How much of my body is traveling at the speed of light, if you
consider movement at the atomic level, electrical processes in the
brain, etc?

---

Request for Question Clarification by andrewxmp-ga on 05 Sep 2005 07:43 PDT

This is kind of a strange question to field, but the answer is
probably "very little".  Your whole body is composed of atoms and
molecules, each of which has electrons surrounding them.  Current
chemical theory states that these electrons are moving very fast,
aproximately the speed of light, but not at the speed of light.  Only
waves, not particles, can move at the speed of light, and anything
besides electrons is not even coming close to that speed.  Electrical
impules in the brain are really a series of channels opening up to
allow particlar flow of ions into and out of neural cells, and this is
merely the movement of large protein molecules.  Although these
processes can happen surprisingly quickly from a macroscopic
perspective, they are no where near the speed of light.  Hope this
helps somewhat.  If you want more clarificatio of this or more detail,
I wil be glad to post it as an Answer.

Regards,
Andrewxmp

---

Clarification of Question by curiouscalifornian-ga on 05 Sep 2005 15:51 PDT

I thought that e=mc^2 implies that mass is essentially fast moving
energy (whatever that means).

---

Request for Question Clarification by andrewxmp-ga on 06 Sep 2005 09:44 PDT

Not exactly.  That equation means that mass is actually energy, they
are introconvertible, therefore you could say that our bodies are
actually energy.  But that mass/energy is not necessarily moving at
the speed of light.  Energy is jsut energy; light or waves are a form
of energy.

Puting you mass in the formula E=MC˛ would calculate how much energy
would be produced if all of you were to sponatiously be turned into
energy. This amount of energy would be comprable to blowing up a realy
big Nuclear bomb.

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply
not giving the kiss the attention it deserves" -Albert Einstein

"A boy
 a girl
 a kiss
 a curve
 He kissed 
 the girl
 and missed 
 the curve.
 Burma Shave"

E=mc^2 would probably be better understood if it was written dE=dmc^2,
i.e. difference in energy is equal to difference in mass times speed
of light squared.

That is, when, say, an atomic bomb explodes (or, indeed, even when a
match burns), the summed mass of the bomb (or match) minus the summed
mass of *all* the fission (or combustion) products, divided by c^2, is
the amount of energy released.

None of the molecules, particles, charges or electrons in your body
moves at the speed of light, only photons(wich is light) can travel at
the speed of light.
Now unless you find a way to make your body or parts of your body to
emmit light, it aint possible