Einstein is still right
23 December 2005
by Carina
Lee
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A team of scientists tested Einstein's famous formula, E = mc2, to see whether or not the theory still held true to its practical applications. The results showed that Einstein's theory is still extremely accurate, in fact 55 times the accuracy of the best previous test. However, its failure in accuracy would have a big technological impact, as its use is widespread in many applications such global positioning systems. These tests were untaken by Professor David Pritchard and James Thompson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). To determine the E (energy) the team from the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) worked out the energy of the particles of light or gamma rays released by the nucleus when it captures a neutron. To do this, they used a spectrometer to reveal the small deflections of the gamma rays once they passed through a pure silicon crystal. The mass difference, denoted by m in the equation, was determined by measuring the difference of the nucleus before and after the emission of the gamma ray. The difference between the mass was calculated by comparing the cyclotron orbit frequencies. For several weeks, two single molecules were trapped in a strong magnetic field. Pritchard explains the reasons as to why this experiment was conducted "In spite of widespread acceptance of this equation as gospel, we should remember that it is a theory. It can be trusted only to the extent that it is tested with experiments."
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Original press release from MIT
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