is it possible for anything to go faster than the speed of light?

Question

does light travel as fast as it does becouse its not possible for anything to go faster or is that just how fast it goes?

Answer 1

Electric signals can be transmitted at least four times faster than the speed of light using only basic equipment that would be found in virtually any college science department.

Scientists have sent light signals at faster-than-light speeds over the distances of a few metres for the last two decades - but only with the aid of complicated, expensive equipment

Answer 2

The speed of light is unreachable by any object starting from a lower speed due to the acceleration requiring an infinite amount of energy. It is possible for an object (such as high energy particles) to exist which do travel faster than light but in these cases the deceleration to below light speed from any point would also require infinite energy and so these objects would be forever stuck at travelling faster than light.

Answer 3

There have been some experiments where faster than light speeds have been measured. These experiments lye in the realm of quantum physics, as opposed to classical physics. They are by most accounts bizarre, but hay this is quantum. This is Quantum Tunneling. In essence a quantum particle trapped behind a barrier without the energy to overcome the barrier may at times appear on the other side of the barrier without overcoming it or breaking it down. Think of it like this you are in a cell, classical physics says that you can be in the cell or out of the cell. But you do not have enough energy to penetrate or break down the walls of your cell. However quantum physics says that there is a certain probability you could disappear from the inside and reappear on the outside leaving the wall unbroken. This is an analogy not a mathematical description because quite frankly that would be boring (not to mention completely over my head). This said The "tunneling faster than the speed of light" argument is based on non-relativistic quantum mechanics. There is a theorem of generic quantum field theory (relativistic quantum mechanics) that says that changes in the quantum fields propagate with speed of light.

Answer 4

No. Tachyons can go faster, but that is over an extremely small distance, and physicists haven't figured out how to merge the cosmic laws of motion (relativity) with the laws of particle motion (quantum mechanics).

What Einstein discovered (among other things) was that you can always push something, trying to make it go faster, but if it is close to the speed of light, then the extra push will make the object get heavier instead of going faster. People have been trying to get around it ever since, but Einstein's speed-of-light appears to be an unbreakable limit.

Answer 5

It is proven experimentally that if an object has mass m0 at rest, its mass at velocity v will be m0/sqrt(1 - v^2/c^2). This has actually been measured, besides being derived in the Special Theory of Relativity. Now if you put v = c into that equation you will find that the mass of the object goes to infinity. You can integrate this to find also that it takes an infinite amount of energy to get to v = c. Therefore nothing with any rest mass can reach the speed of light. Furthermore, if v > c, the mass becomes imaginary, so such a speed cannot exist for anything.

Answer 6

If you can send signals 4 times faster than the speed of light then einstein was full of it basically. It is widely accepted that C (light) is a constant of approx 186,000 miles per second.
We know this to be fact. All other things are just speculation till proven. Also, this time slows down rubbish, where the hell do these people get their ideas and please dont go on about the 'moving clocks run slow' as that only applies to our planets physical attributes.

Answer 7

Current theory says this is the absolute speed limit for the Universe.

Current technology is insufficient to test this fully.

Nothing has yet been found to disprove the theory.

Should something exist which does travel faster than the speed of light, we would not be able to dtect it, unless it was big and it hit us hard. We would not see it coming, so would only be able to hypothesize about it after the event, unless the collision slowed it down so we could see it.

Answer 8

The speed of light is a constant 299792458 meters per second in a vacuum. In more dense material this slows down. So it is possible to handicap the light and get something to move faster than it.
The only other thing that is faster than light in any medium is Monarchy.

Answer 9

Actually relativity says that you cannot travel AT the speed of light, not that you cannot travel faster. There is a theoretical particle called a Tachyon that exists at velocities faster than light.

E=MC2 states that as you speed approaches lightspeed your mass becomes infinite and the amount of energy required to reach lightspeed also approaches infinite.
In other words: Energy = Mass * Speed squared.

Answer 10

Well in a my mind Yes If you were traveling at the speed of light and you turned on your headlights they would have to work.Or if you had to contact someone by radio Ahead of you radio waves also travel at the speed of light .Would they hear you or see you flashing your lights to get out of the way?Time also slows down at the speed of light but not to you.colors and and sounds and matter also change.You would become almost as thin as air or you would rip apart.If you left earth at the speed of light and went for one year turned around and came back it would only seem like two years to you ,But in fact earth time would be thousands of years you wouldn't recognize the place.Time travel is much more efficient.