If we assume we are in a perfect vacuum in space, where there’s no friction or anything to slow us down, at what point would bursts of fuel from thrusters stop increasing our speed? And would they even?
Now, I understand that by einstein, we need infinite energy to accelerate to speed of light, but i cant intuitively see how a rocket wouldnt constantly speed up in a vacuum when given constant bursts of rocket thrust. Im sure im missing something pretty simple here, but nevertheless.
In: 4
Well, there is a top speed in the sense that eventually the rocket will run out of fuel. But if the rocket got more fuel, then no, there’s no maximum speed. Burning more fuel will always make it go faster.
So, why can’t you go faster than the speed of light? Well, it’s complicated, but the short answer is relativity. When you go faster, two things happen: [time slows down](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation) and [lengths in the direction of motion shrink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Length_contraction).
So, while burning more fuel will make you go faster, to an outside observer, the faster you’re going the smaller the acceleration will be.
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