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Author Topic:   Speed of Light Barrier
kuresu
Member (Idle past 2534 days)
Posts: 2544
From: boulder, colorado
Joined: 03-24-2006


Message 88 of 178 (500977)
03-03-2009 4:56 PM
Reply to: Message 85 by RCS
03-03-2009 5:32 AM


Remember, as long as jet propulsion was not there, speed of sound too was an unbreakeable barrier.
Of course, there's an important difference between the speed of light and the so called sound barrier.
There are numerous examples of objects in the universe that break the speed of sound. The earth, for example. Asteroids and comets. Electromagnetic radiation.
Nothing, however, is observed to travel faster than light. There is, as far as I'm aware, no serious proposal for being able to travel faster than light.
In other words, the difference between the sound barrier and the speed of light (in terms of being able to exceed those speeds) is that the sound barrier was one of technological limitation, whereas the speed of light is physical limitation.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 85 by RCS, posted 03-03-2009 5:32 AM RCS has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 89 by onifre, posted 03-03-2009 5:10 PM kuresu has not replied
 Message 90 by Taz, posted 03-03-2009 11:53 PM kuresu has not replied
 Message 103 by RCS, posted 03-05-2009 6:21 AM kuresu has replied

  
kuresu
Member (Idle past 2534 days)
Posts: 2544
From: boulder, colorado
Joined: 03-24-2006


Message 108 of 178 (501222)
03-05-2009 8:31 AM
Reply to: Message 103 by RCS
03-05-2009 6:21 AM


Electro-magnetic radiation?
You know, things like radio waves, microwaves, visible light, UV rays, x-rays, gamma rays.
No object has been observed so far. Can it be ruled out?
If the physics is right, then yes. As the observations seem to match what physics predicts, we can pretty confidently state that nothing can move faster than the speed of light.
Again, the sound barrier was merely a barrier due to technological gaps. The speed of light is a physical barrier that cannot be broken due to the laws of physics.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 103 by RCS, posted 03-05-2009 6:21 AM RCS has not replied

  
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