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Topic: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light  (Read 6673 times)

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Offline HeroWH

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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!!
« Last Edit: April 15, 2014, 12:40:59 PM by HeroWH »

Online Borek

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2014, 12:54:49 PM »
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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Offline HeroWH

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2014, 01:03:42 PM »
Yes, I know, most likely these would be imaginary numbers. I really don't know how to do the calculations is the problem lol

Online Borek

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2014, 01:32:09 PM »
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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Offline HeroWH

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2014, 01:38:27 PM »
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.

Offline HeroWH

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2014, 01:52:29 PM »
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?

Offline Hunter2

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2014, 01:56:45 PM »
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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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2014, 03:22:54 PM »
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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Offline Corribus

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2014, 04:10:58 PM »
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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Offline Arkcon

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2014, 07:19:53 PM »
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/
Hey, I'm not judging.  I just like to shoot straight.  I'm a man of science.

Nitishajack

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Re: Calculate the mass of a tennis ball moving at the speed of light
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2014, 07:29:24 AM »
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.

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