From: Jonathan Reeves (JonathanR@mail.iclshelpdesks.com)
Date: Wed Feb 17 1999 - 06:27:30 MST
Anders Sanberg writes:
> I think you misunderstood me. If your spaceship accelerates at 1 G, a
> classical calculation would say that after one year you would travel
> faster than c. However, in relativity (and as evidenced in particle
> accelerators) even a constant acceleration doesn't lead to a velocity
> greater than c. What happens is that the mass of the accelerated
> object increases as 1/sqrt(1-(v/c)^2) and the energy needed to
> accelerate it to a few percent higher velocity diverges.
The energy needed to accelerate it from it's _starting_ point increases,
but not the energy it needs to accelerate itself.
An object/vessel which is capable of generating it's own thrust will not
need to output more power to maintain a constant acceleration the
further it gets from it's origin.
Jon Reeves
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