• Question: What are your thoughts on the theory of relativity, for example Einstein's E=mc^2 (Energy= mass times the speed of light squared)?

    Asked by SamG@NSETC to Alex, Ali, Kerry, Philip, Theo on 14 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Philip Ratcliffe

      Philip Ratcliffe answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      Good job you explained that formula to me, I might not have understood it otherwise (only joking).
      Umm, in what sense? Do I like it? Yes, Do I think it’s right? Well, yes. Do I think it’s important? Well, certainly. It tells us, for one thing, that if I can transform even a tiny amount of mass into energy I can keep really really warm. That’s because c is a very big number: 300,000,000 m/s. That means that if I converted even just a microgram (one millionth of a gram) of anything completely into energy, I’d get out about 90,000,000 Joules. That’s enough energy to lift a 90kg person (so not so small!) about 100 km into the sky!
      Oh, maybe someone wants to check my arithmetic; I could easily have made a mistake!

    • Photo: Alison Thomson

      Alison Thomson answered on 17 Nov 2014:

      I’m pretty happy with Einstein’s work! To be honest, I’m not a physics whizz, but most people seem to be happy with his work so I’m happy to go along with it!

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