Exploring mass–energy equivalence with consideration of quantum nature

Abstract

Abstract Mass–energy equivalence (MEE) has become a basis of modern physics. In spite of the current educational trends highlighting modern physics education, it has been pointed out that interpretations of MEE are still not in general agreement. In addition, the derivations of MEE found in textbooks gloss over some logical oversights. MEE is often introduced with only a declarative knowledge that mc 2 represents the rest energy of a particle, making the learning process difficult for students. To resolve the instructional challenges, distinguished papers on MEE are analyzed. By specifying common features of derivations in each paper, it is found that there are at least three types of MEE. By identifying the entire hierarchical structure of each one, a type of MEE is suggested that can potentially be useful in the establishment of the connection between the particle and field.