Who can answer this question about relativity? (It involves mass and the speed of light)?

Question

We all know the saying that as an object approaches the speed of light, the mass of the object approaches infinity.

From there it can be inferred that the faster an object goes, the larger its mass.

Now, as an object is reaching high speeds, where does its extra mass come from? Is that just energy transforming into mass? And what is that mass made of? Is that new mass just copies of whatever atoms and molecules the object is made of?

Answer 1

Be careful not to confuse the ideas of mass and matter. Mass is just a measure of inertia...an objects resistance to changes in its motion. Einstein's discovery was that energy has mass (inertia). In the case of a moving object, the extra inertia comes from its kinetic energy. It isn't that new atoms are being created, its that the atoms already making up the object look like they have more mass because of their kinetic energy. I hope that makes sense. :D

Answer 2

As objects with mass approach the speed of light the mass they gained even as they were getting to these high speeds becomes more obvious. Even when you move across the room to get a drink of water, the fact that you moved means that you gained mass. Not much at these low earthly common speeds but the amount of mass you gained can, at least, be calculated.

Here is the simple explanation: The speed of light in a vacuum is constant. It does not change no matter what the observer is doing when he or she measures it and no matter what the source of the light is doing when its speed is being measured. The speed of light is constant.

If you are in the back of a pickup truck and it is going 5mph when you throw a ball 30mph the ball will actually be going 35mph. This is how normal things go and this is all explained by Newton.

But, if you are in a spaceship going at 0.5c (one-half the speed of light) and you turn on a light at the front of your ship any observer will measure the speed of that light to be speed ‘c’. Even if you shined that same light out the back of the spaceship the speed would still be speed ‘c’. That is what is meant by the fact that the speed of light does not change.

You are, no doubt, familiar with the equation E = mc^2. That equation can also be written as m = E / c^2. Look at this equation! The ‘c’ is the speed of light. The speed of light that is constant.

OK, here it comes, unless you have already seen it: If you increase your energy by moving (Your kinetic energy increases when you move from a stationary position.) and since ‘c’ is constant, your mass MUST also increase because your energy increased and 'c' remains constant!

Now, as I said, the increase is not anything you would be able to measure because the number ‘c^2’ is so very huge. If you divide your change in kinetic energy by this large number you will get a change of mass on the order of 10^-15 pounds. This is 0.000,000,000,000,001 pounds. Not a measurable amount but an amount that can be calculated.

Your question asked about where this mass ‘comes’ from. Well, it doesn’t really come from anywhere. There is, after all that annoying law of conservation of mass. The mass, which should really be thought of as the ‘change in mass’, appears as a result of changes in the energy of the bonds between the atoms and the parts of the atom within the thing that is moving. These changes in energy are actually changes that keep changing and changing resulting in changes in the mass.

I know this is a long answer, but one more thing must be said. If you were moving at these near-light speeds and if, as you were doing it, you were to be attached to a balance you would never notice any changes. The balance would keep reading the same mass because, obviously, the mass you are comparing your mass to would also change.

“Why not use a scale?” you ask? Because a scale measures weight, not mass. Weight is a measure of gravity while mass is the measure of the quantity of ‘stuff’ you have within you.

Answer 3

In a reference frame we measure the quantities mass length and time with respect to that reference frame.

The quantities like force velocity etc are derived using the mass length and time.

If we measure the speed of light it will be the same irrespective of the reference frame and the speed of the reference frame.

With respect to our reference frame let the mass of an object be m0, when the mass is at rest with respect to our reference frame.

If we apply a force so as to increase its velocity, the work we do in order to increase its velocity is manifested in the form of kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of the mass is increased.

The question that arises is, “Can we increase the speed or kinetic energy by giving enough force so that the mass can attain a speed more than the speed of light?”

As we give more and more energy the speed of the body increases but can never attain the speed of light.

But there is no limit to the amount of energy that can be imparted to the object.

We infer that the energy is used not only to increase the velocity but also to increase the mass of the body.

The mass of the body has increases from M0 to a new value M. The increase in kinetic energy is (M-Mo) C^2. Note that the formula ½ M V^2 is no more valid since M is a variable quantity and is function of speed.

The mass is not a fixed quantity and it has different value for different speed.

Mass, length and time are not absolute. The speed of light is absolute and mass length and time will differ according to the ratio of the speed of the object to the speed of light in one and the same reference frame.

Answer 4

When an object approaches the speed of light, the energy is converted into mass since it can't break the speed of light barrier.

Answer 5

The object itself (in its reference frame) is unaltered. Lorentz invariance and a finite lightspeed distort the measurement of mass, time, and length (Terrell rotation!) as seen by other inertial reference frames at their relative velocities.

The scale factor is beta, sqrt[1-(v^2)/(c^2)]

The "excess mass" of a relativistic object is the mass equivalent of the energy needed to impart its velocity. Thus if you have a 100 GeV electron in a linear accelerator and add 10 GeV to it, it doesn't move much faster (it is already asymptotic to lightspeed). It gains mass.

Answer 6

That is one very tough question and for a real explanation, you gotta ask some scientist or somebody like that, but I doubt there is an easy "explanation" per say. For now the equation for relativistic mass is ----
m = rest mass/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2)

Answer 7

mass is the same every mass it does not change not even in space

Answer 8

mass does not change...figure it out...

Answer 9

yes