🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <130889@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> dk@imager (Dave Knapp) writes:

> 2.) Laymen who have heard of "relativistic mass" frequently ask why
>     a sufficiently energetic rocket ship can't become a black hole. 
>     If you believe that "relativistic mass" is real, then you have
>     to explain why it doesn't behave like a black hole gravitationally.

You will just have to redefine the "mass of a black hole", something
which lacks sufficient definition. I say "the rest mass of a black
hole". Of course I talk to physics students, not laymen. I believe
the principal intent of the language I use in teaching is to convey
meaning to those prepared to appreciate it. By the way, I've never
been asked by a physics student why a sufficiently fast-moving rocket
ship (or other particle) doesn't "behave like a black hole gravita-
tionally". It does behave like a gravitating mass having the relativistic
mass, of course.

Leigh