Spencer Heath Archive

Item 345

Penciling by Heath on notepad paper. With this are two pages of diagrams and formulas that could not easily be  transcribed but need to be microfilmed.

No date

E = MV²/2

     When M stands for Mass of one gram and V stands for Velocity of one centimeter per second gained by uniform acceleration during one second by force of one dyne, then V²/2 is a distance of ½ centimeter because V²/2 is the same as Mean Velocity, ½ V times one second of time and, in MV²/2, M stands for one dyne, V² stands for mean velocity V/2 times one second time and Mean velocity, V/2, times time, one second one centimeter distance or motion.

     Hence, MV²/2 really stands for one dyne acting uniformly through one half centimeter and one erg is one half dyne-centimeter or dyne-centimeter/2 as a quantity of Work. And since the time involved is one second, then it is also a rate of work — one erg per second.