Can the speed of light be surpassed?

Answer 1

The short answer is no.

The longer answer is that we have never seen anything go faster than light. Never. We have made protons and electrons go to within .00001% of the speed of light. At those speeds their behavior agrees with special relativity which is the theory that predicts that nothing can go faster than light. So we have good theoretical and experimental reasons for believing that nothing can go faster than light.

Answer 2

You wouldn't believe how often this question is asked. Here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArXI3s_p4g6wIa4iRR4rkT7sy6IX?qid=20060726003149AAaczaA

And here's my answer:

"The light is not going at the speed of light because the measurments that would measure the speed of the light are literally compressed, resulting in the speed of light being constant. So the answer is "no".

There are a few answers to the question "Can we go faster than light?" The most obvious is the fact that light slows down in mediums. The speed of light is constant and unapproachable IN A VACCUM. For example, water slows photons to about 75% of their normal speed. In these conditions, certian particles can go faster than the photons. Interestingly, these events are marked by a flash of light similar to a sonic boom.

Aside from this, there is the slightly science-fiction proposition of particles called tachyons, you might want to fire up google and do some reading on them."

Answer 3

Not by us. However, some scientist theorize that naturally occurring particles called Tachyons (from the Greek tachys: fast) may exist. They have looked for evidence of them in cosmic ray showers. Cosmic rays have many times more energy than any particle beam we can yet generate. The problem is, we do not know when they are coming, from what direction, or what type they are. (Most cosmic rays are actually beta particles, helium nuclei. But we still call them rays, like gamma rays, which are photons.)

When a cosmic ray particle hits an oxygen or nitrogen atom in the upper atmosphere, a host of secondary particles are emitted. At the speed of light, they travel through the twenty miles or so or atmosphere in a very short time. However, there are what appear to be 'precursor bursts' of particles which occur before the cosmic ray particle is calculated to have hit. Some think this is evidence of tachyons. We do not yet know for sure.

Answer 4

Here is the true answer.

There is absolutely NO LAW of physics which PREVENTS
something from travelling FASTER than the speed of light.
However, there are laws that nothing can start at or below
the speed of light and then accelerate past the speed of light.

EDIT:
In fact, very sound current theories of the big bang
postulate a period called Inflation, where space-time
itself expanded faster than the speed of light.

Answer 5

Not as we presently know it. The real problem is that mass is increasing as one gets faster. At the speed of light, mass becomes infinite, so the energy required to make anything go faster is also infinite.

So called "warp", wormhole and other faster than light schemes are not ruled out as they rely on trickery, putting your destination a lot closer to the starting point thruogh other dimensions or parallel universe.

I would like to believe that faster than light travel could be possible, as this is a mighty big universe, and life is just too short to visit it; but so far, not much hard evidence of the possibility of going faster than light exists; all we have are things that do not rule it out completely yet.

Answer 6

In Theory, scientist have found ways to make the speed of light faster, and there are other ways of traveling faster than the speed of light.

Answer 7

It is impossible at this point to give a definant answer.When all of the laws of physics are defined we can know for sure.On a personal note,I am currently researching the possibility that it can be surpassed.Update:if a Tachyon is ever proven to be real,then,yes it can be surpassed.

Answer 8

Yes it can. Think of a wheel. If you spin it fast enough, the outside edge will pass the speed of light. It would need to be a big wheel, have to spin very fast, or a combination of the two. But it could be done. I've done the math. It's so simple.

Answer 9

No... only light can surpass its speed if it wants.

Answer 10

According to Dr. Lijun Wang it can

Eureka! Scientists break speed of light
June 4, 2000 NEC Research Institute in Princeton
Jonathan Leake, Science Editor, Times Newspapers Ltd

SCIENTISTS claim they have broken the ultimate speed barrier:
the speed of light. In research carried out in the United States,
particle physicists have shown that light pulses can be accelerated
to up to 300 times their normal velocity of 186,000 miles per second.
The implications, like the speed, are mind-boggling. On one
interpretation it means that light will arrive at its destination almost
before it has started its journey. In effect, it is leaping forward in
time.


The work was carried out by Dr Lijun Wang, of the NEC research institute in Princeton, who transmitted a pulse of light towards a chamber filled with specially treated caesium gas.
Before the pulse had fully entered the chamber it had gone right
through it and travelled a further 60ft across the laboratory. In
effect it existed in two places at once, a phenomenon that Wang
explains by saying it travelled 300 times faster than light.

The research is already causing controversy among physicists.
What bothers them is that if light could travel forward in time it could carry information. This would breach one of the basic principles in physics - causality, which says that a cause must come before an effect. It would also shatter Einstein's theory of relativity since itdepends in part on the speed of light being unbreachable.

This weekend Wang said he could not give details but confirmed:"Our light pulses did indeed travel faster than the accepted speed of light. I hope it will give us a much better understanding of the nature of light and how it behaves."


In Italy, another group of physicists has also succeeded in
breaking the light speed barrier. In a newly published paper,
physicists at the Italian National Research Council described howthey propagated microwaves at 25% above normal light speed.The group speculates that it could be possible to transmit
information faster than light.

Dr Guenter Nimtz, of Cologne University, an expert in the field,
agrees. He believes that information can be sent faster than light
and last week gave a paper describing how it could be done to a
conference in Edinburgh. He believes, however, that this will not
breach the principle of causality because the time taken to interpretthe signal would fritter away all the savings.
"The most likely application for this is not in time travel but in
speeding up the way signals move through computer circuits,"
he said.

Wang's experiment is the latest and possibly the most important
evidence that the physical world may not operate according to anyof the accepted conventions.

In the new world that modern science is beginning to perceive,
sub-atomic particles can apparently exist in two places at the
same time - making no distinction between space and time.
Separate experiments carried out by Chiao illustrate this. He
showed that in certain circumstances photons - the particles of
which light is made - could apparently jump between two points
separated by a barrier in what appears to be zero time. The
process, known as tunnelling, has been used to make some of
the most sensitive electron microscopes.

The implications of Wang's experiments will arouse fierce
debate. Many will question whether his work can be interpreted
as proving that light can exceed its normal speed - suggesting
that another mechanism may be at work.


Wang emphasises that his experiments are relevant only to
light and may not apply to other physical entities. But scientists
are beginning to accept that man may eventually exploit some of
these characteristics for inter-stellar space travel.