Proper velocity addition formula: where formula_3 is the beta factor given by formula_4. or in terms of logarithms: Proper velocity is useful for comparing the speed of objects with momentum per unit rest mass ("w") greater than lightspeed "c". The coordinate speed of such objects is generally near lightspeed, whereas proper velocity tells us how rapidly they are covering ground on "traveling-object clocks". This is important for example if, like some cosmic ray particles, the traveling objects have a finite lifetime. Proper velocity also clues us in to the object's momentum, which has no upper bound. For example, a 45 GeV electron
Mass extension a carbon-12 atom has a mass of exactly 12 u. This definition, however, might be changed by the proposed redefinition of SI base units, which will leave the Dalton very close to one, but no longer exactly equal to it. In some frameworks of special relativity, physicists have used differing definitions of the term "mass". However, such usage is controversial and has fallen out of favor. In these frameworks, two kinds of mass are defined: rest mass (invariant mass), and relativistic mass (which increases with velocity). Rest mass is the Newtonian mass as measured by an observer moving along