Vis Viva – A Pre cursor to E=mc^2

Perhaps the world’s most famous equation of physics is E=mc^2, which spells out
the simple transformation of mass into energy and energy into mass. After Albert
Einstein formulated this famous equation, implication of this famous formula was
widespread. Even Einstein, perhaps did not know that his creation would create
atomic bomb, responsible for the annihilation of a country, albeit a human race.

If you take the equation and scrutinize into it you find three components: (1) Energy
(2) Mass and (c) the speed of light, celeritas, Latin word for speed.

We understand how the concept of energy, changed over from generation, from
Newton, Michael Faraday to Maxwell and then into nuclear energy. We also have
witnessed the development of the concept of mass, further sub divided into neutrons
and protons and thereafter to relativistic mass. But what about c^2? How does it
come from?

Emile du Chatelet

The history goes back to 1700. A young lady Emile du Chatelet (17 December 1706 –
10 September 1749), was pondering upon the works of Newton, Leibniz and Christian
Wolff. A brilliant physicist, mathematician and a linguist, her crowning achievement
was her commentary on Newton’s work on Principia Mathematica. Du Chatelet
worked closely with Voltaire, the eminent French philosopher and historian. She and
Voltaire had been a long time companion and du Chatelet made significant
contributions in Éléments de la philosophie de Newton, Elements of the Philosophy
of Newton in 1738. This helped to popularise the theories and thoughts of Newton.

Leibniz’s concept of Force

The concept of transferable energy was not very prevalent. It actually reached its
maturity in the 19th.century. However young du Chatelet found an important work of
German philosopher Leibniz, contradicting in some way the work of Descartes and
Newton. At least a hundred years back from Chatelet’s era, Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz, the famous philosopher, who independently founded calculus, was caught
upon the concepts of momentum (mv) and kinetic energy (1/2mv^2). Leibniz
argument was that the quantity which remains indestructible in nature is not mv but
vis visa (living force) mv^2. “The notion of force is as clear as that of activity
and of passivity, for it is that from which activity follows, when nothing
prevents it.” – Monadology

“Descartes rightly insisted on the quantity of effect as the thing to be measured; but
he conceived the effect in too narrow a way, regarding it merely as actual motion (i.
e. the momentum acquired by a body) rather than the work done by the force, the
kinetic energy it produces (i.e. the vis viva which the body acquires, and which
Leibniz calls action motrice). The formula for this action motrice is not mv but
mv^2” – (Monadology and other philosophical writings – Robert Latta)
In the history of science, vis viva – living force is the early definition of conservation
of energy, the first definition of kinetic energy. For the Cartesian philosopher,
energy is indistinct from momentum, hence proportional to velocity.

Let us look at an example.

We know:

Work done (W) = Force (F) x Distance (d)

Re arranging :

Fd = W , where W is the kinetic energy = ½ mv^2

So, d = 1/2 mv^2/F

D=mv^2/2F

Hence, when you double your speed, you quadruple your distance. That is the
reason breaking distance quadruple when the speed doubles.

Thus the momentum was given by Leibniz as where mi are

several masses and vi, each velocities.

This principle represents the conservation of kinetic energy in elastic collision (where
the total kinetic energy of two bodies after the collision is equal to their total kinetic
energy before collision).

The above equation has been put forward by Leibniz, in his magnum opus
Monadology as follows :

“In the uniform motions of one and the same body, (i ) the action of traversing two
leagues in two hours is double the action of traversing one league in one hour (for
the first action contains the second exactly twice) ; (2) the action of traversing
one league in one hour is double the action of traversing one league in two hours (or,
actions which produce one and the same effect are proportional to their
velocities) : therefore (3) the action of traversing two leagues in two hours is four
times (quadruple) the action of traversing one league in two hours. This
demonstration shows that a moving body which receives a double or triple velocity,
in order that it may produce a double or triple effect in one and the same time,
receives a quadruple or nonuple action. Thus actions are proportional to the
squares of the velocities.”
Emile du Chatelet publicized an experiment, devised by Gravensande, a Dutch
philosopher, where balls were dropped from a certain height on soft clay. Each ball’s
kinetic energy was shown to be proportional to the square of the velocity.

This achievement of Emile, is considered as a precursor to the squaring term in

E=mc2. Indeed kinetic energy (1/2 mv^2) is the first term in the equation of relativistic
kinetic energy.

On 3rd.September, 1749, she gave birth to a daughter,as a result of her affair with de
Saint Lambert, but died a week later at Luneville at the age of 42.

Voltaire, wrote about her in a letter “a great man whose only fault was being a
woman"