Chemical Forums
Specialty Chemistry Forums => Other Sciences Question Forum => Topic started by: HeroWH on April 15, 2014, 12:11:58 PM
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Given this equation: m(moving) = m(rest) / (1-(u/c)^2)^1/2
Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
u and c are the speed of the particles and light
the mass of the tennis ball is 6.0x10^-2
speed of light= 3.0x10^8
it doesn't have to be this equation
Thanksssss!!
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Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
Moot. No massive object can travel with the speed of light.
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Yes, I know, most likely these would be imaginary numbers. I really don't know how to do the calculations is the problem lol
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Do you understand what it means: "there is no solution"?
It means it is not a problem with finding a way to solve, it means: there is no way to solve the problem.
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Correct, there is no solution. But you can still do the calculation. The answer would be imaginary because no object with a mass can travel at the speed of light. I just need to know how to do the calculation, I have a multiple questions that are similar, I need to compare the answers.
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If anybody could help me out that would be cool, if you cant do it with the speed of light how about 100 m/s?
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Why should change the mass if it is moving eith 100 m/s?
If you getting heavier if you go by car with 65 miles/h or even by plane with 900 km/h.
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The answer would be imaginary
Is 1/0 imaginary? Or perhaps it just doesn't exist?
For other speeds you already listed Lorentz factor, that's all you need to calculate relativistic mass.
Moving the thread to other sciences, this has nothing to do with high school chemistry.
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I suppose the appropriate way to state the solution is that the mass approaches infinity as the ball is accelerated toward the speed of light. The amount of force/energy required to accelerate the ball increases as the mass increases, and therefore you can never reach the speed of light because it would require an infinite amount of energy to do so. Strictly speaking the function is not defined at a velocity of v = c, so there's no analytical calculation to make. As Borek pointed out, 1/0 isn't imaginary - it's undefined.
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These two resources don't directly address your question, but they do provide you with some other insights, and some other references you can use:
https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/
https://what-if.xkcd.com/20/
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m(rest) = 6.00
u= 56.00 meter/sec
c = 3.00 x 10^8
the difference between 6.000 and this mass is very small.