May not be the barrier we all thought it to be?
2007-12-24 02:14:17 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Perhaps you could cite the source of that statement, because it certainly didn't come from the engineers who built trains (and presumably planned to ride on them). Many of these sensationalist claims came from journalists and 'amateur scientists' whose real understanding of science was pitiful. If we were to believe them, everyone who's ever flown or ridden in a high-speed train would be dead.
The lightspeed barrier is an altogether different beast, because it is part of a larger (proper) scientific theory, which has correctly predicted real world outcomes e.g. time dilation at high velocities.
Then again, who's to say that our knowledge cannot advance to a point where we can find a way around it?
2007-12-24 02:27:08 · answer #1 · answered by dontpanic66 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is possible to have a plasma gas with an index of refraction less than 1. Which means you can get light to go faster than the speed of light. Since v_light=c/n. c=speed of light in vacuum and n=index of refraction. This also means that the speed at which light propagates is not constant.
Weather or not you can get information to travel faster than the speed of light is more of a philosophical question due to you having the ability to see into the future and then you get into a heated debate about destiny and free will to make choices or is it all planned out.....
2007-12-24 04:56:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Instead of two observers, consider three observers, A, B, and C with B and C traveling at 0.9c and 0.99c in the same direction with respect to A. Or consider B and C traveling in opposite directions at 0.9c with respect to A.
Using analogies can be risky, but consider a jet traveling towards you faster than Mach 1. It cannot be detected by sound until it has passed.
I'm not at all sure that we've been interpreting relativity correctly.
2007-12-24 03:49:49 · answer #3 · answered by Helmut 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a barrier in our universe. No object with a mass can travel faster than light speed in vacuum
2007-12-24 02:17:53 · answer #4 · answered by maussy 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Bullets were known to travel faster than trains before locomotives were invented.
Nothing has ever traveled faster than the speed of light.
2007-12-24 02:18:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nonsense.
2007-12-24 03:30:39 · answer #6 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just the Medicine the Dr. Ordered!! (I'm a little sick) Laughing all over the sofa!!!!! :)
2016-05-26 03:01:42 · answer #7 · answered by machelle 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋