100 years and counting

Not sure which forum to post in but here I go...

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Einstein-Poincare interval known as c, which we all have come to known as the speed of light. It spawned a new level of thinking for Einstein which lead to his first theory of relativity: The Special Theory of Relativity. In a nut shell it basically stated that no matter where an individual is in the universe, the speed of light will always remain a constant. This theory was latter followed up by the General Theory in 1916. Of course Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his achievements which opened a new path to nuclear physics. Roughly 40 years later Enrico Fermi help lead a group of scientist to build the Atomic Bomb under the Stagg Field House in Chicago. None of this would have been possible withouth Einstein's contributions to science.

So the big question is, do you still believe? Does his theory of Special Relativity hold true still to this day, or was it a mistake and we can propell objects pass the speed of light without the manipulation of time and space itself?

I believe it still stands relativly the same. Although if it is possible to accelerate something to faster than the speed of light. A lot of physics would need to be written and rewritten to accommodate the idea.

Relativity still stands as long as you're not looking too closely. Just as Newtonian laws accurately predict objects on the small, planetary scale, they inaccurately predict the motion of the planets amongst the solar system, the stars, etc. Relativity accurately predicts events on the macro through atomic scale, breaking down deep in sub-atomic, where quantum mechanics takes over, eventually giving way to theoretical strings.
> Applying this to light-speed travel, relativity forbids it. Quantum mechanics and string theory do not. So if we someday figure out how to manipulate aspects of the quantum world and/or strings, without technically violating relativity, yes faster than light travel could be achieved.



[edit on 8-5-2005 by apc]