Converting all of Earth's matter into pure energy would require an enormous amount of energy, as described by Albert Einstein's mass-energy equivalence principle, E = mc². To calculate the energy required, we need to determine Earth's mass and multiply it by the square of the speed of light (c) to obtain the energy equivalent.
The estimated mass of Earth is approximately 5.97 × 10²⁴ kilograms (5.97 septillion kilograms). Therefore, using the equation E = mc², where c is the speed of light (approximately 3 × 10⁸ meters per second), we can calculate:
E = (5.97 × 10²⁴ kg) × (3 × 10⁸ m/s)²
Performing the calculations:
E = (5.97 × 10²⁴ kg) × (9 × 10¹⁶ m²/s²) E ≈ 5.37 × 10⁴¹ joules
Hence, it would require approximately 5.37 × 10⁴¹ joules of energy to convert all of Earth's matter into pure energy. This amount of energy is truly immense and far beyond the capabilities of our current technology.