🚀 go-pugleaf

"John M. Aldrich" <figh...@cs.com> wrote:

>Ross Levis wrote:
>> 
>> So we all know that the mass of an object increases it accelerates but
>> in what way does the mass accumulate.  Would atoms be created and
>> dispursed throughout the object?  Would the object then appear bigger or
>> would the atoms just compress more?
>> 
>> Interestingly if we stay strickly with Einstein's theory then we must
>> all gain a few atoms when we walk across the room or fly in a jet.

>Nobody ever said that you gain any _matter_.  You gain _mass_.  That
>means that each individual atom of your body becomes more massive, not
>that you add more atoms.  Remember, the whole reason relativity works is
>because it is relative.  When you accelerate from a standing position to
>walk across the room, you do in fact gain an miniscule amount of mass
>because of the energy you are expending.  I said miniscule; it wouldn't
>even measure in picograms at such a small scale.  However, when you fly
>in a jet, then you gain proportionally more mass.

I think it is important to remember that the gain in mass is relative.
Only the outside observer sees the accelerated object gaining mass,
the object itself sees no change in its own mass.  The increase in
mass is more like an optical illusion caused by the time dilation.
Also the object being accelerated sees its acceleration contiuned
unabated the decrease in acceleration as lightspeed is approached is
only seen by an outside observer.  Because time slows for the object
being accelorated a passenger timing his journey may be supprised to
find that from his perspective he can travel from point A to point B
faster than the speed of light.  Of course the outside observer will
see the abject as traveling less than the speed of light and more time
will have passed for the observer than the passenger.



It don't matter what you call a dog with no legs.

He won't come.