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Biologist Trying to do Physics -- Badly
So, I just saw this article on PhysOrg that PF was linking to, and it has me saying, "HUH?"
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-relativity-electrons-biologist.html
This biologist thinks he has discovered why electrons can't travel faster than the speed of light, and claims it has to do with some sort of "photon drag force."
We already KNOW from Special Relativity why no massive particle can travel faster than c -- it is NOT an open question. Furthermore, we know that this would be true of that massive particle even if it were traveling in a true vacuum absent of photons or any other particles. And this guy is planning to publish these "findings?!" What the heck?
I should also add that the article's description of the "canonical" explanation for why massive particles can't travel faster than light as having to do with the "relativity of time" is at best vague and at worst dead wrong.
So, I just saw this article on PhysOrg that PF was linking to, and it has me saying, "HUH?"
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-relativity-electrons-biologist.html
This biologist thinks he has discovered why electrons can't travel faster than the speed of light, and claims it has to do with some sort of "photon drag force."
Any space with a temperature above absolute zero consists of photons. As a result of the Doppler effect, the moving electron experiences the photons crashing into the front of it as being blue-shifted, and the photons colliding with the back of it as being red-shifted. Since blue-shifted photons exert more momentum than red-shifted photons, the photons themselves exert a counterforce on the moving electron, just as the cytoplasm in a cell exerts a viscous force on the moving organelles. The viscous force that arises from the Doppler-shifted photons prevents electrons from exceeding the speed of light, according to Randy Wayne, associate professor of plant biology.
We already KNOW from Special Relativity why no massive particle can travel faster than c -- it is NOT an open question. Furthermore, we know that this would be true of that massive particle even if it were traveling in a true vacuum absent of photons or any other particles. And this guy is planning to publish these "findings?!" What the heck?
I should also add that the article's description of the "canonical" explanation for why massive particles can't travel faster than light as having to do with the "relativity of time" is at best vague and at worst dead wrong.