← All parts of this equation

Equation 99 · Part 3 · The Clock That Comes Back Wrong by Exactly Its Mass

change

ΔE/c2\Delta E/c^2
change

What this part means

Capital delta attached to a quantity marks a difference between two values of that quantity; the article’s sign convention determines the order.

Its job in the formula

Capital delta attached to a quantity marks a difference between two values of that quantity; the article’s sign convention determines the order.

The passage around this formula

The proper-time loop LP\mathcal L_{\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 energy HintH_{\rm int} it holds: M=M0M_0+HintH_{\rm int}/c2c^2 . If the same object is sent along two paths that differ in proper time by Δ\Deltaτ\tau , and its…

Read this part in the article →

Learn the underlying idea

Addition combines quantities; subtraction measures the signed difference between them. Parentheses show what is combined before the rest of the expression is evaluated.

Open the illustrated addition and subtraction in an equation guide →

Sources cited in the article section

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.