Will humans ever achieve light speed?

[woodsman]

of course not - we'll be lucky to be alive ( our species) in 40 years

[jdlmodelt]

So, to mess things up a lot, we are all taught that the speed of light is a constant. Look it up. It is changing, very slowly it is slowing down. Some theorize that it is a at the bottom end of a plot that would suggest that the speed of light was exponentially faster in the past, when you incorporate this into the equation, things get pretty strange to say the least. If the speed of light as considerably faster in the past than it is now, how much have the constellations changed over the millennium? Now, about us travelling at the speed of light or faster...isn't it pompous for us to assume that we got it all right the first time? Quantum physics wasn't a part of the equation all that long ago. We learn more about science and we learn that we don't know as much as we thought we did. That's a given.

[Jamesp]

All y'alls are looking at it all wrong. If I could step from my living room into yours with one step, how fast would I be going? Answer? Walking speed. Google JSC warp engine.

[jb92563]

Originally Posted by woodsman

of course not - we'll be lucky to be alive ( our species) in 40 years

I second this opinion.

I think that depletion of natural resouces and over population will intersect in 200 years.

We will have our hands full with just trying to survive then, which inevitabilly will lead to wars over dwindling resouces, civil unrest and anarchy in the broad populations, collapse of governments etc

Besides I think Obama already canceled that reseach project.

Traveling at the speed of light is not nearly as problematic as navigating faster than the speed of light to avoid hitting things that you can not see because the light indicating their presence has not reached you yet.

[Timco]

Originally Posted by jb92563

I second this opinion.

I think that depletion of natural resouces and over population will intersect in 200 years.

We will have our hands full with just trying to survive then, which inevitabilly will lead to wars over dwindling resouces, civil unrest and anarchy in the broad populations, collapse of governments etc

Besides I think Obama already canceled that reseach project.

Traveling at the speed of light is not nearly as problematic as navigating faster than the speed of light to avoid hitting things that you can not see because the light indicating their presence has not reached you yet.

You just need the right tires......

[Daniel R]

I am in the JFP and Particle camp, impossible to reach the speed of light.

In terms of traversing great distances however, I believe that in the future we will learn how to use gravity, possibly simulated gravity even, to manipulate space-time. This would effectively make distant places "come to us" if you will, rather than us traveling to them. Better still, nothing about this violates any natural law that we know... yet.

[san rensho]

There once was a man named Bright
Who could travel faster than light
He set out one day
In a relative way
And came back the previous night.

[Timco]

Maybe ludacris speed is more doable?

[jdlmodelt]

we will come to a day when we will realize that we can somehow combine with light and discover travel at the speed of light.

[Bigsmoothlee]

Originally Posted by jb92563

I second this opinion.

I think that depletion of natural resouces and over population will intersect in 200 years.

We will have our hands full with just trying to survive then, which inevitabilly will lead to wars over dwindling resouces, civil unrest and anarchy in the broad populations, collapse of governments etc

Besides I think Obama already canceled that reseach project.

Traveling at the speed of light is not nearly as problematic as navigating faster than the speed of light to avoid hitting things that you can not see because the light indicating their presence has not reached you yet.

Yes, agreed on the resource depletion vs population increase.

Obama is an idiot that only serves to make corporations more money. I regret voting for him more than I did Bush.

You would think its a problem to avoid objects, but time is slowed. Steven Hawkings theorized that at the speed of light, we may be able to reach the edge of the universe in 8 years on a vessel traveling 99% the speed of light, while millions or billions of years would go by in the universe.

Time is relative to mass and speed. Mass slows time, for example our GPS satellites run a billionth of a second faster than here on earth and have to be compensated for.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Bigsmoothlee

Time is relative to mass and speed. Mass slows time, for example our GPS satellites run a billionth of a second faster than here on earth and have to be compensated for.

And meanwhile we have to compensate for the Earth’s rotation slowing down (on-average) approximately 252 milliseconds a year. Ever heard of a Leap Second? I was on a national committee that was asked about leap seconds and how it would impact our systems. I said, “How about waiting 120 years and do a leap minute?” back then everyone laughed but they are not laughing now. After doing 25 Leap Seconds over the past 40 years, and causing significant pain on some complex systems recently, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service might be coming to their senses and have held-off doing any more Leap Seconds (for now).

So eventually the Earth will stop rotating, what will time be then? And to think this will happen way before the sun decides to expand 250 times.
Leap second - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gravity… What the heck is it? Why does it change space-time and light?

One program I supported a few years ago:
NASA - Gravity Probe B: The Relativity Mission

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

I'm not a Rocket Scientist but I am a Rocket Rider.

I have never conceded to the theory that nothing can go faster than the speed of light. I will concede to nothing known in nature can exceed the speed of light, but the S-O-L is just a number. Long ago the top scientists of the day believed a man could not go faster that 60 MPH without dying. And there are many more examples of what WAS that is no more. Who can say what science will discover in the future.

[jb92563]

The power for reaching the speed of light need not be that great.

A solar sail could accelerate a craft to near light speed as the pressure of light pushed against the sail. Its just that the acceleration is so small that it would take a very long time to reach near light speed.

So although I don't think our race will get to develop light speed travel for many 100's of years if we can survive that long, I do think that it is possible.

I don't understand why TIME slows or reverses when you reach or exceed light speed.

The amount of time that passes remains constant right?

If the light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach you, it does not change the fact that 8 minutes have passed.

Am I missing something?

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by jb92563

The power for reaching the speed of light need not be that great.

A solar sail could accelerate a craft to near light speed as the pressure of light pushed against the sail. Its just that the acceleration is so small that it would take a very long time to reach near light speed.

So although I don't think our race will get to develop light speed travel for many 100's of years if we can survive that long, I do think that it is possible.

I don't understand why TIME slows or reverses when you reach or exceed light speed.

The amount of time that passes remains constant right?

If the light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach you, it does not change the fact that 8 minutes have passed.

Am I missing something?

Time slows due to the mass increase of the object accelerating towards that speed, which is also why the amount of energy required to continue acceleration also rises. Time slows as mass increases due the mass distortion of the space/time continuum. As you asymptotically approach the speed of light, the object mass becomes infinite (and time within it stops relative to other locations, as it would inside a black hole for the same reason), and the energy demand to continue acceleration also becomes infinite.

[Mark_T]

Originally Posted by jb92563

I don't understand why TIME slows or reverses when you reach or exceed light speed.

The amount of time that passes remains constant right?

If the light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach you, it does not change the fact that 8 minutes have passed.

Am I missing something?

Stephen Hawkings' book, A Brief History of Time, explains all of this in terms the average non-physicist can easily understand. Everyone should read this book at least twice.