Can Newtonian kinetic energy and Einsteinian rest-mass energy be expressed by the binomial expansion of the Lorentz factor? And how valid is using Einstein’s E = mc2 to calculate the nuclear fission energy?

Abstract

The binomial (Taylor) expansion of the Lorentz factor has been reconsidered here in an attempt to find out whether the Newtonian kinetic energy and the Einsteinian rest-mass energy are implicitly embedded in the mathematical structure of the binomial expansion of the Lorentz factor (as Einstein postulated in his Special Theory of Relativity). Advocates of Standard Special Relativity show that it is possible to obtain these two kinds of energy by multiplying both sides of the expansion of the Lorentz factor by the moving object’s rest mass m 0 and the square of the speed of light c 2. This study shows that the apparent reconciliation between classical and relativistic physics made possible by employing the binomial expansion of the Lorentz factor γ = [ 1 − ( v 2 c 2 ) ] − 1 2 , where v is the moving object’s velocity, is challengeable. Also it is unclear how Einstein’s famous rest-mass energy equation E = m 0 c 2 from Ekinetic net = mrelativistic c 2 − m 0 c 2 can be used to calculate the amount of nuclear fission energy released?