Jump to content

Speed and mass question


aommaster

Recommended Posts

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 59
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.