imagine we construct a spaceship that is ion powered, and had a dish big enough to capyure the ions that would be needed, wouldn't we have and endless supply of fuel? I assume a lot of fuel would be required to attain such speeds. also, I don't believe the speed of light is a threshold. I think with our current technology, we could exceed the speed of light many times over. Light takes 18 minutes to travel 93,000,000 miles. and thats fast? in space travel?
2007-04-14 06:07:04 · 11 answers · asked by rainbow 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Didn't someone say it was impossible to go faster than sound? Well, sorry... we broke the sound barrier. if you've seen the Discovery Science channel special String Theory, it says that if there are truly infinite dimensions in the universe, by jumping to another would provoke faster than light travel (sort of like hyperspace in star wars). the problem is creating a device to tear a hole (briefly) in the fabric of space-time to propel a craft into another dimension, and then bringing it safely back into real-space. so right now, it is impossible, but maybe not 200 years from now.
2007-04-14 08:18:00 · answer #1 · answered by Brady R 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We have the technology to accelerate ions to many times the speed of light in particle accelerators, or rather we would if relativity were wrong. An ion that is pushed along with enough energy to make it go many times the speed of light according to classical mechanics still ends up going slower than light in reality. So we do not know of any way to go faster than light. Even a light beam emitted from the headlight of a spaceship going at 99% the speed of light would leave the spaceship's headlight at 100% the speed of light, as you would expect, but would be seen by someone in front of the spaceship as approaching at 100% the speed of light, not at 199% the speed of light. Speeds do not add up in relativity. It isn't a question of finding enough energy to push something a little more, relativity says that even an infinite push will never make anything go faster that light.
2007-04-14 06:36:20 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light is not like other particles its quite unique. Light has not net mass and travel at the speed of light. Special Relativity tell us if an object manage to travel at the speed of light time won't have any significant. An object usually accelerate or decelerate as time pass by. But light is not govern by time it start out the speed of light and it will continue to travel at that speed in a vacuum. The speed of light is independent of the motion of the observer, so the speed of light does not vary with time or place.
2016-05-19 23:09:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are several problems in your idea and the first is the speed of light,if u could do it u would create a black hole but as now the only thing that can do that is the gravity of a giant star collapsing.
Ion engines ant any good as they are too small . If u could accelerate 1 mph every minute sounds great but when u are half way u will need to start slowing down.
2007-04-14 10:19:44 · answer #4 · answered by JOHNNIE B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It all Depends on how you View things.., The Key is to have a Open Mind... I see alot of the Answers here, were they have already made a Judgement that nothing can go faster than the speed of light..
But I will say this and let you study and find out for yourself since I can only say so much for in this tiome frame anyway...
ok.. here we go... Gravity itself goes faster than the speed of light.. Gravity and a Gravity Field is the Key in order to go faster than the speed of light... And you ask how would I know that Gravity does or can go faster than the speed of light.. One can only look at our own solar system for the key... Our own earth feels the force of Gravity faster than it takes the light from your sun to get to Earth... So once you know and understand that.. then you can open the door to a new begining... were you can then warp Space by using gravity and then you are able to travel faster than the speed of light... But as far as for Time travel.. It's something that should never be used.. Since any new concept that is used, in a matter of time it will be used by a evil force.. Meaning lets say a Goverment is and willing to use time travel for control of the Earth... Then instead of sending a person threw time to kill off someone or change a event in History... By sending someone back in time to many things could and can go wrong.. The way it would be done would be to send a Nuke back threw time say to a country in the early 1900's and have that Country destroyed.. But each event opens a box that can not be closed, but I could go on and more in detail.. but I'am getting side tracked now.. lol
Take Care.. and hope this helps..
2007-04-14 06:40:55 · answer #5 · answered by dr_james_wright 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have to say that Dr. James' answer is incorrect and misleading. Among other things, it is not a "Judgment" that nothing can go faster than the speed of light, but a conclusion based on observation and analysis. Also, the idea that gravity moves faster than the speed of light is completely unsubstantiated. I stopped reading there...
2007-04-14 06:55:15 · answer #6 · answered by bingg1919 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK, let's keep it simple and still try to answer your question.
The faster an object travels, the more mass it has. The more mass it has, the more energy it takes to accelerate it, at speeds close to c, the mass of an object approaches infinity, and to accelerate an object with that mass, the energy required would aproach infinity.
All the energy in the universe is not enough to accelerate an object to c.
(There is a difference between unlimited and infinite.)
2007-04-14 06:19:21 · answer #7 · answered by Walking Man 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it is the highest speed in the universe you can not exceed to the light speed but you can reach to a small percentage of it like 25% which maybe the future ion engines can provide
you can not exceed to the light speed because by referring to the lorentz transformations equations we find out which our mass dosent get some logical value
2007-04-14 06:19:22 · answer #8 · answered by suerena 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As I understand it we can't...as we approach that speed we will need unlimited amounts of energy so we can't by conventional means reach that speed. There are theories about warping and wormhole travel though.
2007-04-14 06:15:33 · answer #9 · answered by sketch_mylife 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think anything can beat the speed of light... except time travel. Lol.
2007-04-14 06:14:21 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋