Quote:
|
Originally Posted by north
what would happen if a alien species could take the energy that
is transferred to the mass of the ship when approaching the speed
of light, as i understand it, and transfers this energy to the
engines or the propulsion of the ship, which of course uses this
energy and therefore the mass of the ship does not actually
increase but stays the same. all they would have to do is have
the ability to keep up with the transfer of the energy from the
speed of light to the propulsion system.
|
That is a perpetual motion notion.
Energy is measured relative to something. The kinetic energy
of the ship increases relative to an outside observer because
the chemical energy in the fuel is converted to motion of the
ship and the exhaust. The resulting kinetic energy relative
to the observer is the energy of the motion. Extracting that
energy would slow the ship relative to the observer.
-- Jeff, in Minneapolis
__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/
"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"
"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves