Faster that light speed... Impossible?

[Guest]

I know it is meant to be impossible....(oops, forgot the im!) I just started doing a 4 year Physics degree at Warwick but I had a crazy idea...

Sound Waves... travel at 300 metres per second.

Light (Photons if you like) travels at 300000000 metres per second.

However, Sound waves require a medium to move. They travel 300ms-1 in air, however if you were to double the density in which they were travelling, they would travel twice as fast. In water, sound waves travel 7 times faster than in air.

Anyway, If it were possible to create a VERY dense object, would it be possible to accelerate soundwaves faster than light? The object would not need to be INFINITELY dense (as light travels at a finite speed, c.), however it would need to be INCREDIBLE dense.

If it were possible to make a solid this dense, would my theory be correct?

Edited September 28, 2005 by Guest

[episode]

Faster than light = infinite mass = impossible

[sachleen]

Faster than light = infinite mass = impossible

586590384[/snapback]

That is at speed of light. It doesnt happen when its faster.

[Guest]

Faster than light = infinite mass = impossible

Sound Waves do not have a mass, therefore there would be no mass defect.

[1WayJonny]

Not sure but all i can say is intresting thought....

[devn00b]

Faster than light = infinite mass = impossible

586590384[/snapback]

100% correct.

[vincent]

Well light travels @ an approximate speed of 300,000,000 miles per second. So the object would have to be very dense.

[no-sweat]

im pretty sure if it was possible someone would have figured it out by now :D

[betasp]

Better option, create a large gravity well and bend space. Then just walk right through.

[ahhell]

I've worked with people that are that dense.

[Cast Iron Leader]

Light exists as a particle and as a wave.

Sound exists as a wave... the bitch is that God never thought of creating shops that sell particles of sound so the answer is a great big fat (dense) NO.

[Mike]

sorta off topic, but what happens when someone runs with a torch?

[.Neo]

There was a time that humanity was convinced that it would be impossible to travel at the speed of sound or faster. They were proven wrong.

Fact is that we don't know for sure if it's impossible to go faster than light, Einstein could be entirely wrong. We just don't have the required technological knowledge but someday we probably will.

[Nexus]

Anyway, If it were possible to create a VERY dense object, would it be possible to accelerate soundwaves faster than light? The object would not need to be INFINITELY dense (as light travels at a finite speed, c.), however it would need to be INCREDIBLE dense.

If it were possible to make a solid this dense, would my theory be correct?

586590379[/snapback]

It would have to be incredibly dense like diamonds, but theoretically yes it would be possible. The problem is testing this theory.

[khaos34]

Well light travels  @ an approximate speed of 300,000,000 miles per second. So the object would have to be very dense.

586590393[/snapback]

Don't you mean 186,000 miles per second?

[+Peewee210 Subscriber¹]

Speed of Light = 3 x 108 = M/s

It would Need to Be Very Very Dense!

[Angel Blue01]

sorta off topic, but what happens when someone runs with a torch?

586590438[/snapback]

nothing. Light moves so fast that you have no influence on the speed of light from the lamp.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

im pretty sure if it was possible someone would have figured it out by now :D

586590411[/snapback]

Wonder how many times that's been said through the ages...

[Dougeh]

sorta off topic, but what happens when someone runs with a torch?

Back in the day it either blew out, or burnt their eyebrows off, with modern technology it is now possible!

[.Neo]

Don't you mean 186,000 miles per second?

586590444[/snapback]

lol yeah, it's 300.000 km p/h.

[Mike]

lol yeah, it's 300.000 km p/h.

586590481[/snapback]

that'd be seconds not hours ;)

[dreamz Veteran]

moved here

[BigDaddy5]

I know it is meant to be impossible....(oops, forgot the im!) I just started doing a 4 year Physics degree at Warwick but I had a crazy idea...

Sound Waves... travel at 300 metres per second.

Light (Photons if you like) travels at 300000000 metres per second.

However, Sound waves require a medium to move. They travel 300ms-1 in air, however if you were to double the density in which they were travelling, they would travel twice as fast. In water, sound waves travel 7 times faster than in air.

Anyway, If it were possible to create a VERY dense object, would it be possible to accelerate soundwaves faster than light? The object would not need to be INFINITELY dense (as light travels at a finite speed, c.), however it would need to be INCREDIBLE dense.

If it were possible to make a solid this dense, would my theory be correct?

586590379[/snapback]

First, congrats on choosing physics. I'm finishing up my degree this year in that major, it's quite interesting. I'm taking a course in Relativity this term, so that'll be interesting.

However, in regards to traveling faster then the speed of light, it is physically possible

ref: http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae219.cfm

As for your original question, based on mechanical physics, not what some universities call "modern" physics (taking into account all the issues with traveling at high velocities), the speed of sound =

v = (Beta/p)^1/2

V = velocity

Beta = bulk modulus of elasiticy

p (rho) - density

Basically, it's the (density / the measure of how much the substance sound is traveling in could be compacted for the given pressure) ^ (1/2)

Edited September 28, 2005 by BigDaddy5

[redFX]

I have a theory that light can travel faster then its standard speed. What if light was heading towards a black hole? The speed of light would increase because of the extreme pull

[retri]

The X-rays from the black holes (the most dense objects in the universe) travels more faster than the light