2006-07-07 18:14:27 · 8 answers · asked by aaron_hoey 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Because of the equivalence of energy and mass, the energy which an object has due to its motion will add to its mass. In other words, it will make it harder to increase its speed. This effect is only really significant for objects moving at speeds close to the speed of light. For example, at 10 percent of the speed of light an object’s mass is only 0.5 percent more than normal, while at 90 percent of the speed of light it would be more than twice its normal mass. As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass rises ever more quickly, so it takes more and more energy to speed it up further. It can in fact never reach the speed of light, because by then its mass would have become infinite, and by the equivalence of mass and energy, it would have taken an infinite amount of energy to get it there. For this reason, any normal object is forever confined by relativity to move at speeds slower than the speed of light. Only light, or other waves that have no intrinsic mass, can move at the speed of light.
2006-07-11 19:36:28 · answer #1 · answered by Noel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To Gain Speed You Need To Accelerate, Like Pushing the Accelerator on Your Car
To Accelerate, You Need a Force, By Newton's Second Law a Force is Defines to be Mass times Acceleration.
This Mass Is What Changes. As You Approach the Speed of Light, the Mass of the Object Will Approach Infinity. Thus, A Force Wouldn't Be able to Accelerate Anymore, and hence you can't travel faster than the speed of light.
The reason mass gains as your speed increases is because mass at some speed is defined by m = m0/(1-(c/v)^2)^(1/2)
Where m is the mass at the speed, m0 is the mass when the object is not moving, c is the speed of light, v is the velocity of the object.
2006-07-08 01:20:28 · answer #2 · answered by yauwforab 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is not meaningful to describe speed other than as measured or measurable. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity gives the rules for what happens if you accelerate particles to very high speeds, as does the SLAC machine near Stanford University: after the first few feet, the particles are up to 90% of the speed of light, but the machine continues to kick them in the butt for another two miles: they don't get much faster, but they get a lot heavier. (E = m c squared, at work.) If you were riding a motorcycle near the speed of light, and another motorcycle approached from the opposite direction, what is the collision velocity? Less than the speed of light; relativity tells you the exact number, but I won't get into it here -- the math is a bit heavy.
2006-07-08 01:25:21 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to Einstein's relativity formula; the faster something moves, the more energy it has and the more energy something has the more massive it becomes. As a result, the more massive something becomes it requires even more energy to increase its speed. In order to reach the speed of light for anything, it would take an infinite amount of energy.
2006-07-08 01:35:00 · answer #4 · answered by Brian D 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You cannot measure speed just as speed. You must measure a moving entity. All entities have mass, and mass increases with velocity. At the speed of light mass reaches infinity--that's why the speed of light is unattainable.
2006-07-08 01:30:05 · answer #5 · answered by James H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow, yauwforab nailed it. That is exactly correct. Woot for intelligent people answering questions.
2006-07-08 01:23:56 · answer #6 · answered by Argon 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
E=mc2 equation will explain you why ...
Please look at following site to get a better understanding about speed of light..
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/legacy.html
2006-07-08 01:34:11 · answer #7 · answered by s_l_more 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I personally think you (or something) can, we just haven't discovered how to disprove the theory and do it.
2006-07-08 01:19:32 · answer #8 · answered by Doodaa 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋