-1

  1. I wanted to ask if higher speed than the speed of light will be discovered, will scientists be able to adjust the special relativity to the new situation?

  2. I read that informations transmitted faster then the speed of light, but According to special relativity, $c$ is the maximum speed at which all matter and information in the universe can travel. Is there a contradiction here?

  3. How the fact that the speed of light is the maximum speed for all matter, affects special relativity?

Qmechanic
  • 220,844
Michael
  • 417

1 Answers1

4

if higher speed than the speed of light will be discovered, will scientists be able to adjust the special relativity to the new situation?

I suppose so. Science has encountered paradigm-shifting discoveries many times, and has always come up with new ways to describe reality. If this does happen, it could be an adjustment to special relativity, or called something else entirely. Since it hasn't happened yet, we can't know.

I read that informations transmitted faster then the speed of light, but According to special relativity, c is the maximum speed at which all matter and information in the universe can travel. Is there a contradiction here?

I don't know where you read that, but faster than light communication would be a huge discovery, and certainly would contradict a large body of currently accepted science. I'm not saying that can't happen. I'm just saying it would be a big deal, which in older times, would probably get you murdered by the pope. Today, probably just a Nobel prize.

I know of two things which could be misinterpreted as faster-than-light information: quantum teleportation and anomalous dispersion. Neither has been demonstrated to actually allow faster-than-light communication, though.

How the fact that the speed of light is the maximum speed for all matter, affects special relativity?

Special relativity is all about making that true. Here's a simple problem: you are in a spaceship travelling at 80% of the speed of light, and you turn on your headlights. What happens?

What happens if there's another spaceship travelling in the opposite direction, also traveling at relativistic speeds? How do they not see the light from your headlights zooming past at several times the speed of light?

Special relativity is what makes all of this consistent with a constant speed of light, for all observers.

Phil Frost
  • 4,241