Known as the "Einstein Miracle Year", 1905 was released by Einstein for several years in one go — publishing several papers , and then having this equation that refreshed human understanding of the world — E = mc^2 , and the first atomic bomb was not successfully tested by the United States until 1945.
Many people think that Einstein promoted the development of the atomic bomb, but it should be explained here that Einstein and the atomic bomb can be said to have almost nothing to do with each other.
Note: This photo is actually ps
If there is a certain relationship, it is that the equation "E = mc^2" appeared in the report on the construction of the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project in the United States, perhaps writing this equation in the report just to let the authorities know how much potential the atomic bomb is.
In the mass-energy equation, mass and energy are converted on the basis of the square of the speed of light, and its base is very large, so that in the nuclear fission process of the atomic bomb explosion, only a little mass (becomes energy) is actually lost.
According to this mass-energy equation, if 1 kilogram of matter is converted into energy, it will release almost 9 x 10^16 joules of energy, and if this energy is converted into electricity, it is enough for 10 million households to use for 3 years.
Who wouldn't want to get energy out of it? So it's understandable why this equation was specifically mentioned in the Manhattan Project.
In addition, the biggest relationship between Einstein and the atomic bomb is that he personally wanted to participate in the study of atomic energy, but during World War II, his German background was not recognized by the United States, so he wanted to participate and did not participate.
Although Einstein had nothing to do with the atomic bomb, how did he deduce the mass-energy equation before the atomic bomb test?
In fact, the answer is simple, before Einstein there were many people who studied this and have tried to connect energy and mass in mathematical formulas, and Einstein just stood on the shoulders of these giants like all great physicists.
Ever since Newton proposed in the 17th century that mass produces gravitational force, physicists have been trying to know what produces mass, and it can be said that whoever discovers this more basic thing can be a super-Newtonian physicist.
In the 19th century, the British physicist Thomson believed that electromagnetic forces were more fundamental than gravitational forces, so he immersed himself in this study.
In 1881, Thomson, who was still studying at Trinity College, Cambridge, found that moving the charge could generate a magnetic field and cause some resistance to the movement of the charge, which he believed was because the charge had an electronic mass, and after some tedious and complex derivation, he got such an equation: m = (4/3) E/C^2.
Caption: Thomson
All the letters in this equation represent the same thing as in Einstein's mass-energy equation, and he proposed the mass-energy equation decades before Einstein proposed it.
But it is clear that if Einstein is correct, then there must be something wrong with Thomson's equation, which in fact only fits into the calculation of electronic masses under special conditions.
Not only Thomson, but later Poincaré, in order to make Thomas's equation more "practical", he made some optimizations based on the Thomson model, which directly became m = E/c^2.
Caption: Poincaré
Although poincaré's equations were only meant to calculate the mass of electrons, the equations he derived were exactly the same as Einstein's equations of mass-energy.
Poincaré is said to have obtained this equation a few months earlier than Einstein.
So, before Einstein, many people already knew that mass and energy existed.
In other words, without Einstein, there will be people who will come up with the mass-energy equation, which is the inevitable development of science, and it is not a scientist who suddenly figures out all the laws.