Peter Manchester
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Why E = pc and not E = 1/2 pc
in Physics
Posted
The orginal question confuses the rest energy (mc^2) of a particle with mass, with kinetic energy (1/2 mv^2). A particle with mass m at rest, and no kinetic energy, still has a rest energy derived from its mass.
The wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy–momentum_relation is a very general discussion of the topic, covering both massive and massless particles.