8 research outputs found
Deriving relativistic momentum and energy
We present a new derivation of the expressions for momentum and energy of a
relativistic particle. In contrast to the procedures commonly adopted in
textbooks, the one suggested here requires only the knowledge of the
composition law for velocities along one spatial dimension, and does not make
use of the concept of relativistic mass, or of the formalism of four-vectors.
The basic ideas are very general and can be applied also to kinematics
different from the Newtonian and Einstein ones, in order to construct the
corresponding dynamics.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure