Question about travelling faster than light.

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Synchronised
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Faster than light Light
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the impossibility of traveling faster than light (FTL) and its implications for time travel, particularly in the context of Einstein's theory of Special Relativity (SR). Participants clarify that while time dilation occurs as an object approaches the speed of light, exceeding this speed does not equate to traveling backward in time. The concept of tachyons, hypothetical particles that could travel faster than light, is introduced but remains speculative. Ultimately, the consensus is that FTL travel, as commonly imagined, is not feasible within our current understanding of physics.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Einstein's Special Relativity (SR)
  • Familiarity with time dilation and its mathematical implications
  • Knowledge of tachyons and their theoretical properties
  • Basic grasp of Lorentz transformations in physics
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the properties and implications of tachyons in theoretical physics
  • Study the mathematical foundations of time dilation in Special Relativity
  • Explore Lorentz transformations and their applications in different inertial frames
  • Investigate the concept of black holes and their effects on time perception
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, students of theoretical physics, and anyone interested in the implications of Special Relativity and the nature of time and space.

  • #61
Tachyons are theoretical particles or waves that travel faster than the speed of light. Tachyons exist in a theoretical world where objects have negative mass. Negative mass is most easily define as a volume of negative density; i.e. -mass = volume * -density. Ergo negative mass density. This is preferable to calculations using invariant mass that involve the square root of a negative number, i.e., imaginary.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #62
SJBauer said:
Tachyons are theoretical particles or waves that travel faster than the speed of light. Tachyons exist in a theoretical world where objects have negative mass. Negative mass is most easily define as a volume of negative density; i.e. -mass = volume * -density. Ergo negative mass density. This is preferable to calculations using invariant mass that involve the square root of a negative number, i.e., imaginary.

Repeating a wrong doesn't make it right. There is no accepted definition of mass or energy for tachyons that comes out negative. Total energy and KE for a tachyon are positive. Mass (rest, invariant) is imaginary. Please do not repeat again a false statement.
 

Similar threads

Undergrad A question about the speed of light and electromagnetism
  • · Replies 51 ·
2
Replies
51
Views
4K
High School Let me ask a thing about the Speed of Light
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
High School Can Curved Spacetime Enable Faster-Than-Light Travel?
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
4K
High School Would We See the Same Light After Traveling Back to Earth Faster Than Light?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Undergrad Is there really nothing faster than light?
  • · Replies 40 ·
2
Replies
40
Views
5K
High School c^2 in Einstein‘s theory of relativity
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
High School Why is it impossible to go faster than the speed of light?
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
4K
High School Faster than speed of light due to time dilation?
  • · Replies 27 ·
Replies
27
Views
4K
Undergrad Light clock running faster than light?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K
Undergrad Why do we still say “the speed of light” instead of “c”?
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
2K