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Relative velocities between two particles in classical mechanics. The figure shows two objects A and B moving at constant velocity. The equations of motion are: = +, = +, where the subscript i refers to the initial displacement (at time t equal to zero).
In other words, the laws of physics will be the same whether you are testing them in a frame 'at rest', or a frame moving with a constant velocity relative to the 'rest' frame. The speed of light in a perfect classical vacuum ( c 0 {\displaystyle c_{0}} ) is measured to be the same by all observers in inertial frames and is, moreover, finite ...
Looking at the above formula for invariant mass of a system, one sees that, when a single massive object is at rest (v = 0, p = 0), there is a non-zero mass remaining: m 0 = E/c 2. The corresponding energy, which is also the total energy when a single particle is at rest, is referred to as "rest energy".
The scalar absolute value of velocity is called speed, being a coherent derived unit whose quantity is measured in the SI (metric system) as metres per second (m/s or m⋅s −1). For example, "5 metres per second" is a scalar, whereas "5 metres per second east" is a vector.
The speed of light in vacuum is thus the upper limit for speed for all physical systems. In addition, the speed of light is an invariant quantity: it has the same value, irrespective of the position or speed of the observer. This property makes the speed of light c a natural measurement unit for speed and a fundamental constant of nature.
Speed is a scalar, being the magnitude of the velocity vector which in relativity is the four-velocity and in three-dimension Euclidean space a three-velocity. Speed is empirically measured as average speed, although current devices in common use can estimate speed over very small intervals and closely approximate instantaneous speed.
0 < e < 1: This is a real-world inelastic collision, in which some kinetic energy is dissipated. The objects rebound with a lower separation speed than the speed of approach. e = 1: This is a perfectly elastic collision, in which no kinetic energy is dissipated. The objects rebound with the same relative speed with which they approached.
Log-log plot of γ (blue), v/c (cyan), and η (yellow) versus proper velocity w/c (i.e. momentum p/mc).Note that w/c is tracked by v/c at low speeds and by γ at high speeds. The dashed red curve is γ − 1 (kinetic energy K/mc 2), while the dashed magenta curve is the relativistic Doppler factor.