Computational Force, Mass, and Energy

Abstract

This paper describes a correspondence between computational quantities commonly used to report computer performance measurements and mechanical quantities from classical Newtonian mechanics. It defines a set of three fundamental computational quantities that are sufficient to establish a system of computational measurement. From these quantities, it defines derived computational quantities that have analogous physical counterparts. These computational quantities obey three laws of motion in computational space. The solutions to the equations of motion, with appropriate boundary conditions, determine the computational mass of the computer. Computational forces, with magnitudes specific to each instruction and to each computer, overcome the inertia represented by this mass. The paper suggests normalizing the computational mass scale by picking the mass of a register on the CRAY-1 as the standard unit of mass.