- #1
hedons
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Hi all,
I am posting this thought from another discussion board...
I've been thinking about two things lately: artificial gravity, light speeds, and faster-than-light speeds. I believe these to be interconnected. Here's my reasoning.
First off, if mass and matter are separate things: one can exist without the other. Take neutrinos for example, these are particles that move at speeds approaching the speed of light or even at the speed of light. As of yet, scientists aren't certain that neutrinos have mass although recent experiments indicate that they do. Let's assume that they do. Since mass increases exponentially as you approach the speed of light, neutrinos should have a measurable gravitational effect. As far as I know, this has not yet been noticed in any experiments. This would seem to imply that they have no mass. Since they seem to have mass in other experiments, and they are particles and therefor matter, matter and mass appear to be separate things. How else could neutrinos reach such high speeds without having an enormous (at least for subatomic particles) mass?
If this is so, it seems logical that mass can be created or influenced without having to manipulate matter. Since mass creates a gravitational field, this means that artificial gravity should be possible.
On the other hand, mass is stated as the reason that matter cannot move at lightspeed. It's mass would be infinite, and so is the amount of energy required to accelerate it to that speed. However, if mass and matter are separate things, what will happen if an objects mass approaches zero? The slightest amount of applied force will accelerate it to very high speeds, and an object with zero mass can actually reach lightspeed.
So, is my reasoning correct, or have I missed something here? Could it be due to the fact that at the quantummechanical level waves and particles become interchangeable, and that neutrinos are more like radiation than matter? A real brainteaser...
Thanks!
I am posting this thought from another discussion board...
I've been thinking about two things lately: artificial gravity, light speeds, and faster-than-light speeds. I believe these to be interconnected. Here's my reasoning.
First off, if mass and matter are separate things: one can exist without the other. Take neutrinos for example, these are particles that move at speeds approaching the speed of light or even at the speed of light. As of yet, scientists aren't certain that neutrinos have mass although recent experiments indicate that they do. Let's assume that they do. Since mass increases exponentially as you approach the speed of light, neutrinos should have a measurable gravitational effect. As far as I know, this has not yet been noticed in any experiments. This would seem to imply that they have no mass. Since they seem to have mass in other experiments, and they are particles and therefor matter, matter and mass appear to be separate things. How else could neutrinos reach such high speeds without having an enormous (at least for subatomic particles) mass?
If this is so, it seems logical that mass can be created or influenced without having to manipulate matter. Since mass creates a gravitational field, this means that artificial gravity should be possible.
On the other hand, mass is stated as the reason that matter cannot move at lightspeed. It's mass would be infinite, and so is the amount of energy required to accelerate it to that speed. However, if mass and matter are separate things, what will happen if an objects mass approaches zero? The slightest amount of applied force will accelerate it to very high speeds, and an object with zero mass can actually reach lightspeed.
So, is my reasoning correct, or have I missed something here? Could it be due to the fact that at the quantummechanical level waves and particles become interchangeable, and that neutrinos are more like radiation than matter? A real brainteaser...
Thanks!
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