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Equation 99 · Part 1 · The Clock That Comes Back Wrong by Exactly Its Mass

Symbol Δ E

ΔE/c2\Delta E/c^2
ΔE\Delta E

What this part means

the energy.

Its job in the formula

Δ E is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

Where the article explains it

A composite system with an internal excitation of energy Δ\Delta E above its ground configuration carries additional rest mass Δ\Delta E/c2c^2 , by ordinary mass–energy equivalence — no redefinition of either the relativistic or the everyday meaning of mass, simply the standard bookkeeping in which a system’s total rest energy Mc2c^2 includes whatever internal energy HintH_{\rm int} it holds: M=M0M_0+HintH_{\rm int}/c2c^2 .

The passage around this formula

…LPL_{\rm P} is where mass stops being a fixed label and becomes something an object can carry a little more or less of depending on what it is doing internally. A composite system with an internal excitation of energy Δ\Delta E above its ground configuration carries additional rest mass Δ\Delta E/c2c^2 , by ordinary mass–energy equivalence — no redefinition of either the relativistic or the everyday meaning of mass, simply the standard bookkeeping in which a system’s total rest energy Mc2c^2 includes whatever internal…

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Learn the underlying idea

A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.

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Sources cited in the article section

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