Breaking the speed of light..?

Question

I believe that it is completely possible to travel faster than the speed of light.. in theory.
But the question I pose is what happens when the vessel breaks the "light barrier"? Would it be something in comparison to a fighter jet making a sonic boom when it breaks the sound barrier?

Answer 1

As a note, this answer excludes the actual energy needed to break the light barrier. Im sure someone here will bring it up, I just dont remember the name of the theory, and didnt want to bring it up since its not what your question seems to ask.

The biggest difference between breaking the sound barrier and the breaking of the light barrier is that sound is the presentation of the compression of molecules (air or water normally) in regular patterns. When you break the sound barrier, these compressions build and stack upon each other, creating the sonic boom you hear about.

Light, on the other hand, is simply energy waves. These will continue to move, and will not stack in the same way.

So, there are two theories for what would happen that I have heard.

1) You lose all ability to see in any direction except forward. This is less likely than option 2, simply because even though you are moving faster than light, you are never moving in to non-light energy existence areas.

2) You will see a fishbowl effect. This means that objects in front of you will continue to look as they are. As you move to the sides, you will start to see streaking and bluring due to the way your eye sees light and its refresh rate.

In the end, no one knows until its done. I believe that it will be a smooth transition though, and not the hard transition that exists with breaking the sound barrier. I do believe it will be possible one day though.

Answer 2

Comparison vs sonic boom-
Sound waves traveling through air at the speed of sound are emitted from an airplane, the airplane itself is traveling at the speed of sound. So the sound emitted in the forward direction continues in front of the aircraft but does not pass it. New sound is constantly emitted and addds to the old sound that is also still traveling away. The old sound does dampen just as all sound does as it travels. So eventually the sound will not get any louder, but it will build up.
The same effect goes for a spacecraft traveling at the speed of light however since it travels through space there is nothing to dampen the light. The longer you travel and emit light the brighter the light-boom will be when you pass someone. So If you traveled for 10 minutes with a flashlight on the front and the light hit someone at the exact same instant. Every particle of their body that the light penetrated to would likely be fried from the intensified radiation.

Answer 3

I can't answer your question because I have my reasons to believe that it's not possible to travel faster than the speed of light. However, I can tell you this:

A sonic boom is produced because all the sound waves produced from a plane traveling at the speed of sound are concentrated at a single spot since the plane is traveling at the same speed the air molecules are.

On the other hand, if you are emitting light, and traveling near the speed of light, light will not be concentrated at a single spot, in fact, you would see the beams moving away from you at the speed of light in all directions, so if you were able to reach the speed of light, light would not be concentrated at a single spot, so there would be no -lets call it- 'lighting boom'.

On the other hand, if you were a static observer, and something traveling at the speed of light, and emiting light, was coming towards you, you might see that 'lighting boom' the moment that something passes next to you.

Now consider this:
1- The guy traveling didn't see a lighting boom forming
2- The guy not moving did see a lighting boom
So you have two different realities on a single object, something that is just not possible.

Answer 4

First of all, it is quite possible to break the speed of light *in matter*. The analog of a sonic boom is what is known as Cerenkov radiation.

As for breaking the speed of light *in a vacuum*, there is no evidence that is possible. The theoretical aspect is based on the special theory of relativity, which has as a consequence that the amount of energy needed to get to the speed of light would be infinite. This theory has been verified in particle accelerators for speeds that are within .0004% of the speed of light. It would take as much energy as is released in a thermonuclear bomb to get a mass of one gram to go the speeds that we commonly make protons and electrons go.

Answer 5

Based on modern theory of light, your question is meaningless, as it is not possible to go faster than the speed of light. Actually, in modern physics, it is also not possible to move slower, as the speed of light is the only speed in the universe.

Answer 6

i can break the speed of light simply by oral sex. However i cannot demonstrate on strangers....oh wait a sec.... i think i know you.