🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Added.0Xr94Sy00Ui3IFME9H@andrew.cmu.edu> CALVIN@JHUIGF.BITNET ("That's not lake Minnetonka...") writes:
>
>
>The argument (again, these are in simplistic terms, and I guess I should
>apologize.. 8^) ), unless I'm wrong, goes something like this:
>        An object becomes more massive the faster it travels.
>        Since F=ma (Newton), an accelerating body requires more and more
>             force to keep accelerating it
>        At (near?) c, this force would become infinite, and thus, acceleration
>             past c is impossible

And even attainment of c is impossible! 

>        THEREFORE, c is the highest attainable speed by an accelerating body.

No, c is NOT attainable

>
>Ok. One thing screams out to me, though. c is a finite number, being 3x10^8 m/s
>which all of you know. Then, why would the force required to accelerate a
>body past c be infinite if c isn't infinite? How can it be assumed that a
>body will become infinitely massive at c if c itself is not infinite, UNLESS
>one assumes, subtlely, that c already is the fastest attainable speed (that
>is, c is in effect, infinite).

The equation for mass is something like:

        m(moving) = m(rest) / (1-(v**2/c**2))**.5

clearly this will approach infinity as there is a v/c in it. So, whats
the problem with mass => infinity as vel => c?

Actually, you CAN go faster than light IF you can conjure up a particle 
with an IMAGINARY mass (i.e. a mass times (-1)**.5). Nobody is sure what
this means, but solutions to the equations with an imaginary mass are
possible, if meaningless in nature.

Such posulated particles are call tachyons, and have been searched for
by several experiments , all with negative results. 
    Paul Rodman
    rodman@mfci.uucp