Rodney wrote:
> In the above example, the atom is being accelerated by an external
> force, the accelerator. If instead of an atom, the object was some
> form of rocket, with it's own engines. Then the object would be acted
> on by an internal force. There would be no phase shift as the object
> is accelerated. If such a vehicle was capable of 1G of acceleration
> at 0.01% the speed of light, then it would be capable of 1G of
> acceleration at 99.99%. This acceleration would continue until the
> vehicle reached the speed of light, where the time dilation would be
> infinite, and time would stop.
Your handwaving about photons "phase shifting" (which didn't make much
sense) doesn't really change the fact that an object travelling at close
to the speed of light will experience "mass increase" (though it is not
always phrased this way, but it is a valid way of looking at things in
special relativity). That mass increase diverges as the speed
approaches that of light, making acceleration from below the speed of
light to the speed of light impossible, since it would take an infinite
amount of force.
It doesn't matter _how_ the object is accelerated; both the particle in
a particle accelerator and a self-propelled rocket will experience the
same relativistic effects, and these effects will prevent any particle
with non-zero rest mass from accelerating to (or beyond) the speed of
light from sublight speeds. The mechanism doesn't matter, and the
mechanism you discuss about photons "phase shifting" isn't correct, at
any rate.
--
Erik Max Francis && max@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
&& http://www.alcyone.com/max/
San Jose, CA, USA && 37 18 N 121 57 W && AIM, Y!M erikmaxfrancis
Only the ephemeral is of lasting value.
-- Ionesco
|
