The work behind the Eureka! Project has helped me discover a few things about myself and about E=MC^2. I learned a few things about my topic such as the meaning of E, M and C in E=MC^2 and why we would square C. In the process of finishing this project, I learned a few things about myself and my work ethics and how I believe my work ethics are at a sufficient level where I am able to work with my own set deadlines and not have people breathe down my back.
E=MC^2 is an interesting equation as there are many factors that you must know to understand the equation. You must know the speed of light, why it is squared and you must be able to understand that mass and energy are interchangeable. To grasp E=MC^2 we must understand what each variable stands for. E is for energy, M is the mass of an object, C is for the speed of light known as celeritas which is squared. Knowing the variables meant that I had to learn a few things about light. I researched that light moves at 299,792,458 m/s which is the “speed limit” of our world as nothing can go faster than the speed of light. We use C in the equation because energy travels at the speed of light. In E=MC^2 we find that the speed of light (C or celeritas) is squared. We square C (celeritas) because when an object hits another object, it hits it with four times as much force than its speed. I also learned that the loss of mass from two atoms coming together or splitting apart into an atom with less mass is transformed into energy. This is evident through Nuclear Fusion and Nuclear Fission as atoms are split and fused into one so that they would lose mass and turn the missing mass into energy. A fun fact I learned about E=MC^2 was that the amount of atoms in a paper clip can have the same effect of 18 kilotons of TNT if we were able to transform every single atom into energy! This shows the magnitude of power wielded by this small equation. This means that at the moment our current technology forbids us from truly harnessing the full potential of an objects energy. But in order for us to fully vaporize an object into energy we would need to use anti-matter that has the potential to completely annihilate every atom in the paper clip to turn every bit of mass into energy. The role E=MC^2 has played in our society is present in every Nuclear Reactor through nuclear fission and fusion, satellites and the Mars Rovers to keep them functioning in cold climates. It is present in celestial bodies such as the sun and in black holes with the idea of hawking radiation. Learning these facts would not have been achievable should I have not done research and I believe how I researched and took notes played a major role in my remembrance of such facts.
Researching these facts was quite simple. I would search websites and when I would find notes and important ideas and read them. Then I would copy and past them onto somewhere to reference them later. Absorbing these key facts and fully understanding the concepts behind them was the most difficult part of the whole project. Forgetting all of my predetermined notions about the physical world and jumping into something so abstract that it seems incomprehensible. This was brain boggling. The time I spent trying to understand how people can grasp the idea that mass can be turned to energy is incalculable. Luckily enough I did not have many deadlines to rush my understanding.
Not having dead lines and steps on when to do things allowed me to run my own pace and take my time to do things. Not rushing to meet a deadline allowed me to take my time, and like a snowball I was able to roll over and pick up facts as I went. I did not feel rushed need to put random facts down to meet certain time constraints. The fact that this was not rushed allowed me the time to fully soak up the information and retain it. This allowed me to understand the research better than I would have if I was rushing through trying to meet deadlines.
This freedom is what made this project enjoyable and understandable. The fact that there was not a set time for certain things to be done was a great way for me to test how efficiently I managed my time. With this I was able to retain information and I felt well in the fact that I was in control of what I did with my time. Having this freedom was something new to me as I was always controlled by benchmarks and the like. But in the end I believe that I did a good job managing my time wisely by the amount of work that I managed to complete.
Another little factoid I learned about myself through this project was that I do not do the best work at home at the end of the day. When I am at home I am unable to sit down and truly focus on my work. It may be due to all the distractions at home such as my parents watching T.V. or the smell of a home cooked meal but what ever it is studying at home is difficult task for me. This has taught me to study elsewhere that is not at home but still has Internet, such as school. This lead me to use my time wisely while I was at school because every free work period I had I used it to study and work on my research briefs and the math application.
Finding the math application towards E=MC^2 was a difficulty. This was difficult because I viewed this equation as an equation and I only saw the mathematical part of was why we square the speed of light. Everything else was just basic multiplication with BIG numbers. Finding the math application was difficult but the research briefs were quite difficult as well.
Despite all these challenges I managed to get my research and website done while simultaneously with my partner, we were able to finish our keynote presentation that was the main of our presentation. Come great gain there comes great sacrifice as I was not able to fully keep up with the work from all of my classes.
The information I used for my research briefs was from a myriad of different sources. I watched a few documentaries upon Einstein and his big idea of E=MC^2. I mainly used one website by NOVA and all the links that led to the different pages and sites of the NOVA website. I also used a few books for my research. These books include E=MC^2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis, the big black Einstein book about his troubled past in the physics room, Five Equations That Changed the World: The Power and Poetry of Mathematics by Michael Guillen, Albert Einsteins letters to President Roosevelt and a few other articles printed from the internet. During my research the very first thing upon arriving at a website is to check the validity of it. If it seems very home made and unprofessional like then I would move on. But if it was part of a business or a hospital, I knew it would be trustworthy because it was an organization or group doing this website. Which is why once I Found that NOVA site I knew it would contain accurate information because I have seen their documentaries and their other sites and they do a great job explaining things. Also NOVA has renown physicists such as Dr. Michio Kaku and Neil deGrasse Tyson. This makes their website about Einstein and E=MC^2 more trustworthy.
I believe what I drew from this project was more than just about E=MC^2 and how it was used in life, innovations and in other equations. But what I have gained was a deeper understanding of myself and my work habits. Habits such as working away from home where distractions are grand and how I would note important facts on each article I read like on the research brief. In all this project was not just about E=MC^2 for me but about my work habits and how I deal with reading articles and learning on such a grand scale. These concepts have given me an understanding of what college was like and how one would go about doing their own research without a teacher laying the red carpet down for people. The fact that I have an understanding of what one way to do research briefs give me a trampoline to bounce back upon should I begin to free fall on not knowing what to do. While learning about work habits and a little about the impending future, I was able to learn more about one of the most famous equations, E=MC^2. This allowed me to have an understanding of our life and how things are the way they are. I recall reading somewhere while researching that “There are no explanations as to why these specific functions happens in the world, no explanations as to why nature is so. But the best we can do is to understand nature and live with it.” and I believe that the more we understand the more we can live harmoniously with nature. Furthermore, the fact that Einstein came from humble beginnings was just a curious person gives me strength in the idea that maybe one day I may have a great after thought like he did. That maybe if a guy with boundless curiosity such as Einstein was able to accomplish such a taxing feat of coming up with E=MC^2, the equation that has changed the way we perceive the world today, maybe I may make a discovery as well. The processes that I have learned throughout this process will serve to shed light upon the depths of tomorrow. Yet, time will be the only revealing factor for what lays in wait for the future.