Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sbcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!philabs!sbcs!debray From: debray@sbcs.UUCP (Saumya Debray) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: (Re:)* Faster than Light Message-ID: <117@sbcs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 6-Dec-84 10:58:41 EST Article-I.D.: sbcs.117 Posted: Thu Dec 6 10:58:41 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 13-Dec-84 01:35:00 EST References: <327@mhuxt.UUCP> <8130@watarts.UUCP> <333@mhuxt.UUCP>, <2460@ihuxf.UUCP> <69@unc.UUCP> Organization: Computer Science Dept, SUNY@Stony Brook Lines: 22 I'm not sure if this has been pointed out already, but strictly speaking it's not the "speed of light" that can't be exceeded, but rather the "speed of light in vacuo". It's possible for particles to exceed the speed of light in other media, and this gives rise to a phenomenon called Cerenkov Radiation. If I recall correctly, Einstein's equations say that the speed of light represents a barrier that cannot be _crossed_, i.e. it isn't possible to accelerate an object from a velocity below c to one above c (this isn't my area of expertise, so maybe someone can correct me if I'm mistaken). It doesn't rule out the possibility that something might start off travelling faster than light -- of course, such a "something" would never be able to decelerate below the speed of light. These would be detectable by the Cerenkov radiation they'd emit in a vacuum. I think they were called tachyons, and there were some attempts some years back to try to detect them ... anyone know what happened? -- Saumya Debray SUNY at Stony Brook uucp: {allegra, hocsd, philabs, ogcvax} !sbcs!debray CSNet: debray@sbcs