E=Mc2 Einstein's Big Idea (Part 1 of 2)

Exactly 100 years ago, Albert Einstein grappled with the implications of his revolutionary special theory of relativity and came to a startling conclusion: mass and energy are one, related by the formula E = mc2. In "Einstein's Big Idea," NOVA dramatizes the remarkable story behind this equation.

E = mc2 was just one of several extraordinary breakthroughs that Einstein made in 1905, including the completion of his special theory of relativity, his identification of proof that atoms exist, and his explanation of the nature of light, which would win him the Nobel Prize in Physics. To honor the centenary of these achievements, 2005 has been declared the World Year of Physics by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.

Among Einstein's ideas, E = mc2 is by far the most famous. Yet how many people know what it really means? In a thought-provoking and engrossing docudrama, NOVA illuminates this deceptively simple formula by unraveling the story of how it came to be.

Based on David Bodanis's bestselling book E = mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation, the program explores the lives of the men and women who helped develop the concepts behind each term in the equation: E for energy; m for mass; c for the speed of light; and 2 for "squared," the multiplication of one number by itself.

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Science & Technology

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[bridgetroll9]

I question the sanity of the concept that the heat from my brakes is stopping my car.

[05sdj]

@bridgetroll9 Heat produced by your breaks doesn't stop your car. It is actually the friction between your break pads and drum. And as you should know, friction produces heat. And heating your break assembly by applying the breaks alot actually makes the breaking system less efficient.

[BythewayIampink]

@05sdj "Breaking system" WTF is that? Car's have Brakes, NOT Breaks.

[05sdj]

@BythewayIampink Thanks for the pointer, I am sure no one knew what I was trying to say.

[bridgetroll9]

No work can be performed by multiplying a mass by the speed of light and squareing it.

Mass can do no work. It takes work to move mass. Water falling is mass being moved by gravity. Gravity is doing the work not the water.

[05sdj]

@bridgetroll9 How about I extract the hydrogen from water and the set fire to it. That's a form of energy in water.

[psppower123456789]

@ 50:00 That is very impressive...is there some theory of this on the internet ?

[05sdj]

@ivanwarrior37 Yeah I heard about the neutrino particle. Supposedly it travels about 4 miles/hr faster than the speed of light? Interesting to see what comes of it...

[MasterOfDisguise116]

@11iAm95 its gabe i cant believe thi...

[MasterOfDisguise116]

@11iAm95 lmao larry... yes i indeed am now watching it...

[Sekgolo74]

@11iAm95 lollll Larry this is Brendan xD im doing the same thing lolll

[11iAm95]

Soooo who else waited/is going to wait till last min to watch this for HW from Mr. S's chem honors class!!!! lolol. Yeahhh... Larry here. It'd be pretty funny if you read this too Mr. S. I wonder if u go down and read the comments. Ohhh weelll. I wonder if any of u actually are gunna read this...

[xhemexx]

I don't know man I am looking at this myself, I mean do we really know what Einstein really thought

[nikbistro2]

3 people don't get E=Mc2

[VanillaWiteOut]

Can someone sum this up in 200 words I have a paper due on this in like two hours.

[bridgetroll9]

@Matthewkindpend The equation works? Saying electricity can flow through a conductor is equivalent to saying water can flow through a solid object. Since it is not possible to flow water through a solid object. So is someone smart or insane saying it can?

[bridgetroll9]

@Matthewkindpend Does gravity make the rock move? Or does the rock make the rock move?

Gravity and magnetic fields perform work with no heat and both are not a liquid or a solid or or a gas.

Using friction/resistance to do work is backwards to all logic and reason.