Quenby reads a story about a starship that outruns its own light beam. Could anything really do that?
No. The speed of light is not just a speed; nothing has ever beaten it.
Nothing travels faster than light in a vacuum.
No spacecraft has ever been observed traveling faster than 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s.
No particle has ever been observed traveling faster than that speed, even in the most powerful accelerators.
No signal of any kind has ever been observed traveling faster than that speed.
Accelerators give particles more and more energy; the particles get ever closer to the speed of light and never pass it.
A website claims a new particle was clocked at 5.0 × 10⁸ m/s. Judge the claim.
The speed of light in a vacuum is 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s.
The claimed speed, 5.0 × 10⁸ m/s, is greater than 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s.
Nothing has ever been observed traveling faster than light.
The claim cannot be right.
Could any spacecraft, given enough fuel, outrun the light from its own headlamp?
The headlamp's light travels at 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s through the vacuum.
Nothing has ever been observed traveling faster than light.
No. However much fuel it burns, the spacecraft stays slower than its own light.
Tove says: 'Nothing has ever been observed traveling faster than light moves through a vacuum.' Is Tove correct?
A news story says engineers built a transmitter whose signal crosses space faster than light. What does physics say about the story?
An accelerator gives a proton more and more energy. What happens to the proton's speed?
Which statement is true?
A flash of light and an experimental particle leave the same bench at the same moment and race through a vacuum chamber toward a detector. Which statement is true?
Four reported speeds are listed. Which report must be wrong?