mark&2cats

E= MC2 This might not be possible, but I was hoping that someone could explain to me what the speed of light has to do with the amount of energy contained within a given chunk of mass. Please bear in mind that I have no schooling (past high school), and must use all my fingers to count up to ten. I may need a definition of mass; I tend to think of mass as weight. Is that wrong within the context of this equation? If not, then say a clot of mass on earth weighs 3.2kg, then its energy = 3.2 times 300000 squared (90000000000) which comes to... E=288000000000 (if I've figured that correctly - it takes a lot of finger counting) Anyway, 288000000000 what? Horsepower? And again, why is mass multiplied by light speed to get energy? And why square light speed? Nothing goes faster than light, eh - so why is it squared? *sigh* Wish I had been born smarter and had gone to school

If there were a hydrogen atom sitting out in the middle of nowhere - nothing with which to interact - would it exist forever, or would it eventually wind down? Matter and energy cannot be destroyed, and perpetual motion supposedly does not exist, so what happens in this case? I am just a layperson; please keep answers simple. Thanks!