Exceeding speed of light idea.

GeForce · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:00

eXor said:
This is just a disguised airplane-on-a-conveyor-belt thread. :\

Nooo don't mention it!

kinetic747 said:
What I want to know is, what makes light so bloody fast in the first place?

If you have no mass, you can zoom around everywhere at the speed of light.

Edit: Oh, beaten. Should reply quicker, shouldn't I?

Sinque · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:01

GeForce said:
If you have no mass, you can zoom around everywhere at the speed of light.

Edit: Oh, beaten. Should reply quicker, shouldn't I?

What if you have negative mass? Can you go faster than the speed of light then?

Mr^B · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:01

apeZ said:
It has no mass.

It does. And it doesn't. It depends.

As for the original question, here's something to think about.

If I am running with a torch, at 5 mph, and I shine the torch - does the light from the torch travel at c. + 5mph or just c. ?

The answer is, of course, just c. You can't treat light and light-speed in a pure Newtonian way...or haven't you got to that bit of the A-Level course when you put most of Newton in the bin?

SlyReaper · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:02

kinetic747 said:
What I want to know is, what makes light so bloody fast in the first place?

It's not fast. It's bloody slow. It takes 4 frikkin' years just to get to proxima.

Fido McNasty · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:03

What will it be called when the speed of light is exceeded ?
eg: We have the sonic boom.

Also, not so long ago people said with astounding confidence that 60mph was impossible. Then 100mph and so on. Is it me or are there a few doubters in our midst ?

.... :eek:

SlyReaper · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:03

Mr^B said:
It does. And it doesn't. It depends.

Wrong. Light has no mass, no matter how you look at it. However, it does have momentum.

GeForce · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:04

SlyReaper said:
Wrong. Light has no mass, no matter how you look at it. However, it does have momentum.

Precisely. Mass of a photon = 0. Energy of a photon = hf. Weird isn't it.

Sinque said:
What if you have negative mass? Can you go faster than the speed of light then?

Well if an object has a negative inertial mass (weird), then according to

F = mi * a

When you push the object, it will move away in the opposite direction to the direction in which you pushed it.

So getting it to move anywhere at all would be pretty difficult, I would think.

SpeedFreak · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:05

you fail at Physics LMAO!!!!!!

Masterdog · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:07

Fido McNasty said:
What will it be called when the speed of light is exceeded ?
eg: We have the sonic boom.

Photic flash?

Sinque · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:09

GeForce said:
F = mi * a

When you push the object, it will move away in the opposite direction to the direction in which you pushed it.

So getting it to move anywhere at all would be pretty difficult, I would think.

But would it actually be able to go faster than light?

And to fix the opposite direction problem you could just drive in the opposite direction to where you want to go

Mr^B · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:09

SlyReaper said:
Wrong. Light has no mass, no matter how you look at it. However, it does have momentum.

It depends, just because they haven't been able to measure it doesn't mean it doesn't have mass.

SpaghettiOs · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:10

Fido McNasty said:
What will it be called when the speed of light is exceeded ?
eg: We have the sonic boom.

The Apocalypse.

SlyReaper · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:11

It's so annoying when you provide the correct answer to the question, but it's overshadowed and ignored because of all the tripe from other posters.

Too many armchair experts in this thread.

jakspyder · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:11

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fido McNasty View Post
What will it be called when the speed of light is exceeded ?
eg: We have the sonic boom.

really really fast?

EffBee · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:12

Relativity depends a lot on "frames of reference". You are mixing them up.

However to change the subject completely...

The speed of light in a vacuum is generally held to fastest that anything can go and can't be exceeded.

The speed of light in other media such as water is somewhat lower.

It is possible for something to travel faster than the speed of light in other media. When this happens in you get a nice blue glow of cerenkov radiation.

SlyReaper · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:12

Interesting, double post from 3 posts above...

Goksly · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:13

There is no warp engine in your diagram. I am reliably informed you need one of those to go faster than light.

jakspyder · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:14

if light has no mass, how does it get sucked in by black holes??

Mik3 · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:15

Fido McNasty said:
What will it be called when the speed of light is exceeded ?
eg: We have the sonic boom.

....

It cant be exceeded though, its impossible. Once you get close to the speed of light the energy you put in is converted to mass, this is proven everyday in particle accelerators.

I'm sure I remember reading something about if you could reach the speed of light your image would be ever etched into the location you broke the barrier, or something like that, but its impossible.

Cookie-Monster · 26 Mar 2009 at 22:15

who cares about the speed of light 88 mph is enough