Physicists wary of junking light speed limit yet

[ForgedReclaimer]

I know, i know. I left the forum but today as i read a Wall Street posting, i thought i would post it into the forum quick before i completely go.

Some of you may or may not know that an experiment was held to re-create the big bang of sorts. Well it was done not too long ago and scientists have been pouring over the Data and apparently they found a speed greater than that of light. Right now no one can know for sure, it could still be a error in the examination and calculations of the speed but think about it. Albert Einstein may have been wrong with the theory of relativity. While it may still turn out to be a false alarm and old Albert may still be right this could be a major rethink in the world science community.

It has no real connection to halo, and it doesn't mean we'll have faster than light ships, its still just incredible. Think of it what you will.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP58b5aed0a77c45ddb163d90951b36b35.html

 

[SquishyShoes]

The irony, we're studying this stuff in class at the moment. Might come in handy to know, thanks!

Also, the science is interesting regardless.

 

[project003]

well, we know that the Universe is 13 billion years old, but it is WAY bigger than 13 billion light years across, so with that in mind, the speed of light is not the speed limit of the Universe.

thus:
Faster than light travel is not impossible, in fact, the Universe is traveling faster than light... right now, or at least, it has in the past.

Edit:

assuming that the big bang theory is correct.

 

[I am Fuzzy Bear]

well, we know that the Universe is 13 billion years old, but it is WAY bigger than 13 billion light years across, so with that in mind, the speed of light is not the speed limit of the Universe.

thus:
Faster than light travel is not impossible, in fact, the Universe is traveling faster than light... right now, or at least, it has in the past.

Edit:

assuming that the big bang theory is correct.

What a math pro right there. This is also assuming that we have the speed of light correctly documented.

 

[Swift]

I was just ecstatic about the fact that I can now go around proclaiming 'we broke physics!' Which, while not technically true, I have been doing that for the past two days

"If the laws of physics don't apply in the future, God help you." - Aperture Science Voice

 

[CoolC]

All this is interesting but none of this can be confirmed. Even the big bang theory is always a subject for debate for years. Here is what I think of scientist and physicists, they learned about theories and they look at facts but the problem is they don'y have real facts about the universe. The only thing that they can do is test the hypothesis they conjure up. Then the debate it for years in hoping their names can be attached to the findings.

I went to a new life class when I attended a church. A physicist was teaching the class. It was ironic so I asked him why? He said we have no real truth about the universe than ever before. Universe exists and can only be explained by Him.

 

[AshaZev]

I went to a new life class when I attended a church. A physicist was teaching the class. It was ironic so I asked him why? He said we have no real truth about the universe than ever before. Universe exists and can only be explained by Him.

CoolC that quote you've got is pretty floored itself, let me list a few of its assumptions.
1. God is real (kinda a big one) 2. God is Male and a human (that class teacher used the word Him) and lastly "can only be explained by Him." that bit assumes that God knows everything and that 'He' has a way of communicating with us that we can understand.

 

[Vic13ious]

I'm going to have to agree with AshaZev on this one. There are a lot of unanswered questions in the universe. I think its cool that we have been able to answer some of them. However, I have a problem when people say that the only way we will come to answer a certain line of questioning is when "god", or whatever your religion calls him, answers said questions. It seems counter productive to forward progress to just give up on finding certain answers because of religion. Maybe science should be our religion now, I mean cultures have been using religion to give answers to questions they couldn't. Now, we have the tools to answer some of those questions. Very cool article by the way.

 

[mkshane81]

well, we know that the Universe is 13 billion years old, but it is WAY bigger than 13 billion light years across, so with that in mind, the speed of light is not the speed limit of the Universe.

thus:
Faster than light travel is not impossible, in fact, the Universe is traveling faster than light... right now, or at least, it has in the past.

Edit:

assuming that the big bang theory is correct.

Just a clarification: The universe IS much bigger than 13 billion light years across. To be accurate, the universe is APPROXIMATELY 13 billion years old, with a radius of about 13.7 billion light years. Now in relative terms, approximation is the best calculation that current science has the ability to use. Therefore, the speed of light is probably pretty accurate for describing the age of the universe. But, that is not to say that faster-than-light speeds are impossible.

-Matt

 

[Varsity]

CoolC that quote you've got is pretty floored itself, let me list a few of its assumptions.
1. God is real (kinda a big one) 2. God is Male and a human (that class teacher used the word Him) and lastly "can only be explained by Him." that bit assumes that God knows everything and that 'He' has a way of communicating with us that we can understand.

are we allowed to talk about religion here? Not sure, just imo i think god is real but i dont think religion is the way to find him or her.

On topic- That would be incredible if we really could do that. Delta halo here we come!

 

[CoolC]

CoolC that quote you've got is pretty floored itself, let me list a few of its assumptions.
1. God is real (kinda a big one) 2. God is Male and a human (that class teacher used the word Him) and lastly "can only be explained by Him." that bit assumes that God knows everything and that 'He' has a way of communicating with us that we can understand.

I'm not a scholar and I neither going to defend if God exists. This is not the place to have that discussion. My point was the leader of that class was a physicist. As a scientist he was trained to look at facts. He can't find real facts that the universe can be proofed scientifically so he turned to church for answer. IMO God does exist but how he communicates I do not have an answer. I don't believe in chance but faith. He put my wife and I on the same world at the right moment in time. Long story but I tried to find an answer how it happend but couldn't. The answer was faith. Now moving on...

 

[Tactonyx]

Just a clarification: The universe IS much bigger than 13 billion light years across. To be accurate, the universe is APPROXIMATELY 13 billion years old, with a radius of about 13.7 billion light years. Now in relative terms, approximation is the best calculation that current science has the ability to use. Therefore, the speed of light is probably pretty accurate for describing the age of the universe. But, that is not to say that faster-than-light speeds are impossible.

-Matt

Even bigger than that. Don't forget that they're discovering that our universe also consists of dark matter or "pure" matter. Even discoveries concerning gravity is now suggesting that other universes, like ours, are folded into a space time continuum plane

It's hard to talk big science without getting religion involved. People try to distance science from religion or try to use science to disprove religion, and vice versa. Where in fact science and religion go hand in hand, can't have one without the other. Science explains the how, and religion explain the why.

 

[DYSTORTED INC]

The one thing that people aren't thinking about, God aside, is how could we travel that fast? As in the human body cannot handle speeds that fast, we would be crushed from the pressure of the acceleration. Think about it. Air Force and NASA pilots go through numerous rigorous hours training and doing tests to handle the amount of force applied to their bodies during real world application. And they're no where close to the speed of light, much less faster. Not to mention an engine that could generate enough power to split space.

 

[CoolC]

Actually the biggest equation is so-called "sub-light" engine. Our current technology limits our ability to travel 15 time the speed of sound for just limited time. There is no way we can jump light speed at all. The theory behind TIE fighter is to generate ion power to propel a space craft. The problem that we have today, if I recall correctly, takes us 6 months to generate that kind of velocity.

In space there is no gravity, hence, g-force may not apply when the trust is released gradually. A human can withstand 9G before passing out. Anything more than that could leave our brain on earth as we are propelled through space.

 

[ImaGonnaGetYou]

The one thing that people aren't thinking about, God aside, is how could we travel that fast? As in the human body cannot handle speeds that fast, we would be crushed from the pressure of the acceleration. Think about it. Air Force and NASA pilots go through numerous rigorous hours training and doing tests to handle the amount of force applied to their bodies during real world application. And they're no where close to the speed of light, much less faster. Not to mention an engine that could generate enough power to split space.

Of course not, nobody with an ounce of reading comprehension thinks like that. But the fact that the speed of light is NOT the greatest achievable speed in the universe is an extremely significant discovery if it proves to be correct. Anyone who thinks that this will somehow revolutionize anything besides a small area of the scientific community has quite a few screws loose.

On the topic of religion, I'm not going to argue for or against it, but I will say that:

1. Religious discussions aren't allowed here, never have been, never will.
2. Where exactly to do find a place to wiggle a reference to your, or your lack of, religion from this article? It's about particles that may exceed the speed of light, not an exposition about evolution.

 

[Arioch]

Once you break gravity, centrifugal force/inertia become extremely minimal and can allow for the type of acceleration necessary for reaching light speed. It is entirely possible, we only lack the technology.

 

[ImaGonnaGetYou]

I'm going to have to break this apart.

Once you break gravity

Gravity is always present, even in incredibly minute amounts.

centrifugal force

Which is not actually a force, but a sensation caused by inertia.

...inertia become extremely minimal

Inertia is what keeps the object moving in the first place, that's why nothing suddenly stops in the middle of space. In space, there's VERY little counteracting it. Plus, inertia isn't a force.

and can allow for the type of acceleration necessary for reaching light speed.

Special relativity, my friend. The closer you get to the speed of light, the more energy you'll need. The amount of energy required to accelerate jumps exponentially at a relatively low speed and continues upwards from there.

It is entirely possible, we only lack the technology.

No, it's entirely IMpossible. There are countless problems with the idea of travelling anywhere near the speed of light.

 

[BLACKULA727]

Special relativity, my friend. The closer you get to the speed of light, the more energy you'll need. The amount of energy required to accelerate jumps exponentially at a relatively low speed and continues upwards from there.

I'm not a physics person, but don’t these findings (If found to be accurate) kind of break apart Einstein's Theory. Doesn't his equation basically say that nothing can go faster than the speed of light because it would take an infinite amount of mass & energy (something like that. again, I don’t do physics). However, these scientists have observed particles traveling faster than the speed of light something like 99.9% of the time when they run their tests & observations. Again, this is merely a question, I don't pretend to know everything.

-Tony

 

[Arioch]

Once you break (planetary) gravity, (the effects of plantetary) centrifugal force/inertia become extremely minimal and can allow for the type of acceleration necessary for reaching light speed. It is entirely possible, we only lack the technology.

There, it is edited to more clearly demonstrate my meaning.

Its not impossible at all. Space is frictionless. If you look at the idea of gravity drives (which pull instead of push) it requires almost no energy and will constantly increase your speed.

Unfortunately, gravity drives are still theoretical, though entirely possible. Light speed will be reached, but not through current popular thinking.

 

[CoolC]

If you look at the idea of gravity drives (which pull instead of push) it requires almost no energy and will constantly increase your speed.

Unfortunately, gravity drives are still theoretical, though entirely possible. Light speed will be reached, but not through current popular thinking.

Like Blackula, I am not going to claim my understanding of astronomy and physics is accurate.

If I recall correctly, when NASA sent Apollo to space, they used earth gravity to swing the spacecraft to moon. The spacecraft went around the earth once using gravity and once it reach the release point, Apollo fired its rockets to break the gravity hold. So the theory was proven.

I disagree however, of not requiring "almost no energy". If we think in term of what we understand of kinetic energy, you need thrust/push energy to propel an object forward. That energy is exponentially increased depends on how heavy is the object and how far do you want the object to go. Spacecraft today is limited by the fuel that it can carry. Unless if we find new energy source that can provide infinite amount of fuel, we can never break the light-year barrier. You may think that nuclear energy is the solution, but I don't believe they found the solution of converting steam (essentially what nuclear fuel does) energy to "burned fuel" energy.