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Is it possible to travel faster than the speed of light?


Question asked by: knowitall
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Not according to the current accepted model of physics, no. Just to accelerate an object to the speed of light would require an infinite amount of energy, so clearly it would not be possible to reach speeds above this.

It should be noted however that this model will probably change. People have some postulated the tachyon, so beloved of Star Trek fans, which travels faster than light. There is also an interesting problem of quantum physics which has been conveniently swept under the carpet, namely that two sub-atomic particles at great distances seem to be able to communicate at great distances.

Specifically, if you change the property called spin of one of these particles, its partner instantly swaps to reflect this. This seems to happen instantly and therefore the two particles must be able to communicate at greater than light speed. It is currently marked down as a 'mystery'!

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