Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] Thesis Topic




At 1:24 PM -0700 6/20/09, John Denker wrote:
On 06/20/2009 10:58 AM, Rory Ian BUalan wrote:

You might take as a model the paper by Gary Oas
"On the Abuse and Use of Relativistic Mass"
http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0504110

I like this work for a number of reasons. For one thing, it
includes an extensive survey of textbooks, resulting in some
nice clear charts showing the secular trends.

It also helps that I strongly agree with his conclusion:
"it is urged, once again, that the use of the
[velocity-dependent mass] concept at all levels
be abandoned."

I'm astonished anyone is still talking about this, let alone teaching it. (Having seen how egregious are the treatments of relativity in many of the standard "modern physics" textbooks, I do in fact know better than to be surprised. But I am anyway.)

I can't recall meeting ANY professional relativist who employs the concept of a velocity-dependent mass, with the very occasional exception of mention as a throwaway heuristic. (I have seen one or two of the very old guard use it in public talks, though.)

The bottom line is that the concept IS dead among those who actually do relativity for a living.

David Craig


<http://web.lemoyne.edu/~craigda/>