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micka | 09:13 Sun 21st Aug 2005 | Science
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what is e=mc2?
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It's an equation expressing the potential energy stored in matter.
Energy = Mass x The Speed Of Light squard

Just to elaborate a bit, for every bit of matter that something is comprised of, you get one hell of a lot of energy back from it, since the speed of light multiplied by itself is a pretty big number.
A person contains roughly 7,000,000,000,000,000,000 joules of energy.

bobjms figure is correct, except for Monday mornings, obviously, when it mysteriously shrinks to nothing.

The equation also demonstrates the equivalence of energy and matter...

isn't it a bit random to square the speed of light? I don't really understand the point unless energy somehow comes from the speed of light.

Sorry if I am being stupid!

Well I don't think Einstien just radomly though that squaring the speed of light was a good idea. It's been universally accepted that the equation correctly represents the total realisable energy from a chunk of matter. 
dk_psy - I think the c^2 bit is due to the kinetic energy of an object being propotional to it's velocity. Might be wrong though.
the c2 bit is just due to the units used. it doesn't have to be there if you dont want it to.

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