Lecture

Relativistic Dynamics: Mass-Energy Equivalence and Special Relativity

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In course

PHYS-106(h): General physics : thermodynamics

Le but du cours de Physique générale est de donner à l'étudiant les notions de base nécessaires à la compréhension des phénomènes physiques. L'objectif est atteint lorsque l'étudiant est capable de prévoir quantitativement les conséquences de ces phénomène ...

Description

This lecture covers the equivalence between mass and energy, the relationship between momentum and energy, and the famous equation E=mc². It also discusses the mass defect, relativistic dynamics, and the enormous energy stored in mass, exemplifying with the power consumption of a house.

Instructor

Ivo Furno

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Jules Amédée Aristobule Schadt, Renat Karimov, Amélie Renggli, Yuri Asnis, Michael Goddijn, Vanni Jonas Meier, Cyrille Sepulchre, Francesco D'Angelo Past EPFL PhD Students Federico Nespoli, Oulfa Chellai, Thibaut François Hugo Richard, Fabian Manke, Riccardo Agnello, Alexandra Waskow, Lorenzo Ibba, Agus Rita, Kadi Lyes Roland Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Davoud Iraji, Christian Gabriel Theiler, Alexandre Dominique Bovet, Fabio Avino Courses General physics : thermodyn

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Relativity: Special relativity

Related concepts (32)

Nuclear binding energy

Nuclear binding energy in experimental physics is the minimum energy that is required to disassemble the nucleus of an atom into its constituent protons and neutrons, known collectively as nucleons. The binding energy for stable nuclei is always a positive number, as the nucleus must gain energy for the nucleons to move apart from each other. Nucleons are attracted to each other by the strong nuclear force. In theoretical nuclear physics, the nuclear binding energy is considered a negative number.

Mass–energy equivalence

In physics, mass–energy equivalence is the relationship between mass and energy in a system's rest frame, where the two quantities differ only by a multiplicative constant and the units of measurement. The principle is described by the physicist Albert Einstein's formula: . In a reference frame where the system is moving, its relativistic energy and relativistic mass (instead of rest mass) obey the same formula. The formula defines the energy E of a particle in its rest frame as the product of mass (m) with the speed of light squared (c2).

Binding energy

In physics and chemistry, binding energy is the smallest amount of energy required to remove a particle from a system of particles or to disassemble a system of particles into individual parts. In the former meaning the term is predominantly used in condensed matter physics, atomic physics, and chemistry, whereas in nuclear physics the term separation energy is used. A bound system is typically at a lower energy level than its unbound constituents.

History of special relativity

The history of special relativity consists of many theoretical results and empirical findings obtained by Albert A. Michelson, Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincaré and others. It culminated in the theory of special relativity proposed by Albert Einstein and subsequent work of Max Planck, Hermann Minkowski and others. Although Isaac Newton based his physics on absolute time and space, he also adhered to the principle of relativity of Galileo Galilei restating it precisely for mechanical systems.

Mass in special relativity

The word "mass" has two meanings in special relativity: invariant mass (also called rest mass) is an invariant quantity which is the same for all observers in all reference frames, while the relativistic mass is dependent on the velocity of the observer. According to the concept of mass–energy equivalence, invariant mass is equivalent to rest energy, while relativistic mass is equivalent to relativistic energy (also called total energy).

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