- #1
Austin0
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Supposing two cubic containers with perfectly reflective interior surfaces.
In one there is 1 mole of some gas and in the other is an equivalent number NA
of photons of some frequency.
We put the gas on a scale and the scale registers the total weight (mass) of the enclosed gas.
But microscopically the interior gas is moving and interacting in complete vacuum. There is no physical, causal connection to either the box or scale.
This suggests two questions
1) What exactly is the scale measuring if not total mass??
2) How does the interior mass affect the box without a direct connection in order to have the scale register that mass??
The immediate answer to 1) would seem to be that the scale measures the momentum differential between the instantaneous sum of all molecules impacting the interior surface with an upward (positive) vector and the sum of all downward impacts.
I would assume this differential would be some factor of local g and the height of the box.
As this acceleration is reciprocal there should not be an overall increase in the velocity distribution for the temperature so as the percentage of the total mass impacting the surface at any moment is obviously exceedingly small, it does not seem plausible that the velocity difference applied to this small mass could result in a momentum reflecting the total mass.
Looking at the box o' photons velocity is not a factor and the difference in momentum is just a difference in frequency but the same question pertains.
How do the internal photons interact with the box to cause an instantaneous reaction of the scale equivalent to the total number?
The possible answers I have come up with are:
The internal pressure increases the stress energy of the box which increases the total weight equivalent to the gas mass.
The volume mass/energy content acts non-locally as a single geometric entity.
The constant molecular emission of light speed gravitons or GW's result in , not an instantaneous, but a continuous interaction with the box and scale which reflects the total number of emitting particles.
Since none of the above seem convincing I am thinking I must be missing some obvious fundamental factor ?. Any insights welcome
In one there is 1 mole of some gas and in the other is an equivalent number NA
of photons of some frequency.
We put the gas on a scale and the scale registers the total weight (mass) of the enclosed gas.
But microscopically the interior gas is moving and interacting in complete vacuum. There is no physical, causal connection to either the box or scale.
This suggests two questions
1) What exactly is the scale measuring if not total mass??
2) How does the interior mass affect the box without a direct connection in order to have the scale register that mass??
The immediate answer to 1) would seem to be that the scale measures the momentum differential between the instantaneous sum of all molecules impacting the interior surface with an upward (positive) vector and the sum of all downward impacts.
I would assume this differential would be some factor of local g and the height of the box.
As this acceleration is reciprocal there should not be an overall increase in the velocity distribution for the temperature so as the percentage of the total mass impacting the surface at any moment is obviously exceedingly small, it does not seem plausible that the velocity difference applied to this small mass could result in a momentum reflecting the total mass.
Looking at the box o' photons velocity is not a factor and the difference in momentum is just a difference in frequency but the same question pertains.
How do the internal photons interact with the box to cause an instantaneous reaction of the scale equivalent to the total number?
The possible answers I have come up with are:
The internal pressure increases the stress energy of the box which increases the total weight equivalent to the gas mass.
The volume mass/energy content acts non-locally as a single geometric entity.
The constant molecular emission of light speed gravitons or GW's result in , not an instantaneous, but a continuous interaction with the box and scale which reflects the total number of emitting particles.
Since none of the above seem convincing I am thinking I must be missing some obvious fundamental factor ?. Any insights welcome