When does energy turn into matter?

[streetroc]

How does gravity work?

Space itself is like a 3 dimensional fabric that can be stretched and distorted. When something has mass it displaced some of that space and space pushes back against that object.

Imagine a very small rubber band. Put that rubber band over your wrist and you will feel pressure around the circumference of the band. Does your wrist pull the rubber band in tight around itself? No, the rubber band has to stretch to fit over your wrist and therefore fits very tightly. Picture that scenario in 3d and you have gravity.

 

[renault314]

But can you not convert matter into energy via nuclear fission?

No. I tried to explain before that when something has more energy its mass its greater. releasing energy (losing energy) means its mass becomes smaller because it has less energy, the matter is not "lost" or "converted" in the conventional sense. things with less energy just weigh less. When nuclear reactions happen and energy is lost, it just weighs less. matter is not the "fuel" for this reaction and is not consumed in the process. this is the real way to view E=mc2

 

[streetroc]

No. I tried to explain before that when something has more energy its mass its greater. releasing energy (losing energy) means its mass becomes smaller because it has less energy, the matter is not "lost" or "converted" in the conventional sense. things with less energy just weigh less. When nuclear reactions happen and energy is lost, it just weighs less. matter is not the "fuel" for this reaction and is not consumed in the process. this is the real way to view E=mc2

What mass is it losing? Electrons? Quarks? Bosons? It has to be coming from somewhere...

I'm really trying to follow because I think I could learn something from you but its just not clicking yet.

 

[renault314]

What mass is it losing? Electrons? Quarks? Bosons? It has to be coming from somewhere...

I'm really trying to follow because I think I could learn something from you but its just not clicking yet.

that's the thing that's hard for anyone to grasp. nothing physical is being taken away.

we have all been conditioned to think of gaining and losing as something being added or something taken away. we just aren't taught to think that some things become more.......simply because. Without anything being added to or taken away. we just don't have anything in our daily experience that would simulate that.

Think of a bucket of sand on a scale. you add a few grains of sand, it weighs more, you take a few grains away, it weighs less. We all get that and it makes sense.

But if you take that same bucket of sand and start to heat it up, it will suddenly weigh more, even if you didn't add any sand. chill it waaaaay down to almost absolute zero, and it will weigh less, even if you didn't take any sand away.

heres the thing. matter has mass, but matter and mass are not the same thing. The hot bucket of sand has more mass, even if you did not add more matter. why? because that's what E=mc2 says will happen. the speed of light is constant. if you increase the energy, the mass must increase also or the formula would no longer be balanced.

It doesn't matter where this energy comes from or what type it is. Thermal energy in the case of a hot bucket of sand vs a cold one, kinetic energy (if the bucket of sand were hurtling through space at a million miles an hour) or chemical energy. a chemlight weighs more before you crack it than it does after the glow has burned out. Why? it had a lot of internal energy in the form of chemical bonds before you pop it, but when the reaction is activated it gave a lot of its energy away in the form of light. less energy, less mass, even though its a sealed system and no matter is lost.

now it takes a huge amount of energy gained or lost to make even a teeny tiny difference in mass. Like I said before a bullet would have to be traveling at 450,000,000 fps just to gain 10% to its mass. But it is what it is.

 

[Tony2X]

How does gravity work?

No such thing.
It should be announced/made public soon.

 

[streetroc]

that's the thing that's hard for anyone to grasp. nothing physical is being taken away.

we have all been conditioned to think of gaining and losing as something being added or something taken away. we just aren't taught to think that some things become more.......simply because. Without anything being added to or taken away. we just don't have anything in our daily experience that would simulate that.

Think of a bucket of sand on a scale. you add a few grains of sand, it weighs more, you take a few grains away, it weighs less. We all get that and it makes sense.

But if you take that same bucket of sand and start to heat it up, it will suddenly weigh more, even if you didn't add any sand. chill it waaaaay down to almost absolute zero, and it will weigh less, even if you didn't take any sand away.

heres the thing. matter has mass, but matter and mass are not the same thing. The hot bucket of sand has more mass, even if you did not add more matter. why? because that's what E=mc2 says will happen. the speed of light is constant. if you increase the energy, the mass must increase also or the formula would no longer be balanced.

It doesn't matter where this energy comes from or what type it is. Thermal energy in the case of a hot bucket of sand vs a cold one, kinetic energy (if the bucket of sand were hurtling through space at a million miles an hour) or chemical energy. a chemlight weighs more before you crack it than it does after the glow has burned out. Why? it had a lot of internal energy in the form of chemical bonds before you pop it, but when the reaction is activated it gave a lot of its energy away in the form of light. less energy, less mass, even though its a sealed system and no matter is lost.

now it takes a huge amount of energy gained or lost to make even a teeny tiny difference in mass. Like I said before a bullet would have to be traveling at 450,000,000 fps just to gain 10% to its mass. But it is what it is.

So matter and energy are not really the same thing but they are linked by mass, which is dependent on both matter and energy?

 

[above_all]

They've been doing that for years. First time I saw it was was on Star Trek in 1966. Very impressive.

 

[renault314]

So matter and energy are not really the same thing but they are linked by mass, which is dependent on both matter and energy?

I suppose you could word it that way but I don't think its very accurate. Adding matter to an object will add mass but so will adding energy. They aren't really "linked" by mass. Stealing money or working for money will both increase the amount of money you have but stealing and working are not "linked" by money.

All this started because you thought matter was converted to energy like some sort of fuel, and wondered if the process was reversible. But the answer is yes, it is reversible, even though your first assumption about matter being converted to energy was wrong. When energy is released (lost) mass is reduced, leading to the false assumption that matter is converted to energy, but its not. But if you want to add mass (create) all you have to do is increase the objects energy. but you cannot add matter.

But this also means that the is no star trek transporter machine that can take your matter and turn it into energy, send the energy to another machine where it converts the energy back into matter. Because energy is never converted to or from matter. Mass is gained or lost, but matter is never created or destroyed or even consumed. mass is gained or lost when energy increases or decreases, but matter is not.

 

[streetroc]

I suppose you could word it that way but I don't think its very accurate. Adding matter to an object will add mass but so will adding energy. They aren't really "linked" by mass. Stealing money or working for money will both increase the amount of money you have but stealing and working are not "linked" by money.

All this started because you thought matter was converted to energy like some sort of fuel, and wondered if the process was reversible. But the answer is yes, it is reversible, even though your first assumption about matter being converted to energy was wrong. When energy is released (lost) mass is reduced, leading to the false assumption that matter is converted to energy, but its not. But if you want to add mass (create) all you have to do is increase the objects energy. but you cannot add matter.

But this also means that the is no star trek transporter machine that can take your matter and turn it into energy, send the energy to another machine where it converts the energy back into matter. Because energy is never converted to or from matter. Mass is gained or lost, but matter is never created or destroyed or even consumed. mass is gained or lost when energy increases or decreases, but matter is not.

Ok, I think I understand what you are saying now. Thanks man, that really made the light bulb go off for me.

So not to complicate things, but where does the Higgs-boson fit into all of this? Isn't it the particle that is responsible for mass?

 

[mfoster]

When the lights not working it really matters