Science Forums 2

[humility]

If you look at my original post I agree with Thelonius I say that mass can't be converted to energy.But Thelonius is also wrong when he states that the mass is conversed in the orthodox interpretation of the equation.He says that it is the energy contained in the strong nuclear force that is released.This may be the mechanism of energy release in the standard interpretation but overall the equation reads that a very small amount of mass in the interacting nuclei is converted into mass. You stated yourself Thelonius that two hydrogen atoms fusing in a nuclear reaction have almost the same mass after the reaction( almost being the operative word). The overall standard idea being that mass and energy are equivical in the long run. And that some mass can be converted into energy in a nuclear reaction.
Lets step back from nuclear theory for a moment and look at relativity which might help make my point in a simple way.
If you look at the lorentz transformations equations they say the dimensions of space decrease as you approach the speed of light and time intervals increase. You can't travel at the speed of light because there is no dimension of space to travel through. That is why the speed of light is a velocity barrier.Its more the limit of spacial dimension and hence velocity than the speed of light.Light therefore sits exactly where space ceases to exist and time becomes infinite. Therefore light/energy doesn't exist in space.Therefor what we perceive as light is the interaction threshold of spacial dimensions and energy/time. Now lets go backwards. We've traveled up to the point where space diminishes to nothing. Lets go the otherway to the point where space is infinite and time intervals reduce down to zero.Slightly below this intersice of extremity, movement would be on a very large scale and extremely fast ( because of the relatively small amount of time in which things would have to occur.)
Could gravity be a phenomena of this end of the space/time spectrum.It operates at a very large distance and speed.Which seems to break the speed of light but doesn't when you consider gravity to be a spatial phenomena. Light on the other hand is a temporal phenomena of the space/time spectrum. What I was saying about mass is that is more towards the spactial end of the space/time spectrum than the temporal end. Energy is closer to the temporal end of the space/time spectrum than the spatial end . Therefore I was saying that mass isn't close to energy it is relativily closer to space in this spectrum.