Mass Variation With Speed
Year: 1999
Keywords: Mass Variation
In 1805, Einstein noted that a spherical wave at a speed of light has the equation x2 + y2 + z2 = c2t2. But the proper derivation yields 3c2t2 on the right-hand side of the equation. This error has been perpetuated until the present day. A well known College physics textbook, for example, derives the Lorentz Transformations of length and time starting from the above equation. All the various derivations of the mass variation with speed in STR are based on these Lorentz Transformations. A few comments are made on the thermodynamics of mass increase with speed.