The Real Meaning of E=mc²

0:02

A hydrogen atom has less mass than the combined masses of the proton and the electron that make it up.

3:48

Since the sun is basically an enormous flashlight, its mass drops just by virtue of the fact that it shines by about 4 billion kilograms every second.

4:25

Those 4 billion kilograms that the sun loses every second is really a reduction in the kinetic and potential energies of its constituent particles.

5:32

Suppose we call the potential energy of a proton and electron zero when they're infinitely far apart. Since they attract each other, their electric potential energy will drop when they get closer together