Physics A-Level
Energy-mass equivalence
What Energy-mass equivalence means in Physics A-Level, as defined for AQA.
Definition of Energy-mass equivalence
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Reference: AQA
Rest mass can be converted to energy where necessary using E = mc², so a decrease in rest mass appears as an increase in kinetic energy or as photon energy.
Topics that use Energy-mass equivalence
- Applications of conservation laws (AQA A-Level)
Related terms
- Collisions, decays and annihilation processes
- Conservation laws in particle physics
- Conservation of baryon number
- Conservation of charge
- Conservation of energy including rest energy
- Conservation of lepton number
- Conservation of momentum as a vector quantity
- Lepton number conservation
Using Energy-mass equivalence in the exam
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