Warp wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> There is no "other form" of energy. All energy and mass are the same 
>> thing. To ask whether mass can be converted to other forms of energy is 
>> meaningless.
> 
>   Then wikipedia is horribly wrong, I suppose.

E=mc^2

Energy and mass are the same thing. You can't take mass and turn it into 
energy, because it's the same thing.

The difference between the energy in carbon bonds and the energy in 
quickly moving water droplets is where the energy is stored and what 
tools you use to measure it. But it's all ultimately mass.

You're asking whether the bits in a void* can be converted into the bits 
in a float. The question is in one sense nonsensical: They're all bits, 
ones or zeros.  The question in another sense is about the 
interpretation of the behavior of different patterns assigned arbitrary 
meanings by human beings.  I answered the former. Wiki answered the latter.

Energy *is* mass. Mass *is* energy. They're the same thing as seen from 
different sides, measured with different tools. When Wiki says "you can 
convert chemical energy to heat energy", they mean you can change the 
tool you need to use to perceive as a human being the mass stored in 
different places. They mean "energy that shows up as increased mass 
because of a gravitational field can be distinguished from energy that 
shows up as increased mass because of the velocity relative to the 
observer."  They're both increased mass. You can take bits of the mass 
(like some of the mass that four hydrogen atoms have in excess of a 
helium atom made from the same fundamental particals) and distribute it 
into massy photons and massy relativistic increase in speed of air 
molecules flying away from the explosion. But the mass is still there.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?

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