aommaster Posted February 11, 2004 Posted February 11, 2004 Ok, a few days ago my teacher was telling me that the faster an object travels, the more mass it has. The mass keeps on increasing until right below infinte at where it reaches the speed of light (i think. Cause this is all from memory ) My questions are HOW and WHY? Thanx guys
JaKiri Posted February 11, 2004 Posted February 11, 2004 How? Because the speed of light is the same for all observers. Why? Because the speed of light is the same for all observers. It's a mathematical derivation from that fact.
Cap'n Refsmmat Posted February 11, 2004 Posted February 11, 2004 And, because your mass becomes infinite, it requires infinite energy to get there. And, if you are confused about the speed of light being the same, there's a thread with a good hearty argument about it somewhere.
aommaster Posted February 12, 2004 Author Posted February 12, 2004 yeah, that means, if you beam a ray of light into a prism, that split second when the light is in the prism, it looses mass? or light cannot be counted as having mass?
JaKiri Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 aommaster said in post # :yeah, that means, if you beam a ray of light into a prism, that split second when the light is in the prism, it looses mass? or light cannot be counted as having mass? Light doesn't have mass, and in a manner of speaking doesn't slow down. Say you have two racing cars. One takes the racing line down the track, the other weaves all over the place. Their speedometers claim they were doing the same speed throughout, but to someone who can only calculate speed relative to distance moved forward on the track it looks like the bobbing one is going much slower.
aommaster Posted February 13, 2004 Author Posted February 13, 2004 oh ok. Back to the first question... WHY does mass increase when speed increases? And does it mean that my weight would increase if i was moving? .....maybe yes, i was told that if u weighed urself in the arctic, u would weigh less... is this realated?
JaKiri Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 No, it's not related. And mass increases when speed increases because the speed of light is constant for all observers.
YT2095 Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 "the speed of light is constant for all observers" surely that`s only because the act of observing requires light on the retina. but may not actualy explain what could REALLY be happening, it`s just that we`re bound to this sensing medium?
YT2095 Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 it was the application of Occam's Razor that made me think along those lines. being the most simple explaination, that since we observe using photons and thay have more or less a fixed speed, that were anything to occur faster than those speeds, we`de not be able to see it anyway.
YT2095 Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 fair enough then. MrL_JaKiri said in post # : Light doesn't have mass, and in a manner of speaking doesn't slow down. Say you have two racing cars. One takes the racing line down the track, the other weaves all over the place. Their speedometers claim they were doing the same speed throughout, but to someone who can only calculate speed relative to distance moved forward on the track it looks like the bobbing one is going much slower. Nice analogy 1`stly since light has no mass, what is making it take this swerving course? secondly can it be made to do a complete and continuos loop as if round a racing circuit? I know they can be made to bounce back and forth as in a laser, but a loop?
JaKiri Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 I'm using the bobbing as a comparison to the interference when it travels through a substance; like when it slows down in glass (which is why it bends)
YT2095 Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 but why should glass interfere at all? and can the "stuff" in glass that does interfere, be exploited to manipulate them, perhaps in such a way as to make them do an endless loop?
aommaster Posted February 13, 2004 Author Posted February 13, 2004 what about a fibre optic wire made in a loop. Let's say you beam a ray of light down the fibre and immediately close the end. Won't that work?
YT2095 Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 the light would escape before you brought the 2 ends together, I had the same idea as a kid, making a ball that was 100% mirror inside and firing a laser into it then plugging up the hole with a mirror to make a 720 degree laser grenade, fact is , you`de never seal the hole in time well I was only 9 when the idea occured to me! so stop laughing!
aommaster Posted February 13, 2004 Author Posted February 13, 2004 lol. What if the cable was AMAZINGLY long. That would work definately right? I am just trying to think whether my theory is correct
YT2095 Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 you`de probably still get losses due to impurities and angles, I know what you`re saying, a bit the "Super conductor" of the Light world
aommaster Posted February 13, 2004 Author Posted February 13, 2004 lol. I just realised where this thread has gotten to! I was talking about mass, it has now gone to impurites! sheesh!
YT2095 Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 at least it`s all good science! and not totaly irrelevent. it could have degraded itself into religion or politics and rubish!
psi20 Posted February 14, 2004 Posted February 14, 2004 Well if force = mass x acceleration, then mass = force/acceleration. Wait. Now I'm confused. If you accelerate to the speed of light, your acceleration increases. If your acceleration increases, your mass should decrease. Unless, of course, the force needed to accelerate you to that speed is so great. If the force increases, then the mass increases.
fafalone Posted February 14, 2004 Posted February 14, 2004 It's best not to talk about F=ma and relativity in the same place.
scientistsahai Posted February 14, 2004 Posted February 14, 2004 YT2095 said in post #16 :the light would escape before you brought the 2 ends together, I had the same idea as a kid, making a ball that was 100% mirror inside and firing a laser into it then plugging up the hole with a mirror to make a 720 degree laser grenade, fact is , you`de never seal the hole in time well I was only 9 when the idea occured to me! so stop laughing! _________________________________________________ Well what is a laser grenade and what cud it b used for?(if it is theoretically possible)
JaKiri Posted February 14, 2004 Posted February 14, 2004 psi20 said in post # :Well if force = mass x acceleration, then mass = force/acceleration. Wait. Now I'm confused. If you accelerate to the speed of light, your acceleration increases. If your acceleration increases, your mass should decrease. Unless, of course, the force needed to accelerate you to that speed is so great. If the force increases, then the mass increases. The mass INCREASES, and thus it takes infinite force. I don't know what kind of error of comprehension has to occur to get precisely the opposite out of every post that's stated that in this thread.
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