How Did Einstein Discover E=MC2?

This has been a long issue. Perhaps many of us wonder how he discovered or how he got ideas leading to the discovery of the equation. Even today the principle still gives contribution to the advancement of technology. Many of us assume that he was part of the making of atomic bomb but he was not directly participated in the so called “Manhattan Project”. The said project was the first development of atomic bomb that had been used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Theory of relativity or to simplify we just call it relativity is divided into two theories. For Einstein’s famous formula we call that as special relativity and the other one is general relativity. This topic will be focused on special relativity which has something to do with the relation of space and time. The theory was coined by Max Planck in 1908 to give emphasis on how special relativity uses its principle and then later for the general relativity as well.

Albert Einstein had added the well known energy equation with respect to mass and time which supports the Maxwell’s differential equations about electromagnetic fields spread in the form of polarized waves and the speed of light.

Einstein wrote exactly as below:

The precise formulation of the time-space laws was the work of Maxwell. Imagine his feelings when the differential equations he had formulated proved to him that electromagnetic fields spread in the form of polarised waves, and at the speed of light! To few men in the world has such an experience been vouchsafed . . it took physicists some decades to grasp the full significance of Maxwell's discovery, so bold was the leap that his genius forced upon the conceptions of his fellow-workers

—(Science, May 24, 1940), courtesy of Wikipedia

Perhaps many of us wonder on how we can apply this theory in our everyday lives. For example, if you are going to throw a ball there is a relation between speed and the mass of the object thrown and the impact when it reached the wall for example gives off energy or force. If you will be using a special gauge and device to precisely calculate and throw the object with the same speed but different weight the impact on the wall will be different. This will be easily justified if you will place your experiment into a vacuum room. E is the energy or force, M refers to the mass and C is the speed of light in a vacuum and this is constant. By pondering with the practical application you could have an idea on how the atomic or nuclear bomb works but it is not yet enough for us to think about it. By the energy equation atomic bombs had been designed by students but the actual construction is complex industrial process. Since energy refers to mass, by splitting heavy nuclei or known as fission can be tremendously powerful. The idea of atomic bomb had been launched.

The energy released in the fission of one uranium nucleus is about 50 million times greater than that released when a carbon atom combines with oxygen atoms in the burning of coal.

—Courtesy of Encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com