Star Trek

What is it about the speed 186,282.397 miles per second (the speed of light) that causes some to claim that it cannot be reached, let alone surpassed, Light reaches that speed, Is it an ego thing? Does light get annoyed when something travels faster? What prohibits travelling faster and how do you know it is the limit?

Also what is the difference between Speed and Acceleration and Slowing, There is never really a (constant) speed while accelerating or slowing and even cruise control does not maintain a constant speed all the time 100% so, there is no such thing as speed, only an approximate speed that constantly changes as long as in motion,

The speed of light can and has been surpassed, by light itself at least...

It is not anyone's job to prove anything to you. If you can access this site then you can access the myriad sources of information on the speed of light on the WWW.

You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. God and science are not mutually exclusive. Science is simply the acquisition of knowledge gained through observation and experiments. It is a disciplined study of the natural world.

And in the big scheme of things, the speed of light is relatively - it would still take us too long to get anywhere outside out solar system.

What would still take us too long? Do you mean travelling at light speed is still too slow to get anywhere?

*sighs* Unfortunately, yes. Even if we could figure out a way to travel at lightspeed, what would be the use? With today's technology, modern space travelers would have no clue what to do once they got there, and it is highly likely they wouldn't even survive the experience. Then, no one else would want attempt it, and we'd be back at square one, looking for a way to travel even faster than light.

Actually if the ship was capable of reaching near light speed quickly, the crew (because of time slowing down as you near the speed of light) could have done their 5 year mission in their 5 years. Thousands of years may have passed on Earth, but they'd still be young.  Also when a beam of light starts to move from its source, is it traveling at the speed of light immediatly or does a finite amount of time occur before it reaches that speed?  Or does it start out a little faster and slow down to the speed of light?  Just wondering. 

Thanks Vicsage, my sentiments exactly,

In addition, if there were a trans-universal 'highway' of (mapped) cosmic wormholes were not that the answer to deep space travel?

'kinda law these days'? Okay then, what is it in the 'kinda law' theory that states light speed cannot be reached except by light itself, so I may understand, otherwise I disagree,

Well thanks 4_o_20 for taking the time, no pun intended,

I think I understand better now but I do offer this, please tell me if it is a valid question to raise,

If an object is accelerating towards light speed with some hypothetic super propulsion method, then that object is not traveling at a constant speed, Now if the propulsion system hypothetically pushed the object beyond light speed the 0 dimensional/infinite mass point is never reached because while accelerating, which light does not do remaining at a constant speed, the constant light speed is not reached and the negative results are related to the direction of time past the speed of light,

Also, does light have dimensions and/or infinite mass? I mean anywhere you are in the universe their is light, even within a black hole though it cannot reflect back, as far as we know, Point is even without a sun you can see stars and other galaxies which means light is EVERYWHERE so, perhaps light does have infinite mass, and with that, no dimensions that are constant (to be mesured) except the rate of speed, Is that ludicrous?

We have successfully pushed light past the speed of light, and it does not break the theory of relativity. We just can't put any information on it. I think the fact that we can't attach any form of conventional information with it might be why it doesn't break the theory of relativity. 

There is a cool book that covers this a little bit named "Decoding the Universe"

Does gravity influence light (speed) at all?

Could it be that when light passes the Event horizon of a black hole that the enormous gravitational pull into the Singularity would cause light to be pulled in faster than the 'speed of light'?

The Laws of Thermodynamics dictate how mass and energy are conserved in our universe.  This is simply how our universe works, and nothing in our universe has been known to violate these laws.  This is integral when dealing with objects traveling near or at the speed of light.

Energy = mass x (speed of light)², or E = mc².  Mass here is represented as mass = mass-at-rest / √1 minus ( velocity² / speed of light² ), or m = m0 / [√1 - ( v²/c² )].

As velocity increases, the square root of the devisor becomes so small that before you even reach the speed of light, your mass is nearly infinite!

Ergo, an object with mass would require infinite energy to reach the speed of light.  Since energy = mass, you would have infinite mass relative to the observer.

The reason photons can go the speed of light is because they don't have mass, so it doesn't matter how close to the speed of light they get.  You can not exceed the speed of light because then you would have negative mass, which in our universe, violates the Laws of Thermodynamics.  That is why you can not travel faste than the speed of light.

The only way to reach infinite mass is by achieving light speed with a constant speed but acceleration has no constant speed and could pass light speed without reaching infinite mass while accelerating beyond and travelling back in time with the negative mathematical results,

How and why does acceleration increase mass?

Does light have infinite mass, travelling at light speed?

What is so improbable about reaching infinite mass within this universe?

1. Mathematically it is plausible, but realistically it isn't.  There is a theoretical subatomic particle called a Tachyon.  This a particle that moves faster than light, and therefor travels backwards in time.

2. Energy = Mass.  As I explained, E = mc².  This equation demonstrates that mass and energy are equal.  If you want to go faster in your car, you have to burn more fuel, right?  If you want to keep accelerating to the speed of light, you have to use more energy, if you use more energy, you have more mass.

3. No, light does not have any mass, which is why it is the only particle we know of that can travel that fast.  There are experiments going on right now where physicists are accelerating other mass-less subatomic particles to close the speed of light.  However, they have not managed to accomplish this yet.

4. It violates the Laws of the Thermodynamics.