RE: Why Can't Anything Travel Faster than Light?
December 13, 2016 at 3:42 pm
(This post was last modified: December 13, 2016 at 3:43 pm by Alex K.)
(December 13, 2016 at 2:30 pm)Rhondazvous Wrote:So, yes in a sense taking the limit of v=c as an observer is not a mathematically consistent thing to do and you encounter things like 0*infinity that by themselves aren't meaningful. But you also have to be careful how you define the velocity v - the velocity of photons being c is measured in the time frame of the observer, not of the photon.(December 13, 2016 at 7:45 am)Alex K Wrote: Basically, yeah. The abovementioned fact that the speed of light is always the same has as a direct consequence that your time would have to stand still if you're going at the speed of light.
Doesn't that create a paradox or at least an infinite loop? If time stands still at c then v = 0. which means m is not traveling at c so time doesn't stand still meaning that m is traveling at c where time stands still and v = 0, ad infinitum.
Every object is at rest from its own perspective, and to square that with lightspeed always being c leads to the extreme ( and not quite mathematically consistent ) limiting case of time stopping. Then from the photons perspective, it doesn't move but also no time passes, so the speed is 0/0. This tells you that the vantage point of the photon isn't really a mathematically valid reference frame.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition