if I got a ball bearing the size of a tennis ball and used some special cannon capable of pushing an object to the speed of light..and I fired it at the safe door(the solid steel heavy kind)
would it explode like a nuclear bomb, or would the ball just melt at half the speed of light
2007-03-13 22:30:22 · 5 answers · asked by mrbragg2k 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
a good question - strange thing happen to very high speed particles - for one there mass increases - (this is one of the biggest problems of trying to reach light speed) - so i guess it would create a very big explosion - on the other hand it is unlikely the atoms would stay stable - especially with the friction of travelling through the air - so it would probably vaporise before it hit the door
2007-03-13 22:37:34 · answer #1 · answered by cool321steve 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is generally accepted that it it is not possible for anything with mass to go at the speed of light.
If you shoot a ball bearing very fast, it would burn up in the atmosphere. This would happen well below half the speed of light. However, it would take some distance for this to happen, so if the safe is close to the gun (or the whole experiment is in a vacuum) then some of the ball would remain solid and impact the door.
The result of the impact would be similar in some ways to a drop of water falling in into a pool of water - the steel would flow and splash. However, there would be a lot of heat generated as well, which would cause an explosion of sorts. At relativistic speeds (i.e. a significant fraction of the speed of light) you would need to estimate how much kinetic energy would be transferred to the steel in the path of the ball bearing and compare this to the energy released from a nuclear bomb. As the speed tends to the speed of light, the energy tends to infinity, so a nuclear-scale explosion is a possibility.
2007-03-14 02:59:44 · answer #2 · answered by lawomicron 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An object with mass cannot travel at the speed of light - its mass would become infinite (and there is not enough energy in the universe to accomplish this.)
The simple method to open the safe is use either-:
i) An Oxy-Acetalyne Torch
ii) A very high powered laser.
iii) Use the Keys (or use the combination)
2007-03-13 23:09:45 · answer #3 · answered by Doctor Q 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The mass of the ball would be converted totally to energy and since its mass to energy that would be E=mc2
The next factor upon hitting door, would be whether or not it would simply penetrate the door and pass thru it or explode the door. Since the steel door is Elastic in nature, it would simply pass thru the door drilling a hole thru the door and continue onward on its path.
This has happened in nature it is believed. In Siberia about 1920 or threabouts, a vast devastatin of some 20 sq miles of trees were leveled to the ground. The event was studied then and no conclusion was reached. However, today it is believed by some that the earth ran into a black hole which caused the devestation the details of which I am not fully aware of . Perhaps your interest in this subject might lead to further research on this topic.
2007-03-13 23:44:18 · answer #4 · answered by James M 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Totally depends whose theory you want to follow - as I recall, Einstein thought that if you got to the speed of light you would have infinite mass so thought it was impossible for anything to travel at that speed - but I may be wrong!
2007-03-13 22:40:59 · answer #5 · answered by SteveK 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋