Why can't we exceed the speed of light?

Question

My physics teacher told me that when we approach it, 3 things happen:
1) Your mass approaches infinity
2) Your width approaches 0
3) Time approaches 0
But how does this all work?

Answer 1

It is great that you are curious. The answer is way too long to put here.. do a google search for special relativity or go to the library. Better yet, take a college level physics class and learn one of the coolest things about our universe.

And by the way, it is not just theoretical and it has been experimentally verified many times. Atomic clocks, high energy particles, etc., etc.

Answer 2

The teacher is correct, if oversimplifying a bit. As you accelerate toward the speed of light, your mass does increase, and the closer you get, the more it increases. The particle accelerator at SLAC [Stanford] can accelerate electrons; within a hundred feet or so, the electrons are traveling at 90% of the speed of light. But the machine continues to kick them in the tail for another two miles; they can't go much faster -- they just get heavier, and by the time they reach the far end, their mass has increased by a factor of 40,000.

As for width and time, the statements are true for a fixed observer; a bug riding on the particle would see no difference at all. All of this is a consequence of Einstein's theory of special relativity, which was published in 1905 to explain the results of an experiment that had been performed some years earlier, in which it was discovered that the speed of light always came out to the same number, no matter what motion the measuring instruments might have. The mathematics is non-trivial; it is definitely a college level subject.

Answer 3

This stuff makes my head hurt! Bottom line is that it is a result of Einsteins work on relativity that we came to understand that as speeds increase, time dialates, as does mass, while length appears to contract.
Just focusing on the mass problem, if energy is required to accelerate a body, and that body's mass is high, then the energy requirement is high. If that mass is then increased by relativity, the next bit of acceleration will take more energy than previously. This continues as c is approached, until finally it would take an almost infinite amount of energy to almost close that final gap to c by accelerating that almost infinite mass. Yikes! (told you it made my head hurt).
Of course, you would also be very nearly infinitely short at that point, and time would be going by even slower than it seems to in a boring class, but those difficulties are for another day!
I used to know all the equations for this stuff, but that was 30 years ago!

Answer 4

This is the theory of relativity and it's called that because it looks at things relative to one another. As you approach the speed of light, your length and time seem to approach 0 to an outside observer. Two people in the same spaceship traveling near the speed of light wouldn't notice a difference. According to the equations, one of the reasons you can't travel at or faster than the speed of light is as your mass (and the mass of your spaceship) approaches infinity, the amount of energy needed to accelerate you would become infinite. I don't know if I've answered your question. Keep in mind that the phenomena are relative to an observer in a diffferent frame of reference. And there is no standardized frame of reference, Nothing is at rest.

Answer 5

part 1 is widely accepted as correct, the closer to the speed of light something gets the greater the mass becomes. the equation is actually interesting. for instance an object moving at 50% the speed of light is virtually unchanged in mass but appears to have become shorter to an observer who is not moving at that speed. as you get to around 90% light speed the objects mass is still only around double is original but the size is extremly dimished to an observer. the mass part of the equation goes off the scale as you break the 95% light speed mark. it starts rising at an exponential rate till it gets to near infinity. of course we assume this is corect because we can't propell anything bigger than an atom to anywhere near the speed of light, and also we can't measure the mass of these particles because we are in the observer level during the test. you would need to make the mass checks as you moved closer to the speed of light yourself or you risk getting the same false result like the length issue. the body is still the same length but looks shorter to anyone observing it that is not traveling at a comperable speed. This is a good example of the uncertainty principle, you might want to ask your teacher about that one next.

Answer 6

The reason that nothing can exceed the speed of light is that nothing can go slower than the speed of light. The speed of light is the only speed in the universe. The speed of light is constant in space-time. Therefore, the greater the spatial component, the less the temporal component, and vice versa. Neither component can exceed 100%. As the rate of motion through space increases, the rate of motion through time decreases; in other words time approaches 0.

Answer 7

too long to explain.

But IT HAS been proven!!!!!

it's been tested because they've (Nuclear Scientist) measure the life span of sub atomic particles traveling near the speed of light, created when space dust and radiation hits our atmosphere. Their life spans were significantly longer than those of the same particles created in a particle accelerator / lab conditions.

What they actually do, is measure quantity and speed of particles in high atmosphere, and then measure them again in low atmosphere. The results were that there were far more particles reaching the lower measuring station that predicted by classical physics. IE: At the speed they were traveling they shouldn't be able to make it there b4 they ceased existing. But because they were moving so fast (approaching speed of light) they were able to make it farther before ceasing to exist.

Answer 8

I'm not sure about the first two, but i think that time approaches 0 (or appears to) because when travelling at the speed of light, whatever we see(by light reflection) doesn't move because we are as fast as the image which travels to our eyes. If we move faster than the speed of light, it's probably like playing CS on a laggy server(you are faster than light but you can't hear or see anything as light and sound are too slow to reach you).

It's my guess.

Answer 9

I forgot exactly this stuff......the only one i can sorta remember is 3

There is a time dialation equation...just search for it.
If you travel the speed of light...lets say 5 light years away.
It'd take 5 years for you to get there based on earth clocks.
For you, you'd instantaneously reach your destination...time would = 0 for you.

I think you can techincally go faster than the speed of light if you get sucked into a black hole.

I forget what the equations on why your width gos to zero and your mass becomes infinite look like.........just popped a sleeping pill, by the time i foudn them to look at them, i'd be otu of it.

Answer 10

There is not enough energy to go faster than the speed of light. Your physics teacher is right about those three things, but if you understand quantum mechanics you can better understand why.