What Determines Relativistic Momentum: Mass or Velocity?

[Shark 774]

In a practice exam I just did for my upcoming high school mid-year, there was a multiple choice question and the two answers that seemed plausable were "relativistic momentum depends on the mass and velocity of the object" or "relativistic momentum depends only on the mass of the object". I chose the second one with the reasoning that mass and velocity are intertwined and one increases so does the other, so if you know the relativistic mass (and the rest mass) you can easily work out the momentum. I think it's a bit of a stupid question really, but they gave their answer as the first one, not the second one. What do you guys reckon? Just a technicality or is it something worth knowing/worrying about?

 

[tiny-tim]

Hi Shark 774!

Momentum is m_ov/√(1 - v²/c²)

which you can also write as m_relativsiticv …

either way, it depends on both mass and velocity. ​

 

[Shark 774]

Hi Shark 774!

Momentum is m_ov/√(1 - v²/c²)

which you can also write as m_relativsiticv …

either way, it depends on both mass and velocity. ​

Ok thanks!