things can travel faster than light in a medium other than a vacuumIt creates Cherenkov radiation..The interesting thing is that at the speed of light in a vacuum, anything with rest mass would have rest mass divided by zero, or infinite mass..So even a single electron would have infinite mass at the speed of light..It would also have infinite energy and would take infinite energy to get it up to that speed..Since the universe has less than infinite (also known as finite) energy, there is not enough energy in the universe to get even a single electron all the way up to the speed of light in a vacuum. (Very close is possible, but not all the way.).This is good because with infinite mass, it would also create a black hole of infinite size with infinite gravitation and would destroy the universe.
The scientists at the Cern, Switzerland collider admitted an error in their measurement. The theory that the speed of light is fastest that anything can travel still stands.
The key is the vacuum, in a medium such as water light is slower, but neutrinos do not slow down, they are the faster than light, and in fact they leave evidence of their passing as that faster than light speed causes a similar effect to faster than sound objects, i.e a shockwave, with the neutrino the shockwave gives off a tiny blue flash of light called cherenkov radiation, it’s how they are detected.
“but if it is true that a particle’s behavior is affected by the observer, then all of the above is pure bunk”
.Depends on the magnitude of the effect and how an observer can affect things which have already happened..Also depends on the assumption the observer ACTUALLY DOES affect the outcome..Consider Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment which assumes a dual state of life and death for the cat with the final state not collapsed until the contents of the box are observed. Why wouldn’t the cat be considered an observer?
“Actually, nothing can travel AT the speed of light.”.Change that to “nothing with rest mass” and you would be right.Light obviously travels at the speed of light.So do neutrinos, it seems, being massless.." Nothing prohibits things from going faster.".But they would have to already be going faster, since they would pass through the “infinite mass/energy” stage if starting slower than c..It is also interesting that the equations call for mass, energy, time, length to be imaginary above the speed of light. Also, instead of distances shrinking the faster you go above the speed of light, they would get larger — in the perpendicular imaginary direction — and time would speed up — also in the perpendicular imaginary direction..Add to that, the fact that negative one has THREE imaginary square roots, usually named i, j & k .
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace almost 9 years ago
things can travel faster than light in a medium other than a vacuumIt creates Cherenkov radiation..The interesting thing is that at the speed of light in a vacuum, anything with rest mass would have rest mass divided by zero, or infinite mass..So even a single electron would have infinite mass at the speed of light..It would also have infinite energy and would take infinite energy to get it up to that speed..Since the universe has less than infinite (also known as finite) energy, there is not enough energy in the universe to get even a single electron all the way up to the speed of light in a vacuum. (Very close is possible, but not all the way.).This is good because with infinite mass, it would also create a black hole of infinite size with infinite gravitation and would destroy the universe.
thesource almost 9 years ago
The scientists at the Cern, Switzerland collider admitted an error in their measurement. The theory that the speed of light is fastest that anything can travel still stands.
tinmanzzz almost 9 years ago
As the Red Queen told Alice, “you just run faster”
flyertom almost 9 years ago
That’ll change when they discover dilithium crystals and incorporate them into a Warp Drive.
Partyalldatyme almost 9 years ago
“These go to eleven.”— Nigel Tufnel, Spinal Tap
pcolli almost 9 years ago
We know nothing about the universe.
WaitingMan almost 9 years ago
“Doesn’t light travel slower at night?”, My Mom
jtviper7 almost 9 years ago
Ever see Speedy Gonzales " Arriba Arriba Arriba…
Linguist almost 9 years ago
If at first you don’t succeed, then try and tray again…. to find somebody to pin the blame on !
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace almost 9 years ago
By the way, at the speed of light, time stops and distances/lengths drop down to zero
Number Three almost 9 years ago
Sorry, Opal. I disagree.
xxx
Erichalfbee almost 9 years ago
The key is the vacuum, in a medium such as water light is slower, but neutrinos do not slow down, they are the faster than light, and in fact they leave evidence of their passing as that faster than light speed causes a similar effect to faster than sound objects, i.e a shockwave, with the neutrino the shockwave gives off a tiny blue flash of light called cherenkov radiation, it’s how they are detected.
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace almost 9 years ago
“but if it is true that a particle’s behavior is affected by the observer, then all of the above is pure bunk”
.Depends on the magnitude of the effect and how an observer can affect things which have already happened..Also depends on the assumption the observer ACTUALLY DOES affect the outcome..Consider Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment which assumes a dual state of life and death for the cat with the final state not collapsed until the contents of the box are observed. Why wouldn’t the cat be considered an observer?
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace almost 9 years ago
“Actually, nothing can travel AT the speed of light.”.Change that to “nothing with rest mass” and you would be right.Light obviously travels at the speed of light.So do neutrinos, it seems, being massless.." Nothing prohibits things from going faster.".But they would have to already be going faster, since they would pass through the “infinite mass/energy” stage if starting slower than c..It is also interesting that the equations call for mass, energy, time, length to be imaginary above the speed of light. Also, instead of distances shrinking the faster you go above the speed of light, they would get larger — in the perpendicular imaginary direction — and time would speed up — also in the perpendicular imaginary direction..Add to that, the fact that negative one has THREE imaginary square roots, usually named i, j & k .