Quote:
Originally posted by Roger Lee
I hop on a plane with a gold brick. 1 lb of pure 24 karat gold. I land in Wichita and pick you up, and we both hop on another plane to San Diego. While enroute, I hand you the gold brick (which is now more massive due to our velocity). Suddenly this 1 lb brick is worth more since it has more mass? When we hit San Diego, do you hand Jim a 1 lb gold brick?
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The answer to your question is YES, you hand Jim a 1 lb gold brick.
Quote:
Originally posted by Roger Lee
Or is it 1 lb plus whatever mass we picked up when I handed the brick to you over New Mexico?
See what I'm saying? It's a direct violation of the laws of conservation of energy and conservation of matter (unless the thrust that was being emitted by the jet engines magically makes it's way into the gold bar).
WHAT am I missing here?
Roger
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Your missing the principle of "as measured." That gold bar does not have an absolute weight regardless of where it is in the universe. It varies based on when and where and how fast you're going while you measure it. If you had a scale on that plane going the speed of light, it will measure the gold bar "heavier". If you could somehow weigh that bar on a scale that was sitting on earth, it would weigh the bar exactly the same as it would on earth. We're talking "frames of reference", and the weight of the gold bar on the moving plane versus its weight on "stationary" earth are two very different frames of reference.