Changes

Cockcroft and Walton "''did not see their experiments as a ''test'' of Einstein's mass-energy relationship; rather, they simply used that relationship in their analysis, assuming it to be valid ''"<ref>Roger H. Stuewer: ''Mass-Energy'' in ''Einstein in Context'', Cambridge University Press</ref> The E=mc&sup2; equation had in fact been proposed, and [[Quantitative_Analysis_of_Alpha_Decay|considered for nuclear decays]], more than 20 years earlier.  The experimental error was too large -- and the scope of the experiment to narrow -- to purport to verify the equation for all artificially accelerated particles.   

Cockcroft and Walton "''did not see their experiments as a ''test'' of Einstein's mass-energy relationship; rather, they simply used that relationship in their analysis, assuming it to be valid ''"<ref>Roger H. Stuewer: ''Mass-Energy'' in ''Einstein in Context'', Cambridge University Press</ref> The E=mc&sup2; equation had in fact been proposed, and [[Quantitative_Analysis_of_Alpha_Decay|considered for nuclear decays]], more than 20 years earlier.  The experimental error was too large -- and the scope of the experiment to narrow -- to purport to verify the equation for all artificially accelerated particles.   

As explained by Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:<ref>https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equivME/</ref>

As explained by Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equivME/ Fernflores, Francisco, "The Equivalence of Mass and Energy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)]</ref>

{{cquote|As Stuewer (1993) has suggested, Cockcroft and Walton use mass-energy equivalence to confirm their hypothesis about what happens when ⁷Li is bombarded by protons. Hence, it does not seem we ought to regard this experiment as a confirmation of  E<nowiki>=</nowiki>mc&sup2;. However, if we take some of the other evidence that Cockcroft and Walton provide concerning the identification of the products in reaction p + ⁷Li → α + α as sufficient to establish that the products are indeed α-particles, then we can interpret this experiment as a confirmation of mass-energy equivalence, which is how this experiment is often reported in the physics literature.}}

{{cquote|As Stuewer (1993) has suggested, Cockcroft and Walton use mass-energy equivalence to confirm their hypothesis about what happens when ⁷Li is bombarded by protons. Hence, it does not seem we ought to regard this experiment as a confirmation of  E<nowiki>=</nowiki>mc&sup2;. However, if we take some of the other evidence that Cockcroft and Walton provide concerning the identification of the products in reaction p + ⁷Li → α + α as sufficient to establish that the products are indeed α-particles, then we can interpret this experiment as a confirmation of mass-energy equivalence, which is how this experiment is often reported in the physics literature.}}