Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
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Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
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Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#2Wow, this is the first time I have understood why nothing can go faster than the speed of light and why time dilation is a thing.
A very easy to read article, give it a try.
Also if you are curious why a moving charge creates a magnetic field watch this Veritasium video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TKSfAkWWN0
Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#3The simplest way I could ever wrap my head around this, is to understand that everything travels through spacetime at the same speed. There is no travelling faster or slower, just crossing the graph at a different angle.
Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#4The simplest way I could ever wrap my head around this, is to understand that everything travels through spacetime at the same speed. There is no travelling faster or slower, just crossing the graph at a different angle.
Right, this is like the 2d projection of it which makes it easier for our 3-space brains to comprehend.
Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#5The simplest way I could ever wrap my head around this, is to understand that everything travels through spacetime at the same speed. There is no travelling faster or slower, just crossing the graph at a different angle.
Hm, but if I can make my angle orthogonal to the time axis, isn’t that like instantaneous movement?
Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#6The simplest way I could ever wrap my head around this, is to understand that everything travels through spacetime at the same speed. There is no travelling faster or slower, just crossing the graph at a different angle.
Hm, but if I can make my angle orthogonal to the time axis, isn’t that like instantaneous movement?
Yes, which is why a photon experiences zero proper time.
Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#7The simplest way I could ever wrap my head around this, is to understand that everything travels through spacetime at the same speed. There is no travelling faster or slower, just crossing the graph at a different angle.
Hm, but if I can make my angle orthogonal to the time axis, isn’t that like instantaneous movement?
That's correct. As you approach the speed of light, the elapsed time in your frame of reference approaches zero.
Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#8The simplest way I could ever wrap my head around this, is to understand that everything travels through spacetime at the same speed. There is no travelling faster or slower, just crossing the graph at a different angle.
Hm, but if I can make my angle orthogonal to the time axis, isn’t that like instantaneous movement?
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Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#9The simplest way I could ever wrap my head around this, is to understand that everything travels through spacetime at the same speed. There is no travelling faster or slower, just crossing the graph at a different angle.
Hm, but if I can make my angle orthogonal to the time axis, isn’t that like instantaneous movement?
If you could move in space but not in time, then you would be in two places at the same time which would violate conservation of matter, right?
Re: Why can’t I go faster than the speed of light?
#10The simplest way I could ever wrap my head around this, is to understand that everything travels through spacetime at the same speed. There is no travelling faster or slower, just crossing the graph at a different angle.
Hm, but if I can make my angle orthogonal to the time axis, isn’t that like instantaneous movement?
Exactly. At one end of the scale, you're not travelling through space (or practically-zero on a relativistic scale), and you're experiencing the full affects of time.
At the other end of the scale, you're travelling through space (or practically-C on a relativistic scale), and you're not experiencing time.
So the whole theory of zipping around space and coming home to find you've barely aged, is just spending more time at a higher "angle" than everyone else.