Re: a paradox ?

["James W. Wheeler" <jwheeler@eagle.lhup.edu>]

There will be "drag" forces from flying through a "rainstorm" of light.
The Terrell rotation will be important.  In effect the net radiation force
on the "spheres" will certainly change direction as a function of v/c.
What is your exact prediction?

On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, LUDWIK KOWALSKI wrote:

> Several spheres (they have same masses and sizes in a rest frame) travel 
> with relativistic velocities (different v/c) with respect to that frame. 
> The spheres enter a region near a very massive and very hot star. Two 
> forces are involved, one is due to gravity (same for each sphere) and
> one is due to the radiation pressure. The second force, proportional to
> the exposed area, is larger for the spheres whose v/c are smaller. This
> is due to the relativistic contraction (photons travel perpendicularly
> to v) toward an observer in a fixed frame of reference. 
>
> Will the observer record different trajectories for different v/c? If
> so than a change in volume is "experimentally confirmed". Of course, all
> is "just in principle". We can not see a change of volume with our eyes
> but we know it is real.