Faster Then Light?

Question

Do you believe there is a way around relitivity, will a sufficiently advanced culture one day find a way to transverse the space between the stars faster then light?

Remember, 200 years ago most educated people would sware up and down that a heavier then air vichael could never fly, that the sound barrer would never be broken, etc.

Granted, some will say these are mechanical problems and the light barrier is a matter of physics... However, what are the laws of physics but high-end mechanical problems?

Space itself can expand faster the light--Does that not imply a possibile back door around this restriction?

Also, keep in mind what we KNOW of physics is far from everything.

Opinions...

Answer 1

What anybody "believes" about physics is irrelevant. The fact is, as a body gains speed it also gains mass, which requires more energy to accelerate the increasing mass which now requires still more energy and gets more massive...bottom line, the fastest an object can go is less than the speed of light because there is a terminal velocity where the increase in mass overtakes the acceleration. It's not a lack of technology, it's just reality, just like gravity.

Having said that, you could still possibly get around the universe in other ways aside from just hitting the gas. Wormholes have long been wondered about, for example...

Answer 2

The problem is that we have NEVER seen anything go faster than light. This is unlike the situation of the sound barrier, where it was well known that, say, electricity went faster than sound or that sound in metal goes faster than in air. THis is the basic difference between a simple mechanical difficulty and a basic law of physics. One is a technological difficulty, the other is how the universe actually works.

As for the expansion of the universe: it is possible that this is one work around IF you have a way to make space expand as you want it to. Unfortunately, we don't even have a theoretical way to do this other than have a 'false vacuum' like happened during the inflationary era.

It should be pointed out that the results of relativity have been supported by particle accelerators up to 99.999% of the speed of light.

Answer 3

Is still dont understand why some people think the Light Speed Barrier exists?! Some distant galaxies' outer rims or edges rotate or turn resulting in a movement way faster than the speed of light. So if alternative and more effective propulsion units can be developed I'd say light speed is very possible! And also all this would happen a lot sooner than some people want to believe.

Cheers

Answer 4

According to all the laws of physics this is impossible. The laws of physics are much more than high end mechanical problems, those problems are solved by competent mechanics every day of the year. There still a few things that physicists are having problems with but travelling at the speed of light is not one them, they don't waste time with trying to what they know can't be done. You should do the same.

Answer 5

Relativity is a theory. In science, a theory is a tool (like an equation in algebra, but far more complete). Not to be confused with a "theory", in popular language, which is what one uses instead of "reality". (My theory is that the Rams do not have a good enough defence).

General Relativity is a theory in the scientific sense. It is the best tool we have (so far) to describe reality.

It was designed when it was observed that the speed of light was the same, regardless of the speed of the light source, of the receiver, or of both (relative to each other). The only way this could make sense is for time to be perceived as flowing differently for different speeds. This had been thought about before Einstein wrote his theory of relativity.

Relativity "simply" brings these concepts together (and many more). The biggest thing it does is show us a whole bunch of equivalencies, such as mass is energy (E = mc^2).

So, the faster you want to go, the slower time flows for you (as seen by the rest of the universe) until, when you reach the speed of light, then everything happens at once. For example, the time it takes to travel any finite distance is zero. That is from the time dilation equation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation

It came before relativity (meaning: finding a way around relativity does not free you from this one -- yet).

From relativity, we also see that any energy that you try to pump into a mass approaching the speed of light will cause the mass to behave as if it was more massive. At the limit, you'd need infinite energy to reach the speed of light (this makes sense since you'd be able to traverse any finite distance in a time of exactly zero).

Like any theory, you cannot prove that it is right. You can only try to prove that it is wrong. A lot of people have been trying to prove it wrong or to think of other theories that could explain the universe better. No success yet.

General Relativity is far more than just the speed of light problem. In order to change that conclusion from the theory, one would have to do away with other conclusions that are "unfortunately" well established.

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A lot of people worked at proving that "heavier-than-air" could fly, and they succeeded. Of course, they had an incentive: birds have greater density than air and they had the ability to fly even before humans could understand what a theory was. So, even when some people would swear up and down (how could they if they could not fly?) that "heavier-than-air" could not fly, we already knew that it was possible -- because of the birds.

We do not have the same advantage for things going faster than the speed of light.

As for the expansion of space, the "speed" at which space expands is not a true movement. It is a perceived one. And if space truly is infinite in 3-D (as many astrophysicists believe), then the "speed" of expansion is boundless.

For example, for us objects that would be at 14 billion light-years would appear to move at the speed of light. Then an object at 140 billion light years would see the distance separating it from us increase at a rate of 10 times the speed of light.

But the object is not moving at that speed (relative to its local space). Plus, we can never see it, therefore information is not travelling at 10 times the speed of light.

The fact that we do not know all of physics (will we ever?) does not mean that we cannot understand certain things. You do not need to know how all the parts of a car work, in order to drive it.

You may be ignorant about the laws of physics that allow the engine to take potential chemical energy out of gasoline and turn it into kinetic energy; but that does not stop you from understanding that hitting a brick wall at 150 clicks may damage the paint.

My opinion.

Answer 6

I don't think this is possible for one reason - how do you explain the resulting transmitted light. Let me expand on that....

If you are moving faster than the speed of light, the light that's emitted from you would get to other places in very strange ways. The light emitted in the direction which you are going away from would never reach there, since you're moving faster than that speed in the opposite direction, so there would be a blank space where you have been. And what about the light waves bunching up in front of you? Would they hinder you from moving any faster?

While writing that I just thought of one more thing... Would these light waves emitted behind you, not moving fast enough to reach anything, leaving a blank space, create a kind of black hole by sucking in (poor choice of wording there but stick with me) everything that comes near it into this blank space and propelling that matter through that blank space towards you (who created the blank space) at the speed of light (if not faster)? That's a very rough theory, it needs some fixing, but if that is remotely true could it explain how multiple things could "time-warp" through space by falling into that blank space trailing behind whatever is moving faster than the speed of light? Some opinions in this same thread would be nice.

Answer 7

No, space does NOT expand faster than light. It expands at the speed of light. The only (theoretical) thing that can go faster than light is a tachyon.

Now, if we had an _n_ space warp generator, then things might be different

Answer 8

Nae doot, as a Scotsman would say.
But how do you approach the problem? Only by doing-- and testing in space. This would take a trillions of dollars. It would take a long time to accelerate to light speed, let alone FTL.
Would astronauts sign up for a program that would take them into time dilation?

Answer 9

I'd not place an unlimited bet that there's absolutely
no way around the light-speed limit.
I would however, bet you one 'shiny new nickel`,
that, (as with the heavier than air problem),
if there is one, it must involve a quantum leap
in concentrating mass/energy.
And that won't happen soon.

Answer 10

Well let me ask you this. if the speed of light is the limit of motion . how in all the caos of creation was that determined to be the universal speed limit. In a universe created by chance there can be no boundries to just about anything. To sugest otherwise is to except the existance of an intelegent disign and designer. There it is