2006-07-17 01:02:58 · 8 answers · asked by brutus 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
You would not be able to travel at the speed of light no matter what fuel you have. The issue is that your mass increases the faster you go, thus requiring more energy. As you approach the speed of light, your mass increases quickly. At the speed of light, your mass would be infinite and thus would require infinite power which would require infinite fuel.
If you really want to travel somewhere fast, you might consider using a wormhole to travel. Doing so it would be possible to travel faster than light would travel if it had to cross the distance you are "short cutting" by bending space time. Since we do not know of any technology that is capable of bending space time enough to create this wormhole, we cannot say what kind of fuel would be required.
2006-07-17 01:26:05 · answer #1 · answered by polloloco.rb67 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is no coneivable fuel that we know of that will propel someone to the speed of light. The closer one would get to the speed of light, the need for more fuel would grow exponentially.
2006-07-17 14:15:08 · answer #2 · answered by jtrigoboff 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no type of fuel in this universe will let u travel at the speed of light!!!!because nothing can travel at the speed of light except light itself.the following equation will help solve ur doubt.
einstein proposed an equation where mass of a travelling object is m/{1-[v/c]^2}^1/2 where m is the mass of the moving object,v its velocity and c the velocty of light.so when u travel at the speed of light v and c will cancel giving 1. 1-1=0. so the denominator will become zero as a result of which the whole expression becomes infinity.so practically speaking a body travelling at the speed of light must have infinite mass so inturn to boost a body of infinite mass u need infinite energy.so practically u cant travel at the speed of light.
einsteins mass energy equivalence formula also says the same.
e=mc^2.so when a body looses mass it gets converted to energy.alternatively when it gains energy its mass also increases.
so to increase the velocity of a body u have to supply energy.so the mass of the object increases.however when the velocity of the body nears the velocity of light the mass of the object will be so huge (near infinity)that u will have to supply infinte energy to make it travel at the speed of light.which is impossible.so u cant travel at the speed of light.!!!!!!!!its simply impossible!!!!!
however theres another solution..einsteins mass energy equivalence says that if u have ZERO mass then u can travel at the speed of light[(photons are nothing but packets light.light at high energy is emitted at photons)photons can travel at the speed of light because they have zero mass]photons have zero mass.thats y they can travel at the speed of light!!!its ironic though because photons like i said are nothing but light energy emitted at high energy..so if u discover something that can reduce your mass to ZERO then u sure will be able to travel at the speed of light!!!
all the best!!!!
2006-07-17 08:28:39 · answer #3 · answered by albert einstein 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you launched from the space station it would take hardly any fuel at all to travel the velocity of light and beyond.
2006-07-17 18:04:56 · answer #4 · answered by Balthor 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
E = mc^2
2006-07-17 08:04:50 · answer #5 · answered by Dr M 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In a nutshell I agree with albert and polloloco they are both correct.
2006-07-17 08:48:01 · answer #6 · answered by greengnome0001 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
magic stardust fairy fuel
faster than light travel is only possible in fairy stories - not real life
2006-07-17 09:27:09 · answer #7 · answered by Epidavros 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nice question, i never think about it. it is really useful to know , i think Albert knows that.
2006-07-17 08:10:37 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋