Reactionless Redux

Hello to all the regulars and irregulars from this humble newbie.

I was prompted to sign up and post here from the discussion on
reactionless drives and energy costs thereof that was linked to from
the excellent Atomic Rocket site.

Sorry if this dead horse has been beaten so much as to have been
reduced to it's constituent atoms, but if I may be indulged, I'd like
to re-visit the question of what the hypothetical energy cost of a
reactionless drive might be.

I would also like to apologize in advance if this has been asked and
answered elsewhere, and similarly would like to thank any who deign to
chime in for putting straight my admittedly meagre knowledge /
understanding of physics.

Anyhoo, on with the show...

It is my understanding that, regardless of frame of reference,
relativistic effects on a mass are the same. IOW, if two space craft
moving at relativistic velocities are pacing each other side-by-side,
looking from one to the other, one will be able to observe a length
contraction in the other, while not noticing seeing it in one's self.

So, if I've got this right, and relativistic effects on a body are the
same regardless of frame, why not use a spacecraft's relativistic mass
(the extra) and the grand ol' equation of E=mc^2 to figure out the
energy costs associated with having moved that spacecraft?

For instance, if the spacecraft's velocity is such that due to
relativistic effects it's mass (in kg) has increased by 1%, the energy
it would have taken to achieve that velocity would be (at 100%
efficiency) 0.01*mass*c^2 joules.

Okay, that's it. Hack away.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Reactionless Redux
    ... reactionless drives and energy costs thereof that was linked to from ... It is my understanding that, regardless of frame of reference, ... So, if I've got this right, and relativistic effects on a body are the ... Relativistic effects of velocity are the same in every frame, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: Ye Old One. The GR Expert.LMAO.
    ... You don't see relativistic effects until the ... velocity gets quite high, where 'quite high' means 'significant fraction of ... email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Ye Old One. The GR Expert.LMAO.
    ... You don't see relativistic effects until the ... velocity gets quite high, where 'quite high' means 'significant fraction of ... warped by the earth. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Q: relativistic velocity
    ... I don't think there is any standard definition. ... calculations (or, if the relativistic effects are small, relativistic ... you are interested in---meaning that if you neglect them, you care about ... calculation---then the velocity is relativistic. ...
    (sci.physics.research)
  • Re: Biot-Savarts Law
    ... relativistic effects I think, which is ... moving charge (q with velocity v) according to ... F = dp/dt = q ... All the quantities are with respect to the observer's reference frame. ...
    (sci.physics.electromag)