critical examination of the more than half dozen "proofs" of this relation that Einstein produced over a span of forty years reveals…
In 1905, Einstein carried out his first derivation of the mass-energy equivalence by studying in different reference frames the energy balance of a body emitting electromagnetic radiation and assuming special relativity as a prerequisite.…
Einstein's relation E=Mc^2 between the energy E and the mass M is the cornerstone of the relativity theory. This relation is often derived in a context of the relativistic theory for closed systems which do not accelerate. By contrast,…
Einstein's most famous equation -- $E=mc^2$ -- generated a short-circuit between the concepts of mass and energy, which also affects other concepts like matter, radiation, and vacuum. Physics currently has a mixture of classical,…