Ok. Theres two laws that say matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed, right?
I've been thinking about a way to possibly break those laws...
When matter moves at the speed of light, it becomes pure energy.
If that is so, something could accelerate to the speed of light and become pure energy. Thus destroying the matter and creating energy.
Does that seem possible?
Could that, in theory, break those laws?
2007-09-02 18:26:20 · 7 answers · asked by Andreios 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Unfortunately, I don't think you have the right idea. According to our current theory, E=mc^2 ( of course this is the equation for rest energy, but close enough for Yahoo).
Energy and mass are interchangeable. If mass turns to energy or energy turns to mass, the laws of physics are conserved.
Could matter go as fast as the speed of light? I don't think so. Scientists have been accelerating atoms to close to the speed of light and have hammered energy into them and the only thing that happens is that the atom's mass swells. Energy in this case is turned into mass.
2007-09-02 18:36:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are operating under the assumption that matter and energy are not linked, then this is supposedly possible.
However, when matter is moving, say, at the speed of light, it is still matter, is it not? We just can't see it.
No matter how fast something may move, it is always /something/. Moving at a high velocity does not make it any less. Sure, the matter may break apart, becoming visibly less, but the atoms and molecules are still there, movement cannot affect that.
As for energy, it is just becoming focused into a single space, moving that object. The energy existed before, it was just a matter of what it was doing. Now, if the object is moving at the speed of light, it is not transforming from matter into energy, it is using its mass to focus the energy as it if moving.
This might not make a lot of sense, it's kind of late for me, but this is my take on things.
2007-09-03 01:38:47 · answer #2 · answered by barely.breathing 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
matter can not travel at the speed of light. Also mass increases as velocity increases. As your speed approaches the speed of light your mass approaches infinity. It does not become pure energy. To convert matter to energy remember star trek. They had some sort of anitmatter engine or whatever. Now if an anti-proton meets a proton they destroy each other and you get energy. So if you toss a baseball of protons at a ball of anti-protons you would get quite a bang.
2007-09-03 01:39:41 · answer #3 · answered by Captain Mephisto 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all, how do you even know that when matter moves at the speed of light, it becomes pure energy??
Perhaps it makes more sense when the food you eat transform into energy to move around and stuff.
2007-09-03 01:42:07 · answer #4 · answered by BryanB 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, it doesn't break that law.
To oversimplify it, consider matter to be liquid water and energy to be ice. Freeze it, melt it, it doesn't go away, and it all adds up to the same as when you started.
2007-09-03 01:36:38 · answer #5 · answered by teran_realtor 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's not breaking any laws since theoretically energy and matter are interchangeable
2007-09-03 01:34:20 · answer #6 · answered by Okino 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Good thought, but matter is made of energy....everything is energy. So matter is not destroyed, just transformed.
Here is a long, drawn-out explanation if you are so inclined...
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/aug98/897017973.Ot.r.html
Enjoy! :-)
2007-09-03 01:38:20 · answer #7 · answered by N2jazz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋