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Question
#51412. gmackematix
asks:
There is an equation in physics that says E^2 = m"2c^4 + p^2c"2. What does p represent in this equation?
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gmackematix
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I feel I should explain for any interested non-physicists that this is the general case of the slightly more familiar equation E=mc"2 for moving particles. The famous equation is the result when p=0.
Oct 03 04, 6:36 PM
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peasypod
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This guy's story is interesting:
 http://www2.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn-archive1/posts/topic743.shtm
Momentum is related to energy and energy to mass by Einstein’s mass energy relation:
E^2 = m^2c^4 + p^2c^2
where in this case the mass can be unambiguously defined as a real mass or rest mass, reducing the relationship to E = p c for the massless photon.
Using E = mc^2 to base an energy – mass equivalence upon is ambiguous, the mass here is relativistic mass. The correction then would be:
E = m c^2 / sqrt( 1 – v^2/c^2)
which uses a Lorentz transform (the bit under e=mc^2) to correct a frame variant mass-energy. (you can see how this may be used to derive the full form of Einstein’s mass-energy relationship).
Oct 03 04, 6:50 PM
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