3 ms·
I thought you were joking, but I came across this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass#Tachyonic_particles_and_imaginary_.28complex.29_mass https://en.wikipedia
by nograpes 9y ago
I thought you were joking, but I came across this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass#Tachyonic_particles_and_imaginary_.28complex.29_mass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass#Tachyonic_particles_and_i...
and was surprised that a plausible notion of imaginary mass exists.
- SubiculumCode 9y agoWell being a layman, I had no idea if I was joking or not. :) Actually the idea of negative mass made me wonder if this would open the possibility for FTL space travel...Ran into a comment on the internets somewhere that said "no, because the mass is squared in the relation with energy, but the existence of imaginary masses might" Thanks for the link.
- godelski 9y agoMany times people will see an asymptote and say "Hey, what would happen if I crossed that? What would the math and physics look like?" Tachyons are actually a great example of this. Taking the relativistic mass equation and asking "What would happen if I allowed for speeds larger than the speed of light?" Science is more a process of elimination. What does the math say? Can we observe what the math says should happen? Repeat.