What happens if someone finds something that is faster than the speed of light?
355200
Theoretically, there is such a thing. It is called a tachyon, and has the ability to travel at beyond light speed. However, the physics of such a particle are very hard to figure out, because of the sheer mechanics of such a feat. \n\nAnd, as one of the guys above me said, galaxies that are beyond 13 billion miles away from us are travelling away from us at light speed and greater; this is why we cannot see them. The only way we know they're out there is because we think the universe is infinite, and that it is much the same throughout as it is here.
758936
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
272724
Time for the speed demon will slow down. If you reach the speed of light (theoretically impossible) time will stop, but only for you. In other words, by the time you get back to Earth, Earth will be billions of years in the future, if not much more.\n\nHowever, traveling at the speed of light is impossible. As you increase your speed, your mass increases. This was proven by Einstein by his E = mc^2 equation. Therefore, when you hit the speed of light, your mass is infinite. All the energy in the universe could not move something that had an infinite mass, obviously.
811313
I believe it is expanding.  The speed og light, c, is the cosmic speed limit for objects or radiation within spacetime.  Spacetime itself can (hypothetically) expand faster than c, though what the limit to this might be I don't know.  Special relativity is not violated since there is no object being accelerated.
61325
the Flash @ speed of light ;)
27573
No. There is no practical possibility. Humans can't travel at a speed equal to or greater than that of light.
612849
NO energy, matter, or information has EVER been observed to exceed the speed of light.\n\nTheoretically, there are particles known as "tachyons" ( see wikipedia ) that travel ALWAYS in excess of that of light but never AT or BELOW that speed. Although never observed, their theoretical existence has sent many physicists to look for them ( or their trails ! ) \n\nthere are many abstract entities that "travel" faster than light.  for example, the shadow of a large celestial object ( a planet say ) on another celestial object can be observed to move at great speeds.  a shadow however is not a real entity ( i.e. mass or energy ) and it cannot convey information.
53622
Well, its absolutely impossible to travel at or faster then the speed of light, but lets pretend you can so i can actually give you an answer to the question. The speed of light is actually the ultimate speed limit to the universe, nothing can travel faster than light, so although you would expect the light to be going at twice the speed of light (you plus the speed of light)it can't because it is physically impossible for even light to travel faster than the speed of light so it would be going slower than you and not reach any path in front of you. Of course, if you turned on your headlights before you started moving, the light would be one step ahead of you.\n\nOf course, still, nothing can go faster then the speed of light because in the formula for time dialation(time slows down for an object moving close to the speed of light) t'=t/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2) where t' is the time passing for an outside observer, t is the time that passes for the object going at the high velocity, v is velocity, speed is the speed of light and ^2 is squared. (note: this formula is definately correct, it's part of einstein's theory of relativity and I've had to derive it myself for class in the past) so if v was bigger than c, you would have a number greater than one and therefore a negative number under a square root, which is impossible.
523357
*\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.
940425
nothing expands faster than the speed of light
64267
Well, if you're traveling faster than light, then the light can never be in front of you.  There would be just a big nothing, probably drive you crazy if you looked at it.  I know, I come from andromeda.  We travel through space backwards so we can see where we're going.
25993
No.  No terrestrial object can travel at the speed of light.  If you were traveling at the speed of light you would literally dissentigrate from the millions of pounds of air resistance pinning you down.
1151814
Yes but only to the person observing from one comet the speed of one is only relitive to the still space it occupies , but yes compared to the other it would appeare to go faster than the speed of light.
591715
No. First, matter can't get to the speed of light because it would be infinitly massive and would take an infinite amount of energy to do it so the question starts out with a bad premiss.\n\nHowever, if a plane were traveling at half the speed of light and turned on it's headlights, they would be going the speed of light to him and the speed of light for someone on the ground watching. You see the speed of light is constant for all observers in a non-Newtonian reference frame.
1042298
No it can't.\n\nLaser light goes at exactly the speed of light.
204272
Light travels faster than sound.
452560
Yes, it is thought that neutrinos travel faster than the speed of light-In fact, it is thought that the speed of light is the *lower* speed limit for neutrinos.  Thought is not particularly fast,and is measurable at a few hundred miles/hour.  Einstein's theory says that nothing can be accelerated to the speed on light, and only refers to massive particles and objects.  The theoretical connection between particles created together (paired particles) seems to obey no speed limit, and react instantly regardeless of the distance, but we are not sure if this represents somethign traveling between the objects, or a connection that exists in a different plane or dimension.