Why does everyone assume that Light is the ultimate limit on how fast we can go?

Question

Just because we don't know of anything faster than light doesn't mean that light speed is the limit. Many scientist asume that for something (like light in a flash light) to go faster that light it would have to start before the beam started. That doesn't even make sence. Speed is like numbers. There is no limit. Unless someone can show me differently. If anyone can prove or disprove what I have said please post a web site or a book that I can look at. Thank You.

Answer 1

oh boy are you ignorant. it has been mathematically proven that nothing can go faster than light. it is not an assumption, and it is not because we have not observed anything faster. go read a book.

Answer 2

I agree that although it is a theory, it does not make it a fact, however the best theory is the one with the least assumptions. From what i know the reason that the 'speed of light' is the fastest possible speed, is because that is the speed that particles with zero rest mass travel at. And as far as we know, there are no particles with negative rest mass, therefore it is impossible to exceed that speed.

However, it is the thinking of people like you that leads to new discoveries, people who takes things for granted don't generally learn much new stuff.

There are hypothetical particles, known as tachyons, that are able to travel faster than the speed of light. Here's the link if you want to read up on them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachyon

Answer 3

Take an introductory physics class and try again.

Answer 4

Check out Einstein's Theory of Relativity.  That's what most Scientists believe.  They haven't been able to refute the theory, yet, and therefore assume it's true.

Answer 5

We can't prove or disprove that the speed of light is the absolute limit. But since light is pure energy, it is most likely the fastest form of energy in the universe.

Answer 6

u are abulutly right... light is not the fastest u can go...if u ever went faster its called time travil...to exied that speed u must be going about 100,000,000,000 miles per second

Answer 7

You seem to have no idea of the scientific method.  Yes, the Theory of Relativity is a theory.  But it is the only theory which answers almost all the questions, and it has been used to predict things which were later tested and observed as true.  That is the best test of a theory.  So in a lot of the details, it has been proved, in fact.

Basically, if you choose to think the speed of light is not the limit, that's your choice.  But in order to reasonably discuss that, you'd have to present some alternate theory which explains the universe at least as well as Einstein, without having the c limit.  Since you haven't, there is no reason for us to even discuss the possibility, since speculation without limit is pointless.

Answer 8

They say particles called tachyons can travel faster than the speed of light.

Who's the little kid that gave me a thumbs down? Please get off your momma's computer.

Answer 9

It is not an "assumption." It is part of the theory of Relativity, meaning that it is a necessary logical conclusion of the postulates of Relativity. In this case, it is an immediate conclusion of the observed fact that the speed of light is a constant in all reference frames.

Suppose someone flashes that flashlight past you. You want to catch up to the light beam, so you start running after it. No matter how fast you run, however, the light beam recedes from you at the speed of light, c, because the speed of light is c to all observers, including you. So no matter how fast you run, you are always slower than the light beam. Since the light beam is always receding from you in your reference frame, it is always receding from you in any reference frame. The light beam travels at c in all reference frames, and therefore (since it is receding from you), your speed is less than c in all reference frames.

Speed is not "like numbers." It turns out that there is a limit, and c is it.  If you want a book, David Mermin's "Space Time and Relativity" is a good place to start.

EDIT: I see that this answer is wasted on you, as you are indeed the ignorant slob answerer #1 takes you for. Forgive me for assuming that you could follow an argument, or perhaps that you might understand the scientific method, in which an accepted theory is the absolute highest point that any idea can achieve.