"From 1905 to 1907 in a Nutshell

IDEAS INHERITED FROM PREVIOUS ERAS

• There are two fundamental varieties of energy ‘dynamic’ energy, due to the movement of objects and to the oscillation of waves, and ‘static’ (or potential) energy, due to the relative positions of objects

• Either variety of energy can be converted into the other.

• All physical processes conserve the total energy in the given system; the same holds for the system’s total mass.

IDEAS THAT EINSTEIN CAME UP WITH IN 1905

• Whenever any object emits a ray of light, it loses not only a quantity of energy E but also a microscopic quantity of mass, which is given by the equation m = E/c2. Analogously, if a ray of light is absorbed by an object, the object acquires not only some energy but also some mass, given by the same equation.

• A ray of light carrying some energy E must also carry some mass m, once again given by the same equation.

• Conjecture by analogy: not only electromagnetic waves but any form of dynamic energy possesses mass. Thus, whenever an object acquires (or loses) a quantity of dynamic energy E, it acquires (or loses) an infinitestimal quantity of mass m, once again given by the same equation.

• Conjecture by analogy: not only electromagnetic waves but any form of dynamic energy possesses mass. Thus, whenever an object acquires (or loses) a quantity of dynamic energy E, it acquires (or loses) in infinitesimal quantity of mass m, once again given by the same equation.

• Conjecture by analogy: this holds not only for dynamic energy but also for static energy.

• The mass of an object consists of two fundamental varieties: its ‘normal’ mass, which is due to the matter the object is made up of, and its strange mass, which is due to the energy it contains.

• Since the basic particles composing an object do not mutate during the emission or absorption of energy, the object’s normal mass never varies.

• All the energy contained in an object possesses strange mass; conversely, any strange mass contains energy, the exact amount being given by the equation E = mc2. By contrast, the normal ass of any object plays no role in the mass-energy relation, and so the equation E = mc2 connects a given quantity of energy to a corresponding quantity of mass in a simple, natural fashion. Mass and energy are thus analogous entities – indeed, they are intimately related.

A mass-energy analogy starts to form…

• Mass and energy are alike in that both of them are conserved by all physical processes; moreover, the equation E = mc2 connects a given quantity of energy to a corresponding quantity of mass in a simple, natural fashion. Mass and energy are thus analogous entities – indeed, they are intimately related.

• There is very inviting resemblance between static energy and normal mass (since both are unrelated to movement), and likewise there is an inviting resemblance between ‘dynamic’ energy and ‘strange’ mass (since both are due to movement). These two resemblances constitute the heart of the incipient mass-energy analogy.

At the same time, a lack of symmetry gives rise to cognitive dissonance…

• Energy (since it is not composed of particles) is endowed with ‘strange’mass, but it has no ‘normal’ mass. Also the reverse holds: any object’s strange mass is endowed with invisible energy, sitting quietly in reserve until it is released, but this does not hold for the ‘normal’ mass of the same object (that is normal mass possesses no energy)

• There is thus an “internal partition” in the concept of mass, separating normal mass from strange mass; because of this partition, the two are not interconvertible. However, this internal partition in the concept of ‘mass’, keeping two varieties forever apart, has no counterpart as far as energy is concerned (all forms of energy being interconvertible). This mass-energy mismatch is a serious blight on the incipient analogy linking the two concepts.

Thanks to a hypothesis that restores “cosmic unity”, the cognitive dissonance is dissipated…

• since there is no partition separating different types of energy, and since there is a promising analogy linking energy to mass, then if one truly believes in this analogy, it becomes conceivable that mass, just like energy, might not be divided by an internal partition, but that its two varieties (normal and strange) might be interconvertible.

• This idea, if true, would imply that normal mass, no less than strange mass, constitutes a reservoir of energy, and that (under special circumstances of an unclear nature) it can transform into strange mass (or vice versa). This would imply that an object could (under these special circumstances) completely poof into thin air, as long as its normal mass were instantly transformed into an equal quantity of strange mass.

* The amount of energy associated with the “proofing out of existence” of an object having mass m (or more precisely, the conversion of normal mass into strange mass) is given by the equation E = mc2, and would therefore be astonishingly large even if the object itself were extremely lightweight. ~ Pages 483 / 484