Kinetic energy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:42, 18 October 2003

Revision as of 13:15, 25 October 2003

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<math>(m - m_0)c^2</math>

where m is its total mass, m₀ is its mass (or rest mass), and c is the [[speed of light]] in vaccuumvacuum. Relativity theory states that the total mass of an object grows towards infinity as its velocity approaches the speed of light, and thus that it is impossible to accelerate an object beyond this boundary.

Where gravity is weak, and objects move at much slower velocities than light (e.g. in everyday phenomena on Earth), Newton's formula is an excellent approximation of relativistic kinetic energy.