Energy and Mass- Abstract concepts

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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Due to the nature of how we typically in society we understand energy, where it arises from and how we even utilize it, the concept can make it very hard to perceive energy and mass as abstract. Even with understanding that energy is not physical in the sense of a physically concrete object; one must understand that mass too is also not physical… e=mc2 being a totality of the conversion of the two similar abstract concepts (yet also invariably different).

As such its easy for one to somehow continue on that if life is physical mass and mass turns into energy after death and we are mass then we turn into energy meaning that perhaps our consciousness - which often is seen as an abstract notion - however has its processes in the physical realm. Something abstract such as mass/energy often isn’t seen as such, but also isn’t seen as something physical either; But does it exist? Here lies the conundrum in which spirituality and meta physics arise; forsaking the intricacies and complexities of science as well as understanding the scientific terms when applying to our frame of reference.

I consider energy to be a property of any system, and in this context our body is our “open system” that utilizes energy. We are not energy; we utilize it. It is a physical property of our body similar to mass; energy is a concept and as such that concept is a physical property of our body; or say; viscosity is of certain aspects of our body; . We are our physical body (by evidence that energy does not have known consciousness anywhere else but a physical body). Energy, mass, volume, length, width, height are all concepts we apply to it.

Perhaps we should look closer at what an abstract concept really is; how can something such as heat that has great physical implications be abstract and a concept?

Because heat is the result of a change in the function of matter; All matter emits radiation and all matter (including an ice cube) also has heat.

So I would suppose the increase in heat/energy that we feel from the sun is the absorption of light which carries energy from the sun to us (affecting all matter in its path essentially)

Which means the big picture of all of existence is an absurd quantum mind fuck of biblical proportions.

premise:
Energy is the result of moving matter.

Everything has energy (except a void which has neither energy or matter)

Some things I’d like to discuss based upon that:

Space is to time as
matter is to energy?

Is space/time to matter/energy as matter energy is to space/time?

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Bah, not a response and I even asked a question. We’ll I’ll give it one more try.

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That would make hospitals fairly terrifying places… if you look at the effect the conversion of only a couple of kilograms of plutonium into energy has, a 70kg person dying would be… noticable.

I think it was Bohr who said that physics doesn’t describe the universe, it describes what we can say about the universe. Mass and energy are descriptions of physical reality that allow us to create mathematical formulae that predict the behaviour of physical reality. But you’re right that they are conceptual, not concrete.

Is this a premise we are encouraged to accept? I’m not a theoretical physicist, but it doesn’t accord with my understanding of it.

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Well all matter has movement at the subatomic level; I’m not sure what you want to argue against though.

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That energy is the result of moving matter.

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It is a very “general” generalization that I came up with :slight_smile:

I’m not referring to kinetic energy or mechanical energy solely, but yes all energy. Energy does not occur without transformation or “movement” of matter in some shape or form. Gas is an energy because we can burn it, changing the gas, or transforming through of course, movement, generally. Heat is energy through the rapid or excited atoms/molecules, thus movement. A rock has energy at the subatomic level directly due to the molecular bonds, without movement of these subatomic molecules there would be no bond, thus no rock. Thus the energy is due directly to these movements creating and shaping these bonds. The atoms are “energetic”. This is energy. We cannot access this energy without releasing the bonds. I couldn’t imagine matter having energy or potential energy without movement or potential movement, I see this as a direct relationship to the best of all our knowledge. If there is any sort of refutation of this I would be happy to engage with it, but to explain more is shooting in the dark to what you may or may not know.