Will humans ever achieve light speed?

[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.