E=MC2

Victims of TBI like me are supposed to lose the logic with the ability to do math, which is why I was told that I’m unable to take care of my own money, therefore I must have someone with financial Power of Attorney looking over how I spend dimes and if I do it, I must give good reasons.

Aside from the fact that once again (for the nth time) nobody can explain to me how such disability could ever have been detected in me, now it’s my sister in Italy who “protects” me from my own financial disability.



So I’m now going to try to explain with simple math something that many say is impossible for me to do.

Einstein used what is called a "thought experiment". It’s an experiment that may be difficult or even impossible to actually perform but you can imagine it. So it goes like this.



Suppose you have a box of mass M and length L that is completely isolated from its surroundings and that is standing still. It’s known that light carries momentum equal to E/c if E is the energy associated with the light. So imagine a burst of light with energy E at one end of the box that travels to the other end. When the light leaves the one end we must have conservation of momentum so the box must be given an equal and opposite momentum M*v where v is the velocity given to the box. So we can write:

M*v = -E/c

v = -E/(M*c)

And this is the velocity of the box

After traveling for a short time t = L/c (v is much, much smaller than c), the light hits the other end of the box and gives it an impulse equal and opposite to what it gave to the box initially and the box comes to a stop. We can calculate the distance the box moved using its velocity and the time during which it was moving.


Distance = velocity * time

D = v*t = [-E/(M*c)](L/c) = -E*L/(M*c^2)

But, since this is an isolated system, you don't want to think that the box would actually move, so I postulate that the light carried with it some equivalent mass “m” such that the center of mass of the box does not move. This means that:

m*L + M*D = 0

Solve this for the ratio L/M

m*L = -M*D

L/M = -Dm

And put this into the equation for D

D = -E*L/(M*c^2) = (-E/c^2)(L/M) = (-E/c^2)(-D/m)

D = D*(E/mc^2)

Therefore E = mc^2



This is not exactly how Einstein did the experiment but it conveys its meaning. The physics are a little off but, if you get more rigorous, you will arrive at the same conclusion.

Mathematics have always been a very big passion for me, very much like piano music composition and performances, but since I’m mathematically and therefore financially disabled someone else must have complete access to the management of all my money, no matter where in the world, so I live alone (abandoned) and I spend my days watching movies on Netflix, that I’m allowed to be member of because I can give a good reason.