Einstein's E = mc2 Mistakes: Difference between revisions
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==Abstract== | ==Abstract== | ||
Although Einstein's name is closely linked with the celebrated relation E = mc2 between mass and energy, a critical examination of the more than half dozen | Although Einstein's name is closely linked with the celebrated relation E = mc2 between mass and energy, a critical examination of the more than half dozen "proofs" of this relation that Einstein produced over a span of forty years reveals that all these proofs suffer from mistakes. Einstein introduced unjustified assumptions, committed fatal errors in logic, or adopted low-speed, restrictive approximations. He never succeeded in producing a valid general proof applicable to a realistic system with arbitrarily large internal speeds. The first such general proof was produced by Max Laue in 1911 (for "closed" systems with a timeindependent energy-momentum tensor) and it was generalized by Felix Klein in 1918 (for arbitrary timedependent "closed" systems). | ||
[[Category:Scientific Paper|einstein 's e mc mistakes]] | [[Category:Scientific Paper|einstein 's e mc mistakes]] | ||
[[Category:Relativity|einstein 's e mc mistakes]] | [[Category:Relativity|einstein 's e mc mistakes]] | ||
Latest revision as of 13:56, 22 July 2026
| Scientific Paper | |
|---|---|
| Title | Einstein's E = mc2 Mistakes |
| Author(s) | Hans C Ohanian |
| Keywords | Relativity, Mass |
| Published | 2008 |
| No. of pages | 10 |
Abstract
Although Einstein's name is closely linked with the celebrated relation E = mc2 between mass and energy, a critical examination of the more than half dozen "proofs" of this relation that Einstein produced over a span of forty years reveals that all these proofs suffer from mistakes. Einstein introduced unjustified assumptions, committed fatal errors in logic, or adopted low-speed, restrictive approximations. He never succeeded in producing a valid general proof applicable to a realistic system with arbitrarily large internal speeds. The first such general proof was produced by Max Laue in 1911 (for "closed" systems with a timeindependent energy-momentum tensor) and it was generalized by Felix Klein in 1918 (for arbitrary timedependent "closed" systems).