I think GO has a point. The mathematical relationship between energy, mass and "c" is not a perfect reflection of reality (even ignoring the approximations).
What?
This is just not so! What in the world are you guys talking about?
Have you ever heard of an atomic bomb? The reason those weapons were ever even attempted is because of Einstein's theories. Last time I checked, they succeeded in making one or two of them.
Any suggestions on how they have the faintest idea how much energy these bombs are going to produce?
I can tell you how! They know exactly how much energy is going to be produced because of E=mc^2 and for no other reason - period.
Are there variables in the system that might through their calculations off by some tiny percentage? Of course! We don't live in a laboratory but that doesn't mean that the formulas don't work. In fact, its when they are wildly off when we learn something. When they first tested the Castle Bravo bomb at Bikini Atol it yielded a MUCH bigger punch than they expected because they thought the Lithium 7 in their fission material would be inert. Well it wasn't and so the bomb yielded something like 15 Megatons instead of the expected 6 megatons. The point being that the 15 megatons is just what it should have yielded given the amount of material that was turned into energy based solely on E=mc^2.
Not only that but what do you think, that it's just a happy coincidence that the measured speed of light is within the margin of error of the measuring devise(s) of what the theoretical value should be?
Come on now! Where oh where is the profit in denying such things? If you're going to argue against something the scientific community believes why not pick something that actually has something real to debate? Why not pick something that they clearly don't have correct or at least something that it's reasonable to suggest that they don't have correct? If you're going to argue against Einstein, then argue against his definition of time. If you're going to argue against modern cosmology, then debate whether or not electricity can or cannot effect systems on astronomical scales (which most scientists deny - by the way). If you want to throw doubt on a popular scientific theory then pick on the ones that cannot be tested, like String Theory. Just, whatever you do, don't go around denying things that we absolutely know for a fact are true! The Earth is round, apples fall to the ground, the Moon orbits the Earth which orbits the Sun and the speed of light is precisely 299,792,458 meters per second.
Clete