Will we ever be able to travel faster then the speed of light?

To put the answer to your question simply, the Theory of Relativity explains that "the speed of light" is the ultimate cosmic speed limit. In other words, it says that nothing can travel faster than the speed at which light travels. However, with the use of an anti-matter reactor, enough energy could be created to warp the fabric of space, and overcome the forces of gravity and inertia. The problem is, that anti matter is very hard to get. It is actually very abundant on a universal scale, but the problem lyes in the lack of ability to capture and store the anti matter. Humans have actually been manufacturing this anti matter since sometime in the 1970's (I think thats when).
If you have ever heard of a device called a particle accelerator, then you are familiar with the device that humans use to create anti matter. This particle accelerator is basically a giant magnetic tube, joined at its ends to make a ring. there are two or three of these particle accelerators on earth, including the newest one, which is seven miles in circumference. Since humans have been harvesting anti matter, we have only been able to produce about one-seven trillionth of a gram, which is no where near enough to produce the amount of energy needed to fuel a craft that would be able to travel beyond the speed of light.

Gee I hope so, otherwise there is zero possiblity of either aliens visiting us or us going to another solar system.

I think scientists can accelerate some atoms so much that go near the speed of light.. but think that speed of light is like a barrier.. it is the biggest speed on the universe.. it is estimated around 300.000.000 meters per second

We as in humans right? Well that will never happen because our body cannot withstand such forces if we travel at such high speeds. Our state of matter would have to change, twisting particles such as atoms that make up the human body. Just to let you know the speed of light is approximately 670,616,629 mph courtesy of google.com.

I'm just an average Joe and know very little on the subject; however, can anyone tell me if there has been any speculation of something that might already be traveling faster than c?

We can't see infrared but we know its there....nor can we see X-ray or ultraviolet but they exists nevertheless.

Is there the possibility of something...anything.... already moving at such incredulous speeds that it is already hopping around the universe as easy as a bee goes from flower to flower?

We're so young in regards to time and knowledge; if something was covering galactic distances in nanoseconds, we wouldn't know it if it sat on our lap and called us Mama!

This is entirely gibberish but an interesting point-of-view on the subject. Think about this; we move on a 3-dimensional plane, however if we existed on a 2-dimensional plane but could still move in terms of the 3-dimensional one, we could theoretically jump out of existence and then back into it at another part on the plane. Basically rather than breaking the speed of light or even accelerating some mass at c we could just break our dimensional bonds go into the fourth dimension then jump back in somewhere else. Simply jump into the "time" plane then come back in which would ultimately break the barrier of velocity (distance/time). Stupid I know but still an interesting take.

With our current understanding of Physics it is impossible due to the Theory of Relativity. However it took 200 years to prove that Newton's Law were not always true, so I believe that some time in a future we will discover a hole in the Theory of Relativity that may allow for faster than light travel.

I won't cut out the possibility of travelling faster than the speed of light but do I think that we will find a way: highly unlikely.

Probably.

We once thought we would disintegrate if we went faster than a running horse. The sound barrier was impregnable.

Now, the bar has been raised considerably and I have faith that someday we will realize that we are currently wrong and it IS possible to exceed c.

Yes.One day we will.

the only way is to bend space, therfore bringing the 2 points of where you are and where you want to go together.
this is warp.
not speed!!
basically you are travelling without moving.
i believe some theories do exist that suggest warping is possible with the correct power and generating a stable warp field.
sounds a bit trekkish but the producers of the show consult nasa's finest minds before introducing it into programmes, actually achieving light speed will need some sort of energy field projected in front to protectt he puny human insdie.

corky19

There are 3 reasons why it is impossible to travel at light speed or faster

1. as an objects velocity increase, its mass increases exponentially meaning that if you were travailing close to light speed your craft and yourself with it would be crushed under its own weight and most lightly bend the fabric of space creating a black hole.

2. as an objects velocity increases its energy requirements increase exponentially meaning if you was travelling say 60% of light speed and using for example 10000 Mega Watts to the power of 8 to do this, and you increases speed to 61% of light speed you would require 10000 Mega Watts to the power of 9. it would take more energy that the sun to propel a small craft close to light speed, and although it is technically be possible to travel at 99.9% of light speed C, it would require infinite energy to travel at 100% of C.

3. time slows down as you approach light speed relative to an observer who is not travelling at high velocity meaning for every second on your space ship travelling close to light speed years will have passed to everyone else in the universe; the correlation between time of speed would mean that if you were travelling 99% of light speed the universe around you would age eons in a single moment on your space ship and if you were able to travel at light speed time would effective stop.

These are the reasons why light speed travel is impossible according to known physics and my limited understanding of it; but all this considered even if we could travel at light speed it is pretty useless in terms of interstellar travel, it would still take a life time to travel to the nearest star and back, it would still be impossible to explore the galaxy or any of the other billions of galaxies out there.

However; if we can’t break the laws of physics we may be able to cheat them. We may be able to manipulate the fabric of space and create hyper drives that would allow us to travel effectively much faster than light. Space is a fabric and it is pliable we observe this when light bends around stellar bodies such as red giants or anything with sufficient gravity. If we can create a gravity field strong enough to squash and stretch space then we can easily travel across millions of light years.

If Humans can theorise ways to do this using known physics then why wouldn’t an alien civilisation be able to do so already. There are billions of planets in the Milky Way; there are approximately 54 galaxies in the local cluster, and billions of known galaxies in the universe within the light horizon of earth. There is a few trillion earth light planets out there; at least a few must have life; it took eons for intelligent life to evolve on earth; so if life evolved out there even a few hundred years maybe a few thousand years before us then just think how advanced they could be. Faster than light travel? It’s already been done, just not on Earth yet!

Technically, no. It's not possible. But I'm sure there are loopholes that will allow the equivalent. Space is very malleable that way.

Inevitably. As our understanding of physics improves, we will figure out how to do so. Already, Einstein's Theory of Relativity (which sets lightspeed as the "universal speed limit") has had a few holes punched in it.

supposedly, time would stop, and the universe would end....but then again that's what they thought about the sound barrier.....

No we will never be able to.

You? No.

No, I do not think it will be possible for us to ever go the speed of light do to its nature, although by shrinking space ahead of self will alter the properties of that space making for faster travel even faster then light but it is not exactly speed, its warp, if a ship had a spacial clapser and some kind of non anti grav engines they would not need those engines to move because the movement of the ship is due to an imbalance in space like how if you are on a trampoline and someone is standing next to you you will tip tord them because the imbalance, there are 3 ways of travel i know of and only one is movement (basicmovement, warp, trans) now transporting is easy to explain why it is not speed, you simply are bending space that you can punch a hole though 2 points asif they were in contact (witch they would temp. be) but warp is like making space need you to be a few feet ahead of yourself constantly. i hope you understand and thank you for the question, it got me thinking of stuff, and sorry for the bad grammer, its late and i feel lazy

The problem with the traveling faster than light is that it's impossible to ACCELERATE to the speed of light. When one accelerates one takes on additional mass which then takes more energy to accelerate faster which gives you even more mass. And so it would end up taking an infinite amount of energy to accelerate to the speed of light, which would then cause you to have infinite mass (and in my opinion that would suck horribly)

So the trick to being able to go as fast or faster than light is to be able to do it without accelerating to it. And if you could figure out how to go from 0 to the speed of light instintaneously without causing catastrophic g forces then you're set.

very quickly - LOL sorry , couldnt resist

Eventually we will, but not in our lifetime or our kids, but maybe our kids kids. It would be deadly to our bodies to go from 0 to the speed of light, however we can accelerate in a timely matter, and quicker than we would be able to do it on earth because with no gravity the body can endure more stress like G force. The only other solution would to create a ship that can adjust its gravity matter, so that when it accelerates the force of gravity would adjust to the front balancing the g force on the body. We can handle the speed as humans however its rate of acceleration thats plays a factor.
Think about what has been invented within the last 100 years, really with engines, with fuel supplies getting low we will adjust to new technology etc coal, gas, hydrogen.....what next???

Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.

Yes, if we can perfect the Heim drive we could travel to another galaxy in about a months time! A trip to Mars would only take an hour! The Germans were working on this approach in the forties! Imagine what they've done since then!

According to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, mass turns to energy at the speed of light. Has anyone ever tested this theory by doing so? No.

Yes through a mixture of Physics and Engineering.