On Relativistic Mass
Sven Gelbhaar
27 October 2008
If two objects collide at relativistic speeds, it will appear from their
perspectives that momentum symmetry breaks down due to properties of light
(or so it’s believed as per Special Relativity). To work around this and
conserve momentum, Einstein postulated that the mass of an object increases
as its velocity does. (1) In a previous paper entitled Revised Theory of
Relativity I’ve pointed out that the properties of light might allow for
optical illusions, if it truly has a constant speed, but perception isn’t
always reality.
Take the case of a warped circus mirror. When you look into one, it may
appear as if your torso is half its original size and your legs are a mile
high, but does this mean that in reality that that’s the case? No. If the
speed of light is limited to c, then objects moving at incredibly high
relativistic speeds might appear to be distorted, but they really aren’t.
(body:colliding high speed particles, mirror:speed) This extends to the
ostensible break in the symmetry of momentum. From the point of view of
colliding high speed particles, it looks as though momentum isn’t
conserved, but it still is (from an objective point of view). This, and
this alone, should warrant us to dismiss the theory of relativistic mass.
Let us examine what actually does increase as (kinetic) energy increases:
momentum.It doesn’t take more force to accelerate an object from 0 mph to
20 than it does from 20 to 40. It does become ‘harder’ to bring it to a
stop from higher rates of speed because it builds up more momentum,
however. Relativistic mass is simply a misinterpretation of momentum.
Now let’s take a look at the implications of relativistic mass, if it were
to hold true. More mass means more momentum, so when baryonic cosmic rays
come crashing in with over 10^20 electro-volts of kinetic energy (2), we’d
see a whole lot more than the aurora borealis planet Earth probably
wouldn’t support life.
More mass also means larger gravitational impact. So even when these
cosmic rays aren’t exterminating all life on Earth, they’re also exerting a
vast gravitational sway on it as they’re passing by, upsetting its orbit,
either sending us careening into the Sun or pushing us out into the vast
cold expanse.
This is obviously not the case, and keeping in mind the maxim that reality
doesn’t change with (mis-)perception at high rates of speed, we really have
no need nor justification for supporting the notion of relativistic mass.
This implies that there is no universal speed limit , for the old
rules of momentum are re-instated.
References
1.
http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/lectures/mass_increase.html
27 October 2008
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_rays 27 October 2008