Is it possible for an object to move faster than the speed of light? If so, then if a large explosion in space were to launch a meteor on a path towards earth -- moving faster than the speed of light -- wouldn't it impact earth before our telescopes could detect it?
2006-06-17 11:27:03 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
There may be objects (tachyons) that move faster than light, up to perhaps infinite speeds.
However, nothing already slower than light can accelerate to or beyond the speed of light.
2006-06-17 11:34:24 · answer #1 · answered by Scott R 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No; by Einstein's theory of relativity, NOTHING can move faster than light. Lots of really strange things start to happen if you get up to even a fraction of the speed of light (time dilation, being one, and something called Lorentz contraction which basically squishes you in the direction of travel... we won't go there today), and it takes progressively more and more energy to get you moving the faster you go, until you basically have to use infinite energy to get you going at the speed of light. Dunno about you, but I haven't found a way to build a rocket that can thrust with infinite energy.
The second half of your scenario is actually possible, however -- a meteor travelling at a great speed (doesn't have to be the speed of light to be really fast; let's say 500,000 miles an hour, which is about 0.7% the speed of light) could still impact the Earth before we knew it was coming, because we would have to be looking in the right direction to detect it. Think of it this way: you're standing in a really large room with all the lights out. You're walking in a circle around a single candle, which gives you a little bit of light but not enough to see anything out at the edges of the room, so you don't know if anyone is in there with you. You are peering intently into the darkness through a pair of binoculars... this is your "telescope," and as you can see, it limits how much of the room you can see at any one time. At some point in your "orbit" around the "sun," somebody at the edge of the room (presumably wearing night vision goggles or something) throws a tennis ball at your head. Even if you are scanning a good portion of the room with your binoculars, what's the chance that your field of view will actually pass over the path of the tennis ball in time for you to react and dodge (or shoot your BB gun to deflect the tennis ball, since we're going with this ridiculous analogy and you can't exactly move the Earth out of the meteor's way very easily)? It can and probably will happen, though whether it'll be tomorrow or another billion years from now, that's anybody's guess.
2006-06-17 11:48:33 · answer #2 · answered by theyuks 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, an object below the speed of light needs infinite amount of energy to reach the speed of light and /or pass through it. An object that has had the speed of more than light, however, does not need infinite amount of energy to continue its journey.
Now we also know that once the object gains the speed of light or over, it becomes energy automatically, and probably will go to the past. As a conclusion, no meteor will be able to reach the speed of light or over it because:
1. It needs infinite amount of energy to reach that, whereas our universe itself is finite.
2. It gets transformed to a form of energy automatically.
3. If it passes the speed of light, it travels backward in time.
Considering the above reasoning, the answer to your question is no. A meteor cannot have a speed of more than light, neither it can reach the speed of light. Nevertheless, there are some stuff in the universe that might have the speed of more than light, called Tachyons which may exist in theory only.
2006-06-17 11:46:12 · answer #3 · answered by alitan_112 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a scientist but I can use my logic to answer your question. Meteor is a mass and if an explosion happen somewhere in the universe and even how small a meteor spit and travel it will eventually slow down little by little by interference from other planet. Light is a wave and it will not slow down because they don't have mass. They might only be reflected by another mass. We will see the meteor come before it impacted earth. just my thought...not sure if it's right or not. My 2 cents If i'm wrong plz someone correct me. I would like to know too.
2006-06-17 11:41:45 · answer #4 · answered by rattlesnakes_101 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nothing can travel faster than light. As an object accelerates approaching the speed of light its mass increases and time slows down. As it reached the speed of light, time would reverse so the meteor would be going back in time and arrive were it was before it left.
2006-06-17 12:45:19 · answer #5 · answered by wefields@swbell.net 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, no meteor or anything else with mass can move as fast as the speed of light, let alone move faster than the speed of light.
2006-06-17 12:26:11 · answer #6 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NOTHING (we know off) CAN TRAVELL FASTER THAN LIGHT
a more intresting questions is if we r on a ship which is travelling at speed of light, n we swith on our headlight will the light be travelling at twice the speed of light,
the answer is noooooooooooooooooo.
this has got 2 do with relative velocity. as in if we travel @ 30km n throw n apple at 30km the speed of apple is 60km
this principle stops working wen it goes 2 speed closer 2 speed of light
To properly understand why it dosnt work is very hard 2 understand, u could look up the reason on internet. But i think it would take a strong physics n maths background. i do quantum mechanics n stuff.....so i can answer the qestions in exam, but dont understand half the stuff properly
Hope i answerd ur question
2006-06-17 11:45:53 · answer #7 · answered by harsh 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A meteor travelling faster than light is unlikely...
It MIGHT move faster than light, that COULD be true, but it would have to slow down eventually by colliding with other space matter.
2006-06-17 11:32:07 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymously Anonymous 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it might be possible for some things to move faster than light
there is experimental evidence to suggest that this is true or at least possible
but meteors/meteorites would defintely not fall into that category
so the answer to your question in regard to meteors is a very definite, no
2006-06-17 11:41:15 · answer #9 · answered by jojoschmo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
technical, yes but then to move that fast it would take extreme presicion and it must be folowing the rule ,E=mc^2, energy=mass times the speed of light squared showing how much speed it would take for mass to turn into energy(probably light unless there a delta+ radiation only found at the end of the universe) so it would it would very likely turn into light energy
2006-06-17 11:51:52 · answer #10 · answered by Ninad T 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋