Why can't anything travel faster than light?

Question

They say there is nothingl faster than light speed. What about thought? If you believe in telepathy (or mind reading, or projected thought), then you might consider if thought can travel faster than light. The scientific reasoning behind this concept of light speed having superior velocity doesn't even make sense to me either. Maybe somebody out there can explain it to me so I can understand it.

Answer 1

The short answer is all objects with an initial "rest" mass become infinitely massive as their velocity approaches the speed of light.

Most of the energy expended to make an already fast mover go faster, as it approaches the speed of light, goes mostly into increasing its relativistic mass and increasingly less into increasing its velocity. The formula for this is (which I suggest you graph to see what's happening):

M = m / SQRT (1 - v^2/c^2), where M is the relativistic mass, m is the initial "rest" mass, v is the relative velocity, and c is the velocity of light.

As v approaches c, the their ratio approaches unity, 1 minus the square of their ratio approaches zero, the square root approaches zero, and the relativistic mass approaches infinity.

This doesn't come about because of theory. This is observation. The Special Theory of Relativity tries to explain what is observed.

The web site cited has an interactive Java applet that will let you plug in velocity to see how much the relativistic mass increases as an object approaches the speed of light.

Now, if somehow an object were already going faster than the speed of light, it presumably would shed mass if it went even faster and move backwards in time. Tachyons were proposed as particles that could do this, but no one has ever observed a tachyon.

As for fighter jets, they can and do go a LOT faster than the twice the speed of sound, but no where near light speed.

Answer 2

The answer is "proven" by mathmatical equations.

Einstein's second postulate of relativity regards time in two referance frames, but doesn't really make a difference as to why you cannot surpass the speed of light

the equation is

(delta)t=1/(squareroot(1-(v^2-c^2)))

to oversimplify it:

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

V would be the velocity of any object, and C would be a constant, the speed of light.

If the velocity is greater than C, then you would have 1-(a number larger than 1)

this would give you a negative number

the squareroot of a negative number cannot be calculated (to yield a real solution -- yes you theoretically could have imaginary numbers)

OR
If the velocity of that object is equal to C, then you would get the square root of zero, so you would have 1/0, which is undefined

so the velocity could be 99.999999999999999999999999% the speed of light, but it can never be equal to that. Also, there is a similar formula that represents the energy needed to get an object up to a certain velocity. Again, it is similar to the last one you would get 1/0, so that it takes an infinite amount of energy to propel an object to the speed of light

(the equation is a combination of the last equation and E=mc^2: W=mc^2/(sqrt(1-(u^2/c^2))
Work=mass x speed of light / sqrt 1-(Kinetic Energy^2/C^2), and a similar result to the last equation occurs -- it would take an infinate (undefined) amount of energy to obtain a speed of C)

Answer 3

thought? Well if you consider physically that a thought is a complex chemical signal being interpereted in your brain then thought isn't even close to the speed of light.
Anyway the speed of light is extremely fast. If you realize that light is accually photons (which have virtually 0 mass) propogating in a wave then you try to get somthing that has some mass trying to go at that same speed it's going to require infinate energy.
Don't worry about the reasons why unles you are in a high school or college physics class and then read your material.

Answer 4

Thought process is really an electrical reaction in your brain, so no, it isn't faster than light. There are now, however, pairs of atomic particles that have some mysterious connection. These pairs always spin at reverse directions. If one switches direction, the other one will too at the same time. Now, what an experiment shown, the two particles were separated from each other, one in Batavia, Illinois, and the other one was taken to Minnesota. The spin was reversed and the other particle changed directions at the same time. Whatever 'connection' there is, it went faster than the speed of light. Experiments are being examined to harness this action -

Answer 5

In all actuality the speed of light is only one constant and has been theoretically proven in quantum physics that light or some sub atomic particles can exceed it (tachyons and tunneling). However anything bigger than that would be affected greatly by E=mc^2 and the enormous amounts of crushing gravity waves exserted upon it. Using E=mc^2, to get an object thats 2lb to the speed of light, the energy required would be 2(lb) x 186000^2 = 69,192,000,000lbs of force!! (to launch a space shuttle into orbit is about 1,500,000lbs)

Answer 6

Let me make this as simple as possible:

To move an object, it takes energy.

The faster you make that object go, the more energy it takes.

To make that object go as fast as light, it takes more than all the energy that there is in the universe.

Light is an exception to the rule. The reason is because light has no mass. It weighs (although "weighs" isn't really the right word) nothing. Zip. Nada. So it can move as fast as it pleases.

Answer 7

chuck norris wait... einstein suggested an merchandise ought to need limitless potential to shuttle on the speed of sunshine,no longer purely that it ought to ought to negate its personal mass. We cant have limitless potential, some potential is continually wasted simply by entropy. mild has a consistent speed to all observers. that's no longer really an assumption because you are able to try it and there has been formula made observed as relativistic momentum, speed, and so on and so on. refraction basically skill substitute in direction. There are flaws in einsteins theories yet those are many times like how the universe is made from (the tiny debris).

Answer 8

Someday we will be able to do that when technology permits. Not in this lifetime or century though. Some fighter jets already traveled twice the sppe of sound. To me, it just proved that saomeday we will go faster than light. So, have some fate.

Answer 9

Well light waves travel faster than sound waves and any other wave for that matter.
Projected thoughts? How do you measure that? Does it even exist?
I guess until they can prove that it exist and can measure thought (waves?) then its pointless to argue.

Answer 10

How much time would it take you to get the though released?

after it would be released, after it passed the speed of light it would become infinitely small,and, in effect,disappear.

Will