e=mc3?

The pedantic answer is that you would would wreck the equation.

I think the reason "c" is squared is because the whole equation is related to the equation E=1/2 Mv^2, where the constant "c" (the speed of light) is a special velocity.

More deeply, I think velocity is squared because velocity is a function of distance over time, which are two dimensions and thus represented by squaring (^2).

Perhaps someone more literate in math can explain it better than that.

Mathematically, c^2 is just a constant. If you changed it to a bigger constant, then e would still be a linear function of m with a higher slope.

As rosborne said, E=mc^2 is the bitter end of F=Ma, which is actually F=m v^2. So when Einstein thought about it he said "what is the fastest v^2 I can come up with and it was, by limit of the universe thespeed of light, or (c). This was all a mind game with Einstein. It took an atomic pile and a bomb to prove it (sort of) right.

The equation can never be true, because the units on the right would be killogram meters cubed per seconds cubed, whereas the units on the left would be kilogram meters squared per second squared. It's like saying that five seconds equals two meters, it cannot be correct. We call such an equation dimensionally incorrect.

It's an interesting coincidence. I was discussing this subject here earlier today. I see that today is your first day on A2K.

actually that kindov helped

It was a good question. I've wondered the same thing before myself (asked it on Abuzz years ago, and got a similar answer to the one I dug up above).

ya same here i was juzt wondering