Why Can't we travel faster than the speed of light?

Just wondering? Why can't we travel faster than the speed of light? I have read that most scientists agree with Einstein when he stated that we will never travel faster than the speed of light because as a object nears plank speed (Close to the speed of light if I understand correctly) it's mass becomes infinately larger, so there is not enough power in the universe to push it past the light barrier. But why not? do they have proof of this or is this still a theory. Haven't scientists pushed particles to the speed of light in accelerators (SP)? or are they stuck at a percentage of the speed of light? I am just currious. if it is a power problem then why couldn't you use the energy released by the anialation (sp) of matter/dark (anti) matter? if there is as much dark matter in the cosmos as I have read then there should be an abundance of "fuel" available for the "engine". Just a thought.

Could some of you help me fight ignorance? Thanks

Im fairly certain it is only a theory at this point, i dont think we've gotten anything to travel the speed of light to prove for sure. I think it might be because we dont know of anything that exists faster than the speed of light, thus we dont think it can exist. Maybe its like the color spectrum, and we can only observe it in this dimension, and if we exit this dimension we dont technically exist here anymore. But im not a physicist

Do a search for "relativity speed of light" or something like that and read the material you find there. You both should understand the topic a bit better after some reading.

It can be done. It just hasn't so far. Even though Einstein and others say it can't there are just as many who say it can be done.
With regards to the mass question, only theory. So many people like to quote theory as fat which adds to the confusion of themselves and others. Others will also quote all sort of numbers and equations o show what would happen if we reached the spped of light then go on to say it cannot be done.
My question to them is, if there are numbers to show what WOULD happen, then why say it COUDLN'T happen?

As long as you have mass, it is impossible to travel faster than light, as it requires infinite energy to move an infinite chunk of matter. You can do the math. The energy is so enormous reaching infinity. It's impossible. Even if you combine the whole energy of the universe, it does not come close. Even if you have millions of universes combined, you still cannot come close.

They key here is, if you want to travel faster than light, then you have to be massless. But then again, if you can travel faster than light, you'll be going backwards in time.

The speed of light is the limit for objects with mass. Its like a car moving to a stop. You can't slow it down even more.







[edit on 3/24/2008 by amitheone]

I dont remember the exact wording, but it isnt that we 'cannot go faster than light', the correct way to view it is that 'we cannot accellerate up to and surpass' the speed of light... if we could somehow reach the speed without acellerating to get there, it can be done.

I was listening to a radio show yesterday where they spoke about this. Apparently Stephen Hawking believes that it is possible but you would need to harness an amount of dark matter similer to the mass of jupiter. For now it is apparently possible but from what Hawkings theories suggest it is only something a type 2 or 3 civilization can achieve. Since we are a type 0 civ then i guess its sorry about our luck.

Anyways here is the link to the exact show i was listening to in case your interested.

www.cbc.ca...

When you say, why can 'we' travel faster than light, are you referring to humans? Because, I am under the impression that nothing travels faster than the speed of light (except the speed of darkness, off course).

So, if nothing that we know of can travel faster than the speed of light, a vehicle carrying a human could surely never do it.

Apparently the way ETs travel is by entering another dimension, then re-entering the third dimension in another area, thus looking like their vehicle has disappeared... yet it has simply entered into another dimension. And I base that statement on absolutely nothing.

Please visit this thread to see the key to time travel

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This thread will show you how to time travel by harnessing the speed of light. And, the kicker... its based on absolutely nothing!

There was a Scientist in the 1930s called Karl Verner Hisenburg, Spellin may be well off but none the less that stated if the molecular structure of anything was broken down and packed into some kind of vehicle to match or beat the speed of light. There is no way what so ever that we could put it all back together.

That isn't to say we can't travel faster than the speed of light. Chances are we can. But what are we going to do with the mush at the of said journey is basically what he was saying.

The very makeup of everything in life has different velocities', viscosities and mass. If we could break down matter to a sub-atomic level. How are we going to put it all back together. And if we could. How are we going to make sure it was put back in the right order..

It's incredibly vague I know. But Karl Verner Hisenburg won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1932. 1932 for cryin out loud..

The argument is by no means redundant. But it's one that has scientists busy..

A reply to a post earlier that says we havent made anything travel at the speed of light. We have created current carrying devices and radio transmitting devices have we not? My question is, if we can create a substance that can transport molecules that travel at the speed of light, why can we not do with ourselves and why cant we study how these objects do it? Electricity is a very simple concept.

you got that wrong, darkness is the absence of light

I thought I read a thread about someone at the crazy huge particle accelerator in Europe that accelerated something past the speed of light. I could be totally wrong.

REPLY TO:downtown436

i think you are referring to tachyon particles( theorically they can travel faster than light) if i am not mistaken
and im not sure but a experience was made in a belgian laboratory. in which they tried to make particles travel above the speed of light i dont have info about this now so maybe im wrong



[edit on 24-3-2008 by dracodie]

oops my mistake , double post

[edit on 24-3-2008 by dracodie]

Isn't our measurement technology limited by light speed? Earth-based, gravity affected, distance-viewed, and limited to measurement by objects of matter and light, in this bubble of matter called earth. A faster than light 'thing' would not be detectable today. Circular development trap - when we develop ftl measuring technology, then we can understand ftl accurately, and when we can understand ftl accurately, then we can develop ftl measuring technology.

Someone is going to have to stick their neck outside of acceptable science to get to ftl, but no respectable scientist would want to abandon acceptable scence, so the brainiacs are chained. They might have to rewrite all science systems to get to that level though, making them look like a complete quack, possibly for thousands of years.

If our main problem is going from one distant destination to another, one does not need to go the speed of light as this is not necessary, but you can go through a wormhole, the Einstein-Rosen bridge to warp space time.

What is the Einstein-Rosen bridge?? The Einstein-Rosen bridge is a geometrical property of a black hole that manifests itself in that on the other side of the black hole another set of dimensions has been attached to the one from our universe. This makes passage through this bridge and hence into another universe a mathematical possibility.

there is something faster than the speed of light but it is only a myth. Is a particle found on the string theory its name tachyon, it is said that this particle is infinite in which light is finite also dark light may be faster than light because light expands the universe at a minimum rate dark energy (dark light) expands the universe at a faster rate. also remember in quantum mechanics the particles are waves and particles at the same time in which light could be slow down by mass of the particle and that light may travel faster as a wave

ex: light get to its destination and the tachyon keeps going an never stops

[edit on 25-3-2008 by nobe123]

I was wondering what quantumphysics has to say about time travel.

I saw what the bleep do we know an that states that mass isn't really mass, that molecules just pretend to be mass but they are really just energy. (Maybe not a great way to explain it... the movie does a way better job than I )

Anyway... someone here that knows a bit more about quantumphysics and timetravel?

Why would you need to travel faster thant the Speed of light?

Yes, why?, you don't need to travel faster than the speed of light; of course you don't even need to think about it, if you know the secret and locked trick of universe that will allow you to instantaneously jump from one point in the universe to another one, hundreds, thousands or milliom of light years away.

As other people had stated before, Einsten predicted in his studies of the relativity that the closer you get to the speed of light, the bigger your mass becomes, up to a point when you become total energy, wich will be a point of NO RETURN, how would you return to be what you were before, now that you have achieved and infinite mass and become pure energy?

Its imposible, but like I said, you don't have to, even if you would be able to get close or reach the speed of light; it will still take you hundreds or thousands of years traveling at that speed to reach other stars or the other side of the galaxy or other galaxies, even if you could somehow protect you and your spacecraft in some kind of a buble that will prevent your, and your ship mass to increase and become energy, it will take you a long long time, a long time you will not survive to get to your destination.

However, there is an alternative, Einstein had also predicted that the Space-Time fabric can be folded or curved, Einstein found that the space-time fabric is actually constantly curved by gravity, so there is the trick, that is the workaround we are going to use to avoid great distances and time.

The trick is to be able to somehow focus gravity with a certain intensity directed to the destination point, but out of phase, so instead of pushing away the destination point, we will curve the space-time fabric agains us, bringing the destination point closer to us, for when our destination is curved enough we can just do an small jump in between the 2 points, by triggering an opening in the space-time fabric, a sort of small worm-whole.

But how?
How do we produce gravity?
Answer: We cannot produce gravity.
Clarification: Gravity is a WAVE, Not a particle

So for those of you that still think or theorise about the posible existence of the Graviton Particle, I am sorry to tell you that does not exist.

Gravity is a wave, and there is 2 kinds of gravity, the one produced by planets or stars, and the one produced by atoms, so the trick is to obtain the gravity waves produced in the atoms, since the gravity is a wave, this one can be amplified, and vouala!!!.

Thats the magic trick, easy to explain, the problem now is, how do we make this work with the actual lack of technology?

Up to the early 90's we weren't still able to understand how the reactor that actually does this, would function, and get the atoms of this element to increase their gravity waves beyond the vicinities of the orbits of its electrons, even worst how can this be a purely clean and 100% eficient reaction.

All we knew is that this amazing technology did not need any wires or cables or remote controls, everything worked as it was designed for, but without any visible controls, just as if it was dictated by nature to work the way it worked.....................................