Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
758938 | Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation | 2010 | 7 Pages |
We show that the trajectories predicted by Newtonian mechanics and special relativistic mechanics from the same parameters and initial conditions for a slow-moving dissipative dynamical system will rapidly disagree completely if the trajectories are chaotic or transiently chaotic. There is no breakdown of agreement if the trajectories are non-chaotic, in contrast to the slow breakdown of agreement between non-chaotic Newtonian and relativistic trajectories for a slow-moving non-dissipative dynamical system studied previously. We argue that, once the two trajectory predictions are completely different for a slow-moving dissipative dynamical system, special relativistic mechanics must be used, instead of the standard practice of using Newtonian mechanics, to correctly study its trajectory.