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margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #E3A857; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:white; background-color:#E3A857"><b>The facts of the matter</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Physics" title="Physics"><font size="5" color="white"><b>Physics</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#f0d2a8;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Physics" title="Category:Physics"><img alt="Physicon.png" src="/w/images/thumb/6/67/Physicon.png/100px-Physicon.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/6/67/Physicon.png/150px-Physicon.png 1.5x, /w/images/6/67/Physicon.png 2x" data-file-width="180" data-file-height="180" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:white; background-color:#E3A857; text-align:center;"><b>May the mass times acceleration be with you</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#f0d2a8;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Electromagnetism" title="Electromagnetism">Electromagnetism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quantum_mechanics" title="Quantum mechanics">Quantum mechanics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Relativity" title="Relativity">Relativity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thermodynamics" class="mw-redirect" title="Thermodynamics">Thermodynamics</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; 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text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Physics" title="Template:Physics">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Physics" title="Template talk:Physics">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Physics&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="messagebox mb-brainwatermark mb-warning-orange" style=""> <tbody><tr> <td class="mb-image"><a href="/wiki/File:Warning_icon_orange.svg" class="image"><img alt="Warning icon orange.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/4/4f/Warning_icon_orange.svg/50px-Warning_icon_orange.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" srcset="/w/images/thumb/4/4f/Warning_icon_orange.svg/75px-Warning_icon_orange.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/4/4f/Warning_icon_orange.svg/100px-Warning_icon_orange.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="400" data-file-height="400" /></a> </td> <td class="mb-text"><b>This page contains too many unsourced statements and needs to be improved</b>. <hr /> <p><b>Faster-than-light travel</b> could use some help. Please research the article's assertions. Whatever is credible should be sourced, and what is not should be removed. </p> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b>Faster-than-light travel</b> (often abbreviated to <b>FTL</b>) refers to the purported ability or potential to break the universal speed limit of light. </p> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#How_fast_is_it.2C_Doc.3F"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">How fast is it, Doc?</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Possibility_of_travel_faster_than_the_speed_of_light"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Possibility of travel faster than the speed of light</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#See_also"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="#Notes"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><span id="How_fast_is_it,_Doc?"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="How_fast_is_it.2C_Doc.3F">How fast is it, Doc?</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Faster-than-light_travel&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: How fast is it, Doc?">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>The maximum <a href="/wiki/Speed_of_light" title="Speed of light">speed of light</a> is exactly <b>299,792,458 meters per second</b> (this is possible because the meter is actually defined by the speed of light), but is usually approximated at 3×10<sup>8</sup> meters per second. Although this is the speed of unstructured light in a vacuum and the speed of light is affected by the material through which it passes,<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2">[note 1]</a></sup> the speed of light in a vacuum is the maximum possible speed. </p><p>Some claim that this fundamental constant of the universe can be broken or at least worked around. But the amount of energy it takes to accelerate an object with rest mass rises sharply as <i>c</i> is approached until a discontinuity is reached. It would require infinite energy to cross the final gap. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Possibility_of_travel_faster_than_the_speed_of_light">Possibility of travel faster than the speed of light</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Faster-than-light_travel&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Possibility of travel faster than the speed of light">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>Einstein's <a href="/wiki/Theory_of_relativity" class="mw-redirect" title="Theory of relativity">theory of general relativity</a> does not rule out the existence of shortcuts in <a href="/wiki/Spacetime" title="Spacetime">spacetime</a> called <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wormholes" class="extiw" title="wp:wormholes" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: wormholes">wormholes</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup></b> which could permit the travel of a ship from one part of the <a href="/wiki/Galaxy" title="Galaxy">galaxy</a> to the other, bypassing the intervening interstellar space. An extraordinarily advanced civilization could conceivably construct artificial wormholes connecting a group of <a href="/wiki/Star" title="Star">stars</a> like a subway system. <a href="/wiki/Carl_Sagan" title="Carl Sagan">Carl Sagan</a> described such a network in his novel <i>Contact</i>. However, even using wormholes to bypass the speed of light limit opens up possibilities of making <a href="/wiki/Time_travel" title="Time travel">"go back in time machines"</a> (unless the <a href="/wiki/Science_fiction" title="Science fiction">science fiction</a> author is <i>very</i> careful in restricting how wormholes can be made). </p><p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive" class="extiw" title="wp:Alcubierre drive" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Alcubierre drive">Alcubierre drive</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> is another hypothetical possibility. It requires the existence of negative mass. Even if negative masses exist, it would take as much energy as the sun produces over its entire lifetime just to create an Alcubierre warp field, let alone to make such a field move. However, a means of reducing the mass-energy requirements tremendously was theorized by physicist Harold White in 2012. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Faster-than-light_travel&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Light_speed" class="mw-redirect" title="Light speed">Light speed</a></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Notes">Notes</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Faster-than-light_travel&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Notes">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="font-size:90%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-2">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">For example, some particles can travel faster than light can in water, which causes the radioactive glow known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation" class="extiw" title="wp:Cherenkov radiation" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Cherenkov radiation">Cherenkov radiation</span></a>.<sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Faster-than-light_travel&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2; font-size:80%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/cherenkov-radiation-explained">Cherenkov Radiation, Explained</a>, <i>Office of Nuclear Energy</i> 28 July 2023</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div role="note" class="plainlinks stubtemplate" style="margin:auto; text-align:center; background-color: #f9f9f9; padding: .5em; border: 1px solid #aaa; width: 300px; font-style:italic;">This <a 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