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Re: [Phys-l] teaching energy



On Oct 3, 2006, at 11:23 PM, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:

On Oct 3, 2006, at 11:07 PM, Krishna Chowdary wrote:

How does one address the rest mass energy of an object (I'm happy to
limit
to fundamental particles)? When I say that an electron has rest energy
0.511 MeV, is that in reference to something else? I've seen lots of
interesting discussion about kinetic energy and potential energy.
Where
does rest energy fit in?

In my mind rest energy is potential energy.

It is not conceptually different from chemical energy of a fuel molecule (two or more atoms), or from the energy of a compressed spring.

Ludwik Kowalski
Let the perfect not be the enemy of the good.