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Want to read more? Register to unlock all the content on the site. However, this equation works only when an object is stationary or has zero velocity. When an object is moving the right equation to use would be E equals gamma mc squared, where the term gamma has a velocity inside it. This is a transcript from the video series Understanding the Misconceptions of Science.
Watch it now, Wondrium. The concept of spacetime is a little tricky or, should we say, there are misconceptions around it. The concept of space is real, can be defined, and it is possible to identify a unique point in space. For example, you can move around in any direction or you can drive to work and come back home. But, time is different; it flows or moves constantly in one direction only and is unstoppable.
It is a mental construct where you can only think of past or future events but cannot actually go there. Going by this reasoning, it may seem that space and time are very different things, but in reality this could be a hasty conclusion.
Technically, Lorentz transforms prove that space and time cannot be disentangled as the equations just mix them up using the two points of view of the primed and the unprimed observer. Yet, there is no issue in accepting that they are all components of the directions in the map. The other crucial point to remember is that the only speed in spacetime is the speed of light. Learn more about untangling how Quantum Mechanics works.
Spacetime is a crucial concept to answer why objects cannot move faster than light. Let us use co-ordinate geometry to mark an arrow for velocity with end of the arrow at the origin.
A reference frame with zero width and with no progression in time is really a reference frame that does not exist. Therefore, this tells us that nothing can ever go faster than the speed of light, for the simple reason that space and time do not actually exist beyond this point.
Because the concept of "speed" requires measuring a certain amount of distance traveled in space during a certain period of time, the concept of speed does not even physically exist beyond the speed of light. In fact, the phrase "faster than light" is physically meaningless. It's like saying "darker than black.
You might say that maybe Einstein's theories of relativity are wrong. However, there is so much evidence now supporting relativity that, if it is wrong, it will have to be wrong in a small way that does not change these basic principles.
The restriction that nothing can travel faster than light is not as limiting as it seems.
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