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E = mc^2

Does e = mc^2 only apply to high energy particles? As in does mass energy equivalency only apply when particles have a lot of energy?
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Alexion
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The E=mc2 form of mass-energy equivalence only applies to particles at rest (and can be used to approximate for low-energy particles).

The stricter form of the equation is E2 = (pc)2 + (m0c2)2 which reduces to E=mc2 if the momentum is zero.
Original post by Mowerharvey
Does e = mc^2 only apply to high energy particles? As in does mass energy equivalency only apply when particles have a lot of energy?


Would say it works to high energy particles best. Just think about radioactive atoms: they have a lot of particles in the nucleus that the mass is unstable. On those atoms, the principle of Einstein's well known formular works very good: the mass of the nucleus is changed to Energy in part by emitting radiactive rays, so particles with high energy (in terms of alpha and beta decay).

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