Scientists, mainly cosmoligists, say that matter cannot travel at a speed faster than that of light. why does light travel at the EXACT speed that matter can travel as fast as? Also, my theory is that since time slows down the faster than you go, in other wordsa the speed of light, that light experiences no time, so if you did go that fast, you wouldnt age. another thing is could it be that light tries to travel faster, at infinite KPH, but it can't because of the speed it has reached. can someone pleasen explain this to me?
ps: the odd thing is that im only 13 and want to know about this....im kind of weird. but please answer and try to use an adult answer with scientific words so i have more details. thank you!
2007-12-09 12:09:44 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
first off, you're not weird. It's great that you want to know this, and you should.
ok, well light is both a wave and a particle, called a photon. it took physicists a while before they realized this dual nature of light, some thought it was just a wave, others thought it was just a particle, but then it was discovered that light was BOTH particle and wave.. and exhibits the behavior of both (a lot of weird stuff happens because of that). the photon (particle of light) is MASSLESS, therefore it CAN travel at the speed of light because it does not have a mass. and according to einstein's theory of relativity, it would be impossible to try to accelerate an object with mass to the speed of light, as it would require an infinite amount of energy (at least is our understanding right now.) the faster you go, the faster time for everyone ELSE (thats not travelling at a high speed) seems to go. so yeah, time slows down for YOU while everyone else appears to speed up. so if you were to ever reach the speed of light, the entire history of the universe would pass you by INSTANTLY (you would go infinitely far into the future, providing no one stopped your movement). so essentially you don't age.
this next part can get a little advanced, so i'll keep it as simple as i can. the speed of light is derivied from maxwell's equations of an electromagnetic wave, its called the electromagnetic wave equation, and was published by maxwell in 1865 in a paper. light is an electromagnetic wave (just like ultraviolet light, radio waves, and tv waves). when maxwell plugged in the best known values into this electromagnetic wave equation, his c variable with units of distance per time showed up. This, as maxwell knew, was a SPEED. and it came out to close to 300,000 km/s , (it is not as accurate as we have now, due to the inacurracy of his other values, but still close). it was quickly realized that this represented the speed of an electromagnetic wave, like light! so it is not that light is trying to go faster, it just the inherent nature of light to travel that fast because of the way the magnetic and electric forces work together (as explained by maxwell and his unification of the forces.)
hope that helped!
2007-12-09 12:36:50 · answer #1 · answered by John 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
what form of school makes you are attempting this? this ought to have been your own concept....the place they permit you write an essay on something you like purely so which you persist with specific regulations. there is no reason clever youngsters shouldn't get homework, purely considering which you're clever does not make you knowledgeable. while you're somewhat compelled to try this, then your instructor has an schedule, and a concern. edit: so a approaches as why there must be no homework for everybody? properly, you may consistently argue that interior the actual worldwide you circulate to paintings, and thats that. you dont carry your paintings domicile (for the main section besides.)
2016-11-15 02:07:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. Actually, awesome guy, the prediction is that no mass can travel AT the speed of light. Maxwell has a series of formulas that you should look up, study, and understand before you say that YOUR theory is... OK?
2007-12-09 12:16:37 · answer #3 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You'll just have to deal with us dummies, I suppose. At least some of us can spell words like "cosmologist", and know what a theory is.
Your question is backwards, BTW: Special Relativity starts with "the speed of light is constant in all inertial frames of reference, therefore..."
2007-12-09 12:17:37 · answer #4 · answered by laurahal42 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're not weird for wondering such a thing. I actually think its a interesting question and theory. However i have no knowledge whatsoever on the speed of light,
I don't know what you alredy know about it, but maybe check this out if you're interested :)
http://www.speed-light.info/
2007-12-09 12:27:23 · answer #5 · answered by cordlesshamilton 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
check out the twin paradox. don't worry about the big kids giving you a hard time, try not to be so belligerant and belittling in your questions first! sorry i have to give you wikipedia, but at your level of understanding, i think that's all that would make sense.
2007-12-09 12:26:10 · answer #6 · answered by tanvi for vendetta 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
apparently u think we r dumb and want us to do ur homewrk.........lol not gonna happen and if u really r wonderin this get a girlfriend or sumtin
2007-12-09 12:13:59 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Do your own homework. Lol
2007-12-09 12:14:58 · answer #8 · answered by Maple Sugar 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
So am i lol
2007-12-09 12:12:17 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
im offended by this question!!!
2007-12-09 12:11:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋