Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ia Paper 4 12C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
With Lorentz factor , the relativistic momentum and four-momentum areThe Newtonian formula fails because is not : both the magnitude and direction of affect . Sincethe relativistic force isTaking the dot product with gives , and substitution yields the inverse relationThis is the requested sum of a vector parallel to and one parallel to .
In the constant electric field, and the particle starts with , so . The relativistic energy-momentum relation impliesThus the speed increases monotonically but remains subluminal, and tends to in the direction of as .