Why is it considered that speed of light cannot be exceeded ?

Question

While studying Physics we are taught that nothing can exceed the speed at which light travels. Why is this so ? Why do the laws of Physics consider it a limiting factor ? Should not the maximum possible speed for an object be infinite ? ( Please answer in lay man's language as I am a non science student, thanks )

Answer 1

Speed exceeding the speed of light is referred to as superluminosity. We are taught that nothing can exceed the speed of light because of the perameters of logic accepted by the authorities recognized by the scientific world today. Superluminosity does exist in this universe, between dimensions, but cannot be understood by the current scientific status quo, because of the intellectual limits imposed on this species by nature.
It all relates to our collective refusal to accept the obvious relativity relating to all religion and science.

Answer 2

(1) Nothing has ever been found that travels faster than c (light speed in a vacuum).

(2) There is a very good explanation, general relativity (GR), for all the macro events we can see in the universe. (Atomic physics works for the micro events). And GR depends on "c" being the maximum speed.

(3) There would all kinds of contradictions if anything could exceed "c". It would allow time travel, effects happening before their causes, etc. The universe would not make sense or be predictable.

Answer 3

To reach the speed of light you need infinite energy. Something we don't have. An object has a rest mass and mass when it's moving. As an object goes faster and faster the object's mass is greater and greater (of course we get this from Albert E.). It's could be compared to a car. As you go faster and faster in a car it requires more power eventually your engine doesn't have any more power and can only reach a certain speed. The reason a car does this is air resistance that faster you go the more air resistance ('gain air resistance'). To go faster you need a more powerful engine but again that will only go so fast. So according to relativity you gain mass sort of like a car gaining air resistance. Hence, why you need infinite energy. Any particle with mass then has speed limit of the speed of light really just below since it can't reach that speed. Light is massless and therefor travels faster then particles of mass and travels at the speed of light.

Answer 4

One of the implications of general relativity is that it would take an infinite amount of energy to accelerate any mass to the speed of light.

Also, there is the aspect of time dilation, which stretches time in the frame of reference of any object as the speed of the object approaches the speed of light. This is why the speed of an object can never exceed the speed of light from ANY frame of reference...example, the light from the headlights of a moving car still only travels at c, not c + the velocity of the car.

Answer 5

Because Einstein said so! Do you dare deny it? It's just like how Newton said everything falls down because of a Universal Law of Gravitation. You can't break that law.

Okay seriously, Einstein basically said that the faster you go the heavier (more massive) you become. Soas I get closer and closer to the speed of light, the heavier and I heavier I become which means I need more and more fuel. And then my mass and the mass of the fuel approaches infinity. So when my mass is infinite, I need an infinite amount of fuel to carry me which therefore is impossible.

Now, as to why my mass approaches infinity as I get closer to the speed of light, you need a few more years of math and Physics and then look at his mathematical derivation. And by the way, these theories from a hundred years ago have been proven experimentally. So it is not just a wild idea anymore.

Answer 6

I think its a sort of myth that because nothing so far that we have found travels faster than light, it means thats the fastest possible speed, think of it like this, when you turn something on, we assume, and talk of it turning on instantly, while infact there is a slight pause (5 nano seconds or so), but because we don't notice this in normal life, it because what we know.

As for speed making mass increase, I've not heard of that before, but if that were so, then light would be immensly heavy as it is both waves and mass (according to something I read in physics a while back).

I'm guessing that things could travel faster than the speed of light, but I don't think there will every be any way of proving or disproving this theory (not in our lifetime anyway).

Answer 7

Technically the maximum speed for any object is infinity. But when you stop to think about this, you would require an infinite amount of energy to get it above the speed of light.

Consider pushing a wheelbarrow down the street. You start of walking, then you progress to running, but to get the wheelbarrow to go any faster than the speed you're running, you can't. You would need more energy, in the form of a car, or a trebuchet to launch it.

Einstein's Theory of Invariance determined that light travels at 186,000 miles per second. To go faster than this using conventional propulsion techniques, you would not only need an infinite amount of energy, but you would also need a particle that travels faster than the speed of light, and has mass, which we haven't found.

To understand more fully why it requires an infinite amount of energy, you must realize that when an object is moving relative to another, it has more mass. It is the reason why a bullet will travel through steel when moving at a fast enough velocity. Through mathematical extrapolation, you can use Einstein's formula to determine the amount of energy required to accelerate anything with mass to 100% the speed of light. In all instances, it is equal to infinity. The more velocity a mass has, the more added mass it has, and the more energy it takes to accelerate it.

An excellent book that I can recommend is "The Elegant Universe," by Brian Greene. He does wonders for explaining current physics concepts in layman's terms.

Answer 8

light is matter(anything that takes up space), mass(anything with mass has weight), when mass is super-dispersed as gas is a good example it is lighter , liquid is averagely disperse with more pull, while a solid is not dispersed but is one. liquid only has a weak attraction, so when heat excite the molecules the become steam that is gas. to move at the speed of light there are many ways, using shield technology to prevent yourself from burning up the equation equated to light is: Light = 360°*^360th power/ .5% = Light ] , Next to create the strength of this shield you will need = Fl +Fh this will ensure a shield strong enough to shield you from getting hurt you will need 15,000,000 volts/ Fl is low-frequency from a laser, Fh is high-frequency from a laser/ .5% is a 180° of the circumference of the spherical shield needing the power as a supply; this type of thing which I tell you now is the secret to creating a light shield that can shield gamma particles radiations, and other impacts, I reveal this on the internet; because the world deserves to know my secrets to protect the lives on this earth, the innocent. Once the shield is built then and only then people can travel faster if they so choose, but knowing that the heavier; the object or body leaving gravity the faster it moves, because of weight that is why we cannot exceed the speed of light until we create the technology to do so; but in our body is the natural living technology nature created, and therefore the mind being higher is faster transcendiong time, having no limit to its memory, it is quick. for the spliting refraction of light a certain type of crytal in nature must used being a blend of diamond and quartz.

Answer 9

Think of it this way.

A television station broadcasts a show, and the signal goes out into space (as well as on the earth). You take off in your ship and travel faster than the speed of radio transmission (light speed), catch up with that signal, then you turn around and go back to earth (faster than light), what do you see when you get to earth? You apparently arrive before the show was broadcast -- back in time! Well that opens up a big "can o' worms", with all kinds of nasty paradoxes that can't be easily recconciled. If you can't go faster than light, then those paradoxes don't have to be dealt with (only in your mind, not by physics)
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Answer 10

Because esintein said so :)
naw just kidding the laws of physic show that it can't be achieved because as an object gains speed it gains mass too so you would need unlimited energy to move at the speed of light.