Is Matter Converted to Energy in Reactions?

作者

  • Paul K. Andersen New Mexico State University

摘要

Einstein's mass-energy equation, E=mc^2, is often interpreted incorrectly to mean that matter can be converted into energy (or energy into matter) in chemical and nuclear reactions. The equation actually implies that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy content; the mass increases if the energy increases. This requires that we modify our usual mass balance.

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Paul K. Andersen is Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at New Mexico State University. He received his BS from Brigham Young University and his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, both in chemical engineering. His research interests include electrochemical engineering and process simulation. He is author of Just Enough Unix (McGraw-Hill, 2000) and coauthor of Essential C (Oxford, 1995).

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已出版

2000-04-01

期

卷 34 编号 2 (2000): Spring 2000

栏目

Manuscripts