Random Rambling: Physics (Mass-Energy)

We have... let's say an eclectic mix of interests, and we feel our patrons do too.  With that thought in mind, we present a feature we call "Random Rambling."  It isn't quite random, but it's close:  we made a little spinner with some of our favorite subjects.  Every Friday, we give the thing a spin, and then you, lucky people that you are, get to learn a fact related to the subject the spinner landed on.

This week's topic is:

Physics!

So let's talk about the atomic bomb you're holding.

Energy is Weird

This particular post will be short and brutal.  Simply put, we're going to talk about one of the most famous equations in physics, and why you probably don't understand it.  That's not a knock on you, by the way.  We're writing this post, and we barely understand it.  The problem is that the equation is just too damn eloquent:

Look at that.  Nice and straightforward:  Energy is equivalent to mass multiplied by the speed of light (squared).  With this equation, we understand that energy and mass are two sides of the same coin.  Neat!

...But have you ever seen what that equation looks like when you plug in actual, you know, units?

Oh, wow.  So, a single kilogram has 300 million Joules in it?  That can't be right.

And it isn't!  Silly us, we forgot the square sign on the end.

Yikes.  But wait!  Maybe a joule is a tiny unit of measurement.  That happens sometimes in physics.  So let's compare real quick.  Say we have a kilogram of mass; that's the size of a lightweight laptop or an especially heavy tablet.  According to the equation above, that's the same thing as 90 quadrillion Joules.  We need something to compare it to.  Now, it might seem a little crazy, but let's take a look at an actual atomic bomb.  Say, Little Boy, one of the most famous atomic bombs ever.  It released Joules of energy.  So, based on that, how many atomic bombs of energy does a laptop contain?

Lessee... carry the one... and...

A little shy of 1400.

Maybe scoot that away from your lap a little.

Inspiration Is Weirder

Obviously, it would take some pretty unique circumstances to convert 100% of even a laptop into pure energy, so don't worry too much about the thing converting you into vapor at any given moment.  In fact, with our current level of technology, the only way to convert anything from mass to 100% energy is using a matter-antimatter explosion... and as of this post, the most we've been able to create is a single atom at a time.  If a single atom of antimatter struck your laptop, you probably wouldn't even notice the resulting explosion.  You use about a million times more energy to press a button on said laptop.

Now, you might be wondering what brought us to the topic of "everything is a bomb."  The answer is "spoons."

For reasons we'll leave to a later post, we were trying to figure out how much vacuum energy we would need to draw on to create a spoon out of "nothing."  The answer, as you can guess, was surprising, but even more so was doing the math and realizing that the equal and opposite reaction to creating the spoon out of "nothing" would be a minor atomic explosion, ranging somewhere between a cherry bomb and a hand grenade (the math gets wonky, so it's hard to gauge).  In fact, the largest item you could safely create out of nothing is probably around the same as a quarter.  Even that would be accompanied by a roaring boom and a localized blast of air.

That in turn led to the realization that anything larger than a quarter is, in some sense, a bomb.  Neat, yeah?  It lends an air of danger to the "what's that behind your ear?" trick.

Conclusion

People always worry about the wrong things.  For example, folks worry about the radiation from nuclear plants, even though most of us experience more radiation flying in an airplane.  Similarly, you might find yourself wondering how much of your laptop would have to be vaporized before you were in danger.  Surprisingly, that shouldn't be the scary part.  The scary part should be that there's more than enough energy in just the battery that a weird discharge would be equivalent to a quarter-stick of dynamite.

You're worried about antimatter hitting your computer just right?  Your day is just as ruined if a fork hits the battery just right.