why does mass increase when it reaches speeds near that of c?
and if you just want to ramble some cool scientific stuff I'll listen, doesnt even have to be about mass or light just make it interesting :)
2007-03-02 11:52:06 · 6 answers · asked by StoneWallKid 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Well the current terminology is to define mass strictly as rest mass.
So the mass doesn't increase.
But since there's an absolute speed limit (c), as you get closer and closer to the speed of light, the inertia appears to go up to keep you from getting there. So sometimes people define a relativistic mass as gamma m.
Gamma is one over the square root of (1 - (velocity / c)^2), so you can see that when v is small, it's just 1. But when v gets close to c, gamma blows up. So even a little electron can get arbitrarily heavy if you get it going close enough to the speed of light.
2007-03-02 12:02:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The energy which is imparted to accelerate the object appears as increased mass, per Einstein's famous equation. The effect can be quite dramatic; electrons fired from one end of the Stanford Linear Accelerator have reached 90% of the speed of light within a hundred feet or so. But the machine keeps kicking them in the tail for another two miles, and by the time they reach the end, their mass has increased by 40,000 times.
2007-03-02 12:11:05 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually it is a paradox of different frames. The person who is traveling with the mass doesn't measure any difference in the mass. The person in the other frame measures some increase. It's needed to fulfill energy conservation law in a four-dimensional space.
2007-03-02 12:05:42 · answer #3 · answered by Banzan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it particularly is a truism. Photons shuttle on the fee of sunshine because of the fact they're mild! How ought to they shuttle on the different speed? i don't keep in mind any slacker photons traveling slower. additionally, if something has NO MASS, it particularly is not, and it particularly is not GOING everywhere. How ought to a tension be exerted on something devoid of mass? bear in suggestions E=mc²? Mass and potential are one and an analogous, so even potential has mass, whether it particularly is totally, very small. attempt looking up Tachyons. they're meant to go swifter than photons, that is exciting.
2016-12-18 04:29:31 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well i have no idea but I'll make it interesting: you can travel through time if you go nearly lightspeed. And that's a fact
2007-03-02 11:58:24 · answer #5 · answered by MLBfreek35 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
try reading this answer.
http://physicsmathforums.com/showpost.php?p=5267&postcount=50
2007-03-02 12:53:47 · answer #6 · answered by occluderx 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋