Question about Special Relativity?

Question

According to special relativity, if something could move faster than the speed of light, and that thing triggers another event, it's possible that the event would happen before the cause... my question is, why? It's just something I've never understood and it gets me frustrated!

Answer 1

One of the fundamental assumptions of relativity is that there is a finite speed of causality. Usually this assumption is stated "the speed of light is a constant", but I think the finite speed of causality statement is a better way of looking at it. So if something could travel faster than the maximum speed of causality, then it could make events happen before it caused them. That is assuming that relativity is true and that causality is a flexible concept. If you assume that causes must preceed effects then there are two possibilities for the hypothetical object going faster than light. 1. there is a maximum speed for the object that is going faster than light, so just raise the speed of causality to that new speed and keep relativity 2. there is no maximum speed limit for the object and influences can travel instantly, thus one of the fundamental assumptions of relativity is false and we need to throw out the theory

Answer 2

think your kind of confused about a few things. I'm not sure what class your in, but unless your accually in a relative physics or a modern physics class I really wouldn't worry about it. One book you may want to read if you are interested in questions like this is called "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Green. It is mostly in laymans terms and explain light events rather well.

Answer 3

well as an object reaches speeds close to that of light time supposedly slows down for it so if it triggered an event while time was moving slower to it than to others that would happen