How can nothing be faster than light when speed is only relative?

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You always hear this phrase if you watch something about astrophysics ‘Nothing can move faster than light’. But speed is only relative. How can this be true if speed can only be experienced/measured relative to something else?

In: Physics

14 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The speed of light is constant relative to everything. What Newton – and later, Einstein – showed was that there is no underlying reference frame; all motion is relative. Light differs only in that everyone perceives light to have the same relative speed; 299,792,458m/s in a vacuum.

The speed of light is also constant, in that it doesn’t accelerate by adding velocity but instead instantly starts traveling at it’s maximum speed.

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