Why it's impossible to travel faster than the speed of the light according Einstein?

Answer 1

First, it's impossible to travel faster than the speed of light or even at the speed of light itself only for the particles which are not already doing so (these are ordinary particles and are called subluminals). So as someone mentioned before me, there might exist particles called tachyons(superluminal) that their initial speed is faster that c, and if they exist they do not interact with ordinary matter.

Now we get to the point, why is it impossible to accelerate a subluminal particle to a velocity greater or equal to c?
What Einstein said in his special theory of relativity was that, in all our observations and experiments, we use light as the fastest way known to send a signal, although light travels very very fast, its velocity is still finite, so as long as you use light for observations you must take the time it takes light to travel to your eyes into acount. The part related to your question is this: The fastest known way to send a signal is light.
From one of the special theory of relativity's postulates we consider that all inertial(non accelerating) observers measure the speed of light to be c in their frame of refrence.
Now assume a body (subluminal), and lets refer to force as information i.e. "go faster". The fastest way you(as an inertial observer) can make the body accelerate is light. You start sending the information and the body recieves it and accelerates, but when the body's velocity approaches the speed of light, in your view, it will recieve the information at a slower rate relative to the rate you are sending them. The body will go faster and faster but it will not go as fast as light because thats when in your point of view, it will recieve no information. So you see, the reason the body cannot reach the speed of light is because when the diffrence between it's velocity and the speed of light is infinitsimal(non zero) there is no way for you to (or any other in your point of view) make the body accelerate.
Some other answerers tried to explain this event with the infinite mass which is an equivalent concept with energy according to E=mc^2, yes the kinetic energy and therefore the mass of the object becomes infinitly large at v when c-v=infinitsimal >0 , but the problem of this approach is that infinite force and infinite acceleration are not forbidden in special relativity, so we can ask them, why doesnt the body travel faster than the speed of light when it's acted on by an infinitly large force?

Answer 2

cgdfh is the best answer. Traveling faster than the speed of light (in a vacuum) is not impossible. Traveling AT the speed of light is. If an object were traveling above the speed of light, it could never slow down to the speed of light for the same reasons no 'normal' object can reach the speed of light.

Answer 3

Traveling faster than light isn't the issue. According to Einstein it would take more energy than is available in the Universe to accelerate an object to the speed of light.

Answer 4

for familiar count, it rather is impossible to commute on the fee. easily, count has mass, and this mass will strengthen/decreases while it hurries up. And it rather is obvious strengthen/decrease which you sense once you're an observer at relax or shifting at consistent velocity. the concern that's accelerating feels that our mass is expanding/reducing and it does not sense that it rather is mass is expanding/reducing itself. So, you notice, it rather is a relative theory. And, while the two(us-the observers and the concern) are no longer accelerating with admire to all and sundry then we sense that the two our plenty are no longer changing with time. as quickly as we the two are at relax, we've our relativistic mass a distinctive fee. yet, expensive, the debris of sunshine- the photons have not got their mass while they are at relax. or perhaps, those photons can on no account be speeded up/decelerated to any velocity different than the fee of sunshine. it rather is a conservative regulation which could carry authentic if relativity is right- (i in my opinion sense it rather is the suited theory yet incomplete because it describes the conventional count, yet no longer different types like the concern of the black holes, the anti-count, and different types like those. So, it rather is heard that this concept has failed (presently) even though it rather is not authentic- it rather is in basic terms incomplete.) you could know greater vividly in case you learn the Einstein's theory of relativity- it rather is plenty lot exciting. in basic terms you initiate it and don't pass too plenty in, after which you will learn each and every thing via your mind's eye and you do no longer want any equations to comprehend it from then.

Answer 5

Hello

I am no means an expert in Relativity, but when we are able to solve this equation.

v = velocity
c = speed of light

1/ ((sqrt(1- (v^2/c^2)))

If your velocity = speed of light you end up with a 0 in the denominator....so if you could go faster than the speed of light, you could never slow down to just the speed of light, you would always have to be faster than it (tachions if they exists). Conversly, if your velocity is slower than the speed of light, us, then you can never achieve the speed of light.

The above formula is used for calculating the changes that occur when objects approach the speed of light. This was formulated by the German-American physicist and mathematician Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in his Special Theory of Relativity. Basically, an object in motion undergoes 3 relativistic changes:
1) An increase in mass
2) A contraction in the direction of travel (Lorentz Transformation) and
3) A "slowing down" of time. (Time Dilation)

Velocities in ordinary life which to us might seem incredibly fast have only a miniscule relativistic effect. For example, orbital velocity (5 miles per second) produces a relativistic factor of change of only 1.000000000360219.

Travelling at 93,141.1985 miles per second (half the speed of light) produces a factor of 1.1547005383792517. Here the velocity is incredibly fast and yet the change is still quite small.

example:

At .9 times the speed of light, the factor becomes 2.294157338705618. Finally, the effects of relativity become significant. What does this factor mean though? If you were in a spaceship travelling at .9 times the speed of light:
1)the ship's mass (and you) would increase by a factor of 2.294
2)the ship (and you) would contract in the direction of travel by 2.294, meaning a 300 foot ship would shrink to 130.77 feet.
3)Perhaps the most interesting change is that 1 year to you would seem to be 2.294 years for someone back on Earth.



Hope this helps

Answer 6

The problem with traveling faster than the speed of light is based on Einsteins general theory of relativity.In Einsteins teaching of the famous E=mc(2) equation E=energy,M=mass,C=the speed of light.According to the GTR faster than light travel is immpossible because as you accelerate closer to the speed of light your mass becomes increasingly requiring more energy to move,until eventually your mass would become infinite and the energy required to propel you would become infinite.Because of the equivalence of energy and mass, the energy wich an object has due to its motion will add to its mass.Therfore the more energy used to move an object,the more its mass becomes,requiring more energy wich adds to its mass and therefore requires more energy.Only light or other waves that have no intrinsic mass can travel at the speed of light.

Answer 7

This is only a hypothesis. No one has positively proved that hypothesis yet. So with time we will be able to travel faster than light in the future. The statement that the mass increases Near the speed of light is erroneous. Photons travel at speed of light. In super colliders scientist have accelerated particles near the speed of light with out any increase in mass. Increase in mass will violate other physical law that mass can not be created or destroyed. It can only be converted. No explanation of where this mass came from. How this extra mass is accumulated. No answers. So they are erroneous statements.

Answer 8

Basically relativity says that as an object approaches the speed of light, it's mass increases, such that a physical object moving at the speed of light would have an infinite mass. This means that the energy required to push something up to the speed of light is also infinite, ergo not possible.

Answer 9

Einstein stated that to move the speed of light, you need to accelerate, and as you do, you need to use energy to make the speed and at the same time you gain mass, thus to reach the speed of light, you would have to have an enormous amout of mass and an enormous amount of energy to make the speed of light. But you cant because the the heavier you got, the more energy you would need to go faster and on and on. So Einstein says we cant move at LS because of the mass/energy/speed problem.

Answer 10

Because at the speed of light dimensions of objects become imaginary

(Re l = 0, Im l =|= 0)