E = mc2 Fallacies and the Non-Conversion of Mass to Energy
James Carter
Keywords: Mass, Energy
The formula E = mc2 has long been interpreted to mean that the rest mass of matter could be converted into the energy of massless photons and that the kinetic energy inherent in the motion of bodies of mass increases the mass of those bodies. The validity of this idea rests on the arbitrary assumption that the photon has no mass. However, a classical interpretation of photon experiments would identify the photon as a particle of mass. Experiments show that photons have both energy and momentum and each of these is associated with the motion of mass. A careful examination of these experiments will show that energy and mass are separate and distinct parameters and that one is never converted to the other.
