Joy Hakim

Monday, January 28, 2008; Page B02

Hakim's "Einstein Adds a New Dimension" devotes a chapter to E=mc2:

Scientific thoughts are written in the language of mathematics. And the most famous sentence in that language is one that Einstein wrote in 1907. . . . This is it:

E=mc2 .

It is the best-known equation in all of science. E=energy, m=mass, and c=the speed of light in a vacuum. Einstein's formula says that mass and energy are interchangeable.

Now common sense tell syou that a ball and the energy it takes to throw a ball are not the same. Yet particle accelerators can take the nucleus of an atom from that ball and, under certain circumstances, change it into energy. Mass, it seems, is very, very concentrated energy.

E=mc2 turned out to be an explosive formula.

"Physical Science," a new textbook published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, a Harcourt Education company, is being considered for adoption by Arlington County public schools. The index says this is the book's only reference to Einstein:

The famous 20th-century scientist Albert Einstein discovered an equation that is almost as famous as he is. That equation is E=mc 2. You may have heard of it before. But what does it mean?

The equation represents a relationship between mass and energy. E represents energy, m represents mass, and c represents the speed of light. So, E=mc 2means that a small amount of mass has a very large amount of energy! Nuclear reactors harness this energy, which is given off when radioactive atoms split.