• Question: is it possible to travle faster than light (Theoiretical)?

    Asked by NanoBrook to Olivia, Joe, James on 18 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      Hi NanoBrook,

      Whilst Einstein’s theories of relativity do not say nothing can travel faster than light, any particle of with weight (mas) would need infinite energy to reach the speed of light, let alone go faster than light, based on the E=mc^2 (^2 equals squared) equation.

    • Photo: Joe Spencer

      Joe Spencer answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      Difficult one to expand upon James point about Einstein. Relativity says you can’t travel at the speed of light, as to make something faster you need to apply a force. which is fine if you have constant mass. But here’s where it gets weird…
      As you go faster, you have to apply a thing called lorentzian transformations ( i think that’s the name) which basically means, the faster you go the heavier you get, to the point where at the speed of light your mass will be infinity (clearly impossible).
      However, there is evidence and theory suggesting the existence of super luminal particles, particles that travel faster than light because they have negative mass or something like that, they’re called tachyons. But you need to ask a theorist, as my expertise on this sort of physics is not as good as Albert Einsteins

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