Matter-Energy Equivalence

Abstract

Abstract Over the last two centuries, thermodynamics has contributed significantly to technical and industrial progress. According to phenomenological thermodynamics developed by Rudolf Clausius and Josiah Willard Gibbs, properties such as volume or interface represent energetic qualities of a real body. In the present work, the energy concepts of thermodynamics and special relativity are connected with each other. The plausibility of complete mass-energy equivalence is evaluated within the thermodynamic context. Einstein’s interpretation of the well-known equation E = mc 2 as complete mass-energy equivalence results as a special case for idealized moving point masses – according to the assumptions of the theory of special relativity. It is shown that mass is one energy-equivalent property of matter, but not the only one, because complete mass-energy equivalence contradicts the principle of conservation of energy. Thermodynamics suggests matter-energy equivalence. In accordance with the two main laws of thermodynamics and corresponding with experimental facts, it forms the basis of an in-depth understanding of nature and provides impetus for the research in quantum physics, thermodynamics and astrophysics.