why nothing can go faster than the speed of light
213584
another one of einstein's equations is as follows:\nrelative mass = original mass divided by the square-root of "1-(velocity squared/speed of light squared)"\n\nyou can better picture the equation by going here:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass-energy#Relativistic_mass\n\nexplained:\nas the object's velocity squared approached the same value of the speed of light squared, the phrase "v2-c2" would approach '1'. causing the entire bottom mathematical phrase to approach '0' because 1-1=0 :) \nas the bottom phrase approaches '0' the relative mass becomes almost infinite because anything divided by something so close to zero would experience a massive increase in value. example: 1/.01=100.  as .01 becomes smaller (approaches zero), the '100'(our hypothetical relative mass) goes -way- up (approaches infinity). \n\nremember that mathematics does not allow division by zero therefore anything having mass cannot attain the speed of light. because the energy required to accelerate near-infinite mass would itself be near infinite.
677105
Light always travels at the same speed in a vacuum, the speed changes ever so slightly when it has to go through a different medium (water e.g.) but its so fast to begin with you wouldn't really notice it. 300,000 kilometers per second is beyond human comprehension, I mean you can only imagine how fast that is, you can't experience it or 'know' it.
305177
Until now, the velocity of light is still the fastest which is about 350km/sec, and no other means can go faster than this.
30354
it would be called superluminal.\n\nyou can read more about it here - \nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_than_light
4059
well first, read my other answer to your question about the speed of sound.  You would probably expect the answer to be the same, and the light to reach the other car, but this is a special circumstance because nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, not even light itself.  when a beam of light is shone ahead of a rapidly moving space vehicle, and is expected to be moving at the speed of light plus the speed of the vehicle, it is still only moving at the speed of light, which is puzzling.  Physicists have defined the speed of light to be the ultimate cutoff point for speed.\n\nAnd also, you wouldn't be able to travel at the speed of light anyway because time would probably stop since it does get slower and slower the faster you go.  Velocity warps time, the faster you go, the slower time moves for you relative to a stationary object.  I've read this, and it is definately true, we had to derive the formula in physics from, and calculate the time, lenghth(which decreases with speed), and mass (which increases with speed) distortion as well.  The effects of this are very negligable unless you are moving at speeds very very close to the speed of light, at least over 90% of the speed of light, and we haven't gotten anywhere close yet.  The denominator of this factor that time, length, and mass are distorted by actually is 1 minus the square root of the speed of light(c) over the speed in which the object is traveling (v), so the reason you can't go faster than the speed of light is because if v was greater than c, then that square root would be greater than one, meaning the denominator would be negative, meaning the factor would be negative, and the light would actually be travelling backwards in time...\n\nIf you find any of this interesting, I highly recommend "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene.
92447
The speed of light. 186,000 miles per second.
385963
One of the fundamental assumptions of relativity is that there is a finite speed of causality.  Usually this assumption is stated "the speed of light is a constant", but I think the finite speed of causality statement is a better way of looking at it.  So if something could travel faster than the maximum speed of causality, then it could make events happen before it caused them.  That is assuming that relativity is true and that causality is a flexible concept.  If you assume that causes must preceed effects then there are two possibilities for the hypothetical object going faster than light.  1. there is a maximum speed for the object that is going faster than light, so just raise the speed of causality to that new speed and keep relativity  2. there is no maximum speed limit for the object and influences can travel instantly, thus one of the fundamental assumptions of relativity is false and we need to throw out the theory
404852
Good question, shows you are thinking.\n\nPresent technology contends that only light, pure energy, can go as fast as the speed of light.\n\nTaking that theory to heart, if a space ship actually achieved the speed of light it would turn into pure energy (light) and cease to exist as a solid object. The test pilot would theoretically commit suicide in an attempt to learn if it was possible.
312536
*sighs* Why can't people do any research on their own? Anyway... you are traveling through time right now, how else did you push those keys in sequence to form your question?\n\nI think that what you are attempting to refer to (lol I'm never gonna get a best answer replying like this) Is that as you travel faster and faster, closer and closer to the speed of light, time flow for you slows down, and the misconception of the public that if you go faster than light you will reverse time. WRONG!\n\nThat's not specifically what you asked though, so I will focus on teh misconceptions regarding the speed of light. First of all, accelerating mass to the speed of light is impossible as it would require an infinite amount of energy, so your question is meaningless. Second, since your question is meaningless tehre is nothing more to say except maybe a supporting and enlightening example. Third, I do not feel creative tonight so that example is gonna have to pass tis time, unless you email me and I will explain it better.\n\ndavid_lapierre@sbcglobal.net\n\nUnless this is just a school project, which I doubt since they are going donw the drain is sciences these days... you might wanna ask me a question, I can be very helpful when I know my time is not going to be wasted on a person who won't bother to take a few minutes to learn something... :-)
53202
I believe that warp speed is supposed to be significantly faster than the speed of light (given that they sometimes consider three light years a minor detour), and it's not possible to go faster than the speed of light.  The concept of manipulating space in such a way that they can essentially create worm holes it less unrealistic, but is still purely science fiction.
474799
You wanted a serious answer so here goes.\n\nWhat you ask is impossible to put into practise. It is impossible under Einsteins theory for anyone to travel at the speed of light.\n\nSimply put I will try to explain why,, as you approach the speed of light matter expands or rather the mass does. According to the research , the speed of light would produce infinite mass so it is impossible to travel at that speed.\n\nThat's were the theory of worm holes came about, by creating a rip through space you can jump if you like from one point to another, crossing several light years of travel in an instant. But as you have made use of a warp in space itself you don't actually go the speed of light.\n\nSo basically, you cannot answer your question,, I can see were you get this idea from though as it is true that the faster an objects velocity is, the slower time passes for that object.\n\nThis was proven some 50 years ago by use of atomic clocks on a plane, one flew round the world while the other remained in London. When they were brought together it was noted that time passed slower for the moving clock.\n\nHope this helps.
109850
No, the universe is not a single object.  The universe is the whole of all matter.  Within that no object can travel faster thanthe speed of light.
263581
First of all, it is fundementally impossible to go at the speed of light. Therefore, the question as stated is invalid.\n\nHowever, it may or may not surprise you that, indeed, it is THAT VERY QUESTION that Albert Einstein surmised in 1896.  Here is his quote:\n"If I pursue a beam of light with the velocity c (velocity of light in a vacuum), I should observe such a beam of light as a spatially oscillatory electromagnetic field at rest.  However, there seems to be no such thing, whether on the basis of experience or according to Maxwell's equations.  From the very beginning it appeared to me intuitively clear that, judged from the standpoint of such an observer, everything would have to happen according to the same laws as for an observer who, relative to the earth, was at rest.  For how, otherwise, should the first observer know, i.e., be able to determine, that he is in a state of fast uniform motion?  One sees that in this paradox the germ of the special relativity theory is already contained.  Today everyone knows, of course, that all attempts to clarify this paradox satisfactorily were condemned to failure as long as the axiom of the absolute character of time, viz., of a simultaneous, unrecognizedly was anchored in the unconscious.  Clearly to recognize this axiom and its arbitrary character really implies already the solution to the problem."\n\nTherefore, In 1905 he realised how it could be that light always goes at the same speed no matter how fast you go.  Events that are simultaneous in one reference frame will happen at different times in another that has a velocity relative to the first.  Space and time cannot be taken as absolute.  On this basis Einstein constructed the theory of special relativity, which has since been well confirmed by experiment.\n\nNow, I can't explain any more than that.  So there :P
151413
The first answerer is right about the mass increase.  As a mass approaches the speed of light, one of the effects is that the more energy you provide it in order to increase its velocity, the more the mass increases, according to Einstein's famous formula E=mc^2.\n\nThe speed of light is the absolute limit for velocity.  A mass can approach closer and closer to this speed, but can never surpass it.  So, to answer your question, mankind can and likely will build spaceships which can go significantly faster than the present-day ones can, but we will never be able to travel at the speed of light.
242387
*\nThe time-honored phrase "faster than the speed of light" might have to be reworked, thanks to the work of a Danish physicist.\n\nBy shooting a laser beam of light through a super-cooled glob of a kind of optical molasses, Lene Vestergaard Hau and her team at the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were able to slow the speed of light down to just 38 miles per hour -- not even fast enough for the slow lane of a freeway.\n\nBy contrast, the normal speed of light in a vacuum is about 186,000 miles per second -- 20 million times as fast.\n\n"I would probably not call it God-like, but I would probably say ... we are tampering with nature in a very peculiar, very bizarre way," Hau says.\nlight maze\nHau points to an intricate maze of mirrors, part of the slowing process  \n\nThe research, conducted at the Rowland Institute and Harvard University, was reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.\n\nThe substance that slows the light, called Bose-Einstein condensate, is a microscopic glob of atoms slowed to almost absolute zero -- 459.67 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, the lowest temperature theoretically possible.\n\nResearchers believe that it may be possible to slow the speed of light even further, by a factor of 1,000.\n\n"A human could move faster than that" says Stanford University's Steve Harris, who participated in the project. "But a human couldn't move through a Bose-Einstein condensate, I'll tell you that."\n\nResearchers believe learning how to slow light could eventually have a number of practical applications -- improving computers and communications devices, making television displays and laser light shows more vivid and creating better night-vision goggles.
259555
Here's the rub - nothing can travel through space faster than the speed of light - but since escape velocity (the speed which a body must attain to break free of a gravitaional field) depends on density, if a body of matter is sufficiently dense, the its escape veolcity can exceed the speed of light - meaning that light itself is captured in its gravitational field and cannot break free.
432893
1) At the present speed of light it could be bigger than that.\n\n2) Good point!