Question

As the speed of a particle approaches the speed of light, the momentum of the particle Group of answer choices approaches zero. decreases. approaches infinity. remains the same. increases.

Answer 1

Answer:

approaches infinity

Explanation:

There are two momentums, the classical momentum which is equal to the product of mass and velocity, and the relativistic momentum, the one we should look at when we work with high speeds, and this happens because massive objects have a speed limit, in this case, we are approaching the speed of light, so we need to work with the relativistic momentum instead of the classical momentum.

The relativistic momentum can be written as:

$p = \frac{1}{\sqrt{1 - \frac{u^2}{c^2} } } *m*u$

where

u = speed of the object relative to the observer, in this case we have that u tends to c, the speed of light.

m = mass of the object

c = speed of light.

So, as u tends to c, we will have:

$\lim_{u \to c} p = \frac{1}{\sqrt{1 - \frac{u^2}{c^2} } } *m*u$

Notice that when u tends to c, the denominator on the first term tends to zero, thus, the relativistic momentum of the object will tend to infinity.

Then the correct option is infinity, as the particle speed approaches the speed of light, the relativistic momentum of the particle tends to infinity.