2006-07-07 15:54:43 · 17 answers · asked by Gurn B 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
No.
A sonic boom is created by the force of the mass of air being pushed by an object approaching the speed of sound. Air has mass, and consequently, inertia which is only slowed by the friction between the air being pushed and the medium surrounding it (which is also air).
A sonic boom is a factor of wave mechanics. Like a string on a guitar vibrating from the sound of music playing on the radio, so does the air being pushed harmonize with the air surrounding it. But with sound, waves move through the air like they do in a slinky, not in the ocean. Compression waves, they are called.
Light does not have mass. It is part of the visible spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. It does not require a medium through which to travel, unlike sound, which requires air (or any other mass for that matter), in which to propogate.
Keep in mind that it is not the sound which booms, but the air which "collapses" and creates the boom.
This will never happen with light, because light has no medium on which to act upon and it has no mass with which to exert force.
Ofcourse, I could be wrong... In any third semester college Physics class you will learn that light does, in fact, exert a measurble force on metallic surfaces based on wavelength, frequency (speed is constant) and the atomic makeup of surface acted upon.
Regarding Cherenkov radiation: This is more akin to sticking a flourescent bulb in the microwave, than the "photo boom" idea brought up here, because the light emission is caused by electrons falling to lower energy states (releasing photons) after having been exited by the charged particle radiation.
2006-07-07 17:24:26 · answer #1 · answered by Steve T 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Sound is a set of pressure waves that travel away from the source, as waves travel away from a rock thrown in a pond. As an object accelerates, the shape of the rings changes; the waves in front of the object get closer together. As the object approaches the speed of sound, the waves pile up on each other making one big wave that is powerful. Light won't build up the same way; also, nothing can go any where near that fast, so no boom.
2006-07-07 23:07:39 · answer #2 · answered by n0witrytobeamused 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If we do ever exceed the speed of light there will probably be a big flash just like there was in Back to the Future.
2006-07-08 00:23:41 · answer #3 · answered by Eric X 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are not going to exceed the speed of light. It is not going to happen. To exceed the speed of light, you would grow to an infinite mass.
The reason why you cant do that is simple. A force is pushing you closer to the speed of light. However, Einsteinium physics has shown that when you get closer to the speed of light your mass grows. The same force wont be able to push you faster. Therefore you will have to get a greater force to push your greater mass. This will keep growing until you require an infinite force to push an infinite mass.
Good luck getting that to happen.
2006-07-07 23:03:12 · answer #4 · answered by eric l 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The gist of your question seems to be: Is there something analogous to a sonic boom for obects traveling faster than light? Yes, when something travels faster than the speed of light in a particular medium, there is a release of photons called Cerenkov or Cherenkov radiation, we use this phenomenon to detect neutrinos in neutrino detectors.
2006-07-08 00:30:38 · answer #5 · answered by idiuss 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there is a known instance where faster than light speed is possible - Cherenkov radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle passes through an insulator at a speed greater than the speed of light in the medium. The characteristic "blue glow" of nuclear reactors is due to Cherenkov radiation. It is named after Russian scientist Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, the 1958 Nobel Prize winner who was the first to rigorously characterize it.
2006-07-07 23:24:55 · answer #6 · answered by zirikeos 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As far as I know, it is impossible to exceed the speed of light. 3E8 M/S is the fastest any particle can travel. But now that I think of it, I swear I've read an article where scientists stated they did, in fact, exceed that speed but I do not recall the effects. Even so, it is EXTREMLY hard to accelerate to such speeds.
2006-07-07 23:02:29 · answer #7 · answered by Spectre 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't excede the speed of light based on Einstein's theory of relativity E=MC2. It states that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Meaning that the more an object weighs, the more energy it takes to go a certain speed. To get to the speed of light, you mass would have to be zero, and if that were the case, you wouldn't exist.
2006-07-07 23:07:52 · answer #8 · answered by pattyewhs 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Based on Einstein's equation:
E = 1/sqrt[1-(v^2/c^2)] m c^2, velocity cannot be larger than c (the speed of light), or you get a negative instead of the square root, which is physically impossible?
Who knows though, maybe one day this equation will be updated and it will be possible to travel faster than light, and if/when that day comes, your question will be answered.
2006-07-07 23:25:36 · answer #9 · answered by vpatel87 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You'll never be able to get past the speed of light, but the time that you experience when you approach the speed of light will decrease! At that point the laws of physics will get a little hazy.
2006-07-07 23:09:57 · answer #10 · answered by Bill C 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋