Re: A Relativity Question

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1 total messages Started by Donald E. Simanek Fri, 12 May 1995 00:00

#71

Author: Donald E. Simanek
Date: Fri, 12 May 1995 00:00

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On Fri, 12 May 1995, Steve Luzader wrote:

>    In response to Eric Smith's question about mass and gravitational
> force increasing to infinity, the key word here is "infinity".
> To get even a single
> electron to exactly the speed of light would require infinitely more
> energy than exists in the entire universe, so it's impossible.  (Maybe
> I'm easily impressed, but I think that's really amazing.)

I, also, think it's amazing. Last time I did the calculation, the energy
required to accelerate an electron to the speed of light was only
infinite. "Infinitely more than" some finite number could be defended on
mathematical grounds, but is unnecessary and possibly misleading to students.

        -- Donald

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