why is faster than light travel impossible?

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I’m wondering if interstellar travel is possible. So I guess the starting point is figuring out FTL travel.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The speed limit of the universe is causality, not light. In other words, the “speed of light” is the maximum speed that Event A can impact Event B. For example: if the sun suddenly stops existing, it would take 8.3 minutes for Earth to notice in terms of things like gravity and light. The event has to propagate through time and space, and the maximum speed at which it can do this is 299,792,458 metres per second, aka the “speed of light”.

Photons (light) aren’t restricted by mass, so they will zip around at the maximum speed of causality.

Since the “speed of light” is the maximum speed an event can propagate through time and space, you can’t travel between the sun and the Earth in less than 8.3 minutes, because that means you would arrive before causality catches up.

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