In the equation e=mc2, e and m are energy and mass and the c, the speed of light, is measured in distance over time. So, if I have understood correctly there are four components, energy, matter, time and distance. Is it necessary for all four components to have come into existence at the same time? Does distance in the equation relate to the amount of space in our universe?
I wouldn't call them "components", as they are more properly "units of measurement". And there are actually only three fundamental units of measurement in the equation: Mass, time, and distance. Energy is what is known as a derived unit of measurement like velocity. Just like velocity is measured by distance per second (d/t), energy is measured by mass times distance squared per second squared. (md²/t²). Of course this is a mouthfull, so rather than say something has an energy of 1 kilogram-meter squared per second squared, we call this amount of energy a "joule" and we say that it has 1 joule of energy. As to your second question, no it has nothing to do with the amount of space in the universe.
So it's an equation which allows you to ascertain a derived unit of measurement, energy, from three fundamental units of measurement, time mass and distance. It doen't have anything to do with the size of the universe, the amount of matter in it, or the time that has passed since it began. That's really disappointing. Any other people got any ideas regarding the formula. Laymen like me like it because it is fairly simple.
No, it's not about getting a derived unit. E=MC[sup]2[/sup] is an equation that tells us how mass and energy relate. If we could totally convert a unit of mass into energy then we'd get C[sup]2[/sup] times that amount of energy from it.
