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Re: A question on inelastic relativistic collisions



Ed Schweber (edschweb@ix.netcom.com)
Physics Teacher at The Solomon Schechter Day School, West Orange, NJ
To obtain free resources for creative physics teachers visit:
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Jack Uretsky (in response to a question from me about relativistic
collisions ) wrote:


**********************
Since you have not defined the term "heat loss" in your question
the question cannot be answered.

*********************

I was indeed using heat loss very loosely. Substitute instead the
difference between the final total kinetic energies of the colliding objects
and the initial total kinetic energies.

I should also elaborate on why I think this would make specific heat
relativistic:

Assume that all the lost KE is transfered as internal energy into the
objects themselves. If different observers measure different changes in KE,
but the same change in temperature they must also measure different specific
heats.

Thanks for the responses.

Ed