What is the first thing you think of when I say the word “electricity”?
E : I think of energy. Specifically I think of the famous Albert Einstein equation energy is equal to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. Electricity is energy and there is a fundamental relationship between mass and energy.
I heard Stephan Hawking say that this equation means that energy and mass are essentially the same thing.
E : That’s right. Energy is equal to mass accelerated to the speed of light.
That is strange to think about. I commonly think of energy as a force or in the case of electricity as a stream of some sort. By contrast, I think of mass as something solid and stationary.
E : That’s certainly how it appears and because energy and specifically electricity behaves differently than mass according to a specific set of rules it is necessary to hire people who specialize in the behavior of this particular form of energy. That is why when you have electrical problems you need to call an electrician Ogden.
In our normal everyday experience energy and mass seem like two completely different things. What is the practical implication that they are essentially the same.
E : There probably is no real practical application to this knowledge as it relates to your every day experience. That is unless you think of philosophical applications as practical.
Philosophy is practical in the sense that I think all the time and philosophy impacts the way I think and perceive the world.
E : Well in that case there is a practical application. The fact that energy and mass are the same makes you think of them differently than you would if you considered them to be different. You will still need to call an electrician Davis County when you have an electrical problem, however.