I like that somebody called out that there is a lot of misinformation/crap around relativity and the speed of light.
The article points out that mass doesn't increase with velocity.
The next big lie is that nothing can go faster than the speed of light. One thing can: Me (or you from your point of view). The whole time dilation thing only happens to other things/people. I can accelerate to any velocity. The universe just won't let me observe anybody else going faster than the speed of light. It doesn't change the fact that I can accelerate well past c and get to alpha centauri as soon as I am willing to expell propellant for. It's only everybody else time will do wonky things for.
I'm curious why you write what you wrote: at Fermilab, where some high school students took physics including from a Nobel laureate, I remember (as a high school student) that the problem with exceeding the speed of light, from the point of view of a reference frame, is that, if
e = mass * celeritas^2 / Sqrt( 1 - velocity^2/celeritas^2 )
describes relativistic mass and energy conversion, where i spelled out c as celeritas as the speed of light,
at least in the reference frame, something implausible is implied.
Looking at that equation, as an object's velocity approaches the speed of light, the denominator approaches zero, and the equivalent energy of the moving mass goes towards infinity.
That led to the quandary : can you really get something to go that fast?
(I'm on a keyboard with no paper to fiddle with, or I'd further monkey with the equations.)
> One thing can: Me (or you from your point of view). The whole time dilation thing only happens to other things/people. I can accelerate to any velocity.
You can't go faster than the speed of light in your reference frame because you are always doing zero in your reference frame.
blamestross|6 years ago
The article points out that mass doesn't increase with velocity.
The next big lie is that nothing can go faster than the speed of light. One thing can: Me (or you from your point of view). The whole time dilation thing only happens to other things/people. I can accelerate to any velocity. The universe just won't let me observe anybody else going faster than the speed of light. It doesn't change the fact that I can accelerate well past c and get to alpha centauri as soon as I am willing to expell propellant for. It's only everybody else time will do wonky things for.
jjtheblunt|6 years ago
e = mass * celeritas^2 / Sqrt( 1 - velocity^2/celeritas^2 )
describes relativistic mass and energy conversion, where i spelled out c as celeritas as the speed of light, at least in the reference frame, something implausible is implied.
Looking at that equation, as an object's velocity approaches the speed of light, the denominator approaches zero, and the equivalent energy of the moving mass goes towards infinity.
That led to the quandary : can you really get something to go that fast?
(I'm on a keyboard with no paper to fiddle with, or I'd further monkey with the equations.)
ErotemeObelus|6 years ago
You can't go faster than the speed of light in your reference frame because you are always doing zero in your reference frame.
unknown|6 years ago
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