What proof is there that nothing is faster than the speed of light?

Question

Just because nothing has ever been recorded as going faster than the speed of light is not good enough proof for me. Why is this so commonly accepted as fact?

Answer 1

The answer lies in the explanation of the theory of special relativity. Let's see if I can explain it.

Two cars are travelling parallel to each other. One car is moving at 10 km/h while the other is moving at 20 km/h. Relative to a bystander, they appear to be moving at 10 and 20 km/h, respectively. The slower car, however, sees the second car moving at 10 km/h relative to his own speed. This is the relativity portion of the theory. You see, everything in physics must be observed by certain frames of reference. According to the bystander's frame of reference, the second car is moving 20 km/h, while in the first car's frame of reference, the second is moving at 10 km/h.

This makes sense, until you start dealing with the speed of light. You see, light will always travel the same speed, no matter what reference you view it in. You've probably heard people question what would happen if you had a car traveling next to the speed of light and it turned its headlights on. Same thing as if it were stationary. This is the key.

See, if a massive object were able to travel at the speed of light, or even faster, for that matter, then the same thing would have to apply. No matter how fast you were moving, if you viewed this lightspeed object, it would always be moving at the speed of light. So, if you increased your speed infinitely close to the speed of light, this object would still appear to be moving at the speed of light. This, in itself, defies all laws of physics. Because the object has mass, such an event would require an infinite amount of energy to be put into it (either an infinite amount of force over a finite time or a finite amount of force over an infinite time).

Now, you question how we know this to be true. Well, there have been many experiments on the speed of light. Physicists used to think that light behaved like everything else; if we were moving faster, it would appear slower, but this isn't the case. Numerous experiments with extremely sensitive equipment have shown that no matter how fast we are travelling, light always appears to be moving at the same speed. We then, have no choice but to accept Einstein's theories, because they're the only ones that explain the evidence we have.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

No one said there was nothing faster than light. It was merely stated that nothing with mass can traverse normal space at a speed quicker than electromagnetic waves.

The famous equation relating energy and mass states that energy equals rest mass multiplied with the speed of light squared over the square root of one minus the square of the ratio of the mass' velocity with the speed of light)

e=( m*c^2 )/sqrt( 1 - v^2/C^2 )

The limit of this equation as any mass approaches C yields an infinite energy requirement (impossible). This equation came from a necessity for Lorentz invariant field equations. The experimental proof comes from things such two clocks being synchronized on earth and one being launched into space. The one in space fell behind due to time dilation which was predicted by the same invariance.

So if A is true only when B is true, and B has been proven, then A must also be true.

Tachyons are a but a single example of superluminal particles.

Answer 3

The universe consists of matter and energy alone.

PHYSICS is the study of interaction of matter with energy and vice versa.

Many astronomical behavior and Michelson Morley experiment repeated many time has proved the speed of light is independent of the speed of the observer.

The only way with which energy is moving is the electro magnetic radiation.

Whether there is matter or material medium is present or not, the E.M radiation propagates with a constant speed in vacuum.

Thus there is no contradiction in the experimentally proved concept that light’s speed (all E.M. radiation) (the only way of energy transformation with out the involvement of matter) is an absolute value. It is not dependent on any other factor.

Now come to your question, “What proof is there that nothing is faster than the speed of light?

There are only two entities to move with some speed; energy and matter.

It is proved that energy moves with a constant speed.

The other one is the matter.

Can matter travel with a speed of light?

A logical conclusion is it cannot.

If it can, then the speed of light will vary according to one’s speed.

The latter conclusion is against experimental facts.

Moving with a speed more than the speed of light and measuring the speed of light as constant is impossible.

A deep thinking is necessary to understand this.

Answer 4

Technically, we say that nothing with mass can go the speed of light. Light is the only "particle" we know of that doesn't have mass, and it goes the speed of light. Additionally, everything with mass that goes fast, goes slower than the speed of light in proportion to its mass. Like muons have very little mass and almost go the speed of light.
Additionally, the postulate that nothing with mass can go the speed of light does not come out of inferrence from observation, but it comes out of special relativity, which defines how we interpret space and speed (I won't go into it.)
But we feel good (ie. confident) that nothing can go faster than the speed of light for two reasons:
1. nothing observable does (and things get slower as their mass increases)
2. our theoretical model of the way the universe works doesn't allow for it.
3. It wouldn't make sense. For reasons I don't want to go into here, it would pretty much destroy a lot of the basics of our modern understanding of the universe if something could go the speed of light. It's like saying "how do you know that a person can't jump to the moon just because nobody has done it before?" We'll, the idea is that we have very accurate models of how human physiology works, and also of gravity, so when you put the two together you can be 100% certain that nobody will jump to the moon.
Same thing with the speed of light. It would violate basic laws. So it is not probable that in the future we will discover a way to go the speed of light or will find a way to go faster than the speed of light. These are impossibilities in the same sense that it is impossible for me to blow a bubble gum bubble the size of jupiter.

That said, some people propose "tachyons" that do go faster than the speed of light. But its really just sci-fi stuff.



Hope that helps.

Answer 5

The best proof is that no one has ever found anything that went faster. The theory says no one ever will, but there really isn't any way to "prove" that - at least, in the mathematical sense of the word. At the moment, all of the evidence points in that direction.

Answer 6

I remember that the measured time of a single photon tunneling across a barrier can be greater 1.3c and still be causal.

Günther Nimtz measured even greater speeds and claimed to transport information along with the tunneled signal (Mozart).

It turned out that the signal gets deformed during the tunneling and it looks like a signal that is travelling faster than speed of light.

Whatever happens there, we have trouble to measure it correctly.

Answer 7

Einstein's relativity theorized that no mass can move at the speed of light because the closer it gets to that velocity the more mass it will have. Sub-atomic particles have been accelerated to nearly the speed of light, and as predicted their mass increases enormously. It's logical that to accelerate these particles up to light speed would involve the application of infinite energy, giving to them infinite mass.

Answer 8

the statement "nothing is faster than the speed of light" will remain a theory....until someone found a matter (or anti-matter) that could be proven to travel at speed higher than speed of light...

....just like a mathematical hypothesis and theory.

Answer 9

Gamma ray experiments. Infinity is reached at the speed of light, and you cannot go faster than infinity.It doesnt make sense right?

Answer 10

Yes, u'r right. Just coz we don't know of something that exists does not mean that it does not exits. We can't mathematically prove that there is something that is faster than light with the set of theories' available to us as of now but i suppose it's just a matter of time till we get answers to such questions.