Can objects move away from us faster than the speed of light?
545641
Yes, sort of.\n\nTake into account first the exisistance and concept of a Black Hole, where not even light can escape.\n\nNext you must conceptualize light particles on a quantum level. Then in order for the pull of black hole to attract light, light being the ultimate speed then we can say on a quantum level there exist enegry that moves faster than light.\n\ni could be wrong.
657426
Well the sad truth is YOU CAN'T...in fact you can't even travel at one times the speed of light. Einstein covered this about 100 years ago. Anything that has mass cannot achieve the speed of light for a couple of different reasons. Trust me on this.
650633
No known force could push you faster than light.  The only exception might be quantum entanglement, but we're nowhere near the technology to use that.  At the speed of light, nothing could catch up to you from behind, but plenty of stuff will hit you from the side or head on.  Just like any propulsion, light propulsion might get you close to but not quite to the speed of light.
15648
There is this wonderful little thing called a "Rest mass", and should something have an imaginary rest mass (i.e. tachyons) its lowest speed possible is the speed of light.  However, this is one wacky hypothetical construct that has no proof nor anything to disprove it.\n\nAlso, the spacetime continuum itself can move faster than the speed of light; it has happened before, less than a second after the big bang.  This wonderful thing called inflation happened, and spacetime grew obscenely fast.  This is also why spacetime is mostly flat.
366136
Not really - As it would travel at the speed of light (or the lack of) - but there would be a delay of a few picoseconds.....
347791
Your example is actually a good one for how we know no one can travel faster than the speed of light.  The people on the boat would measure the same speed for the beam of light as those standing on the shore.\n\nEinstein's theory of special relativity states that, regardless of your motion, light's speed remains constant.  Space and time warp in order to make light's speed constant from all perspectives.  As matter gets closer and closer to the speed of light, space stretches and time contracts, requiring infinite energy to reach the speed of light.  Only things with no mass (i. e. energy only) can travel at the speed of light, and nothing we know of can go faster.\n\nHowever, Einstein's theories do suggest that we could bend space and time to allow us to get around the speed of light.  We can't travel a trillion miles per second, but, with enough energy, we could shift some spot a trillion miles away to right next to us.
1011227
Love to give you specifics, but don't know how.\n\nTheoretically, what you suggest is possible by relativistic theory. There are things called "tachyons" which are these kinds of rays which reverse time - well not "reversing" it, but definitely messing it all around.  Einstein said that nothing could accelerate to faster than speed of light without becoming infinite mass - but "...Einstein said nothing about entities already traveling at that speed or greater..." (Prote in K-Pax).  \n\nSo who knows - is it around the corner for us?  Probably not.  Is it possible?  I love this universe, so I say yes.  Keep surprising me...
53622
Well, its absolutely impossible to travel at or faster then the speed of light, but lets pretend you can so i can actually give you an answer to the question. The speed of light is actually the ultimate speed limit to the universe, nothing can travel faster than light, so although you would expect the light to be going at twice the speed of light (you plus the speed of light)it can't because it is physically impossible for even light to travel faster than the speed of light so it would be going slower than you and not reach any path in front of you. Of course, if you turned on your headlights before you started moving, the light would be one step ahead of you.\n\nOf course, still, nothing can go faster then the speed of light because in the formula for time dialation(time slows down for an object moving close to the speed of light) t'=t/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2) where t' is the time passing for an outside observer, t is the time that passes for the object going at the high velocity, v is velocity, speed is the speed of light and ^2 is squared. (note: this formula is definately correct, it's part of einstein's theory of relativity and I've had to derive it myself for class in the past) so if v was bigger than c, you would have a number greater than one and therefore a negative number under a square root, which is impossible.
61379
MitchHellman has the best answer!\n\nBut just cuz....a tachyon (theroetical particle) cannot travel *slower* than light. An effect called phase velocity (wave mechanics) can also travel faster than light, but these things are not real in our normal sense of the word. But these are some things people do discuss which have this property.\n\nOtherwise.......no.\n\nlol
1170536
I will attempt an answer that is somewhat factual.  \n\nThe theory does not stipulate that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.  It stipulates that matter can not approach the speed of light.  In fact a hypothetical partical called a tachyon has been named that has a speed faster than the speed of light.  That partical has an imaginary mass. \n\nThe entire work comes from the equations developed by Einsten,\n\nE= MC^2/ sq rt (1- c^2/v^2)
566668
No object that has mass can be accelerated to move at the speed of light. If you were somehow moving at 0.99c and then shown a flashlight, the velocity of the photons would not be 1.99c, it would just be c. The speed of light is invariant. The true formula at relativistic speeds is the following:\n\nV = (v+u) / (1 + vu/c²)\n\nWhen the velocites are not relativistic (i.e. throwing a ball out of a moving car) this approximates to V = v+u. So if you are moving toward something that is emitting photons at c, and you yourself are somehow also moving at c, the velocity you observe the photons to be moving is still just c. Try it in the formula: V = (c+c) / (1 + cc/c²) = c\n\nIt can be derived from special relativity or the Lorentz transformations.
911033
No.  Nothing goes faster than the speed of light.
349427
no, anything that travels close to the speed of light becomes more massive as it goes faster, and would actually become infinitely massive at the speed of light. this means it would take an increasing amount of energy just to get close, and an infinite amount to reach that speed. the only reason light can reach that speed is because it is made of photons which have no mass. even a tiny particle like an electron can never actually reach the speed of light.\n\nHowever, faster than light travel may be possible by warping space-time itself, using phenomena like wormholes or even black holes.
355200
Theoretically, there is such a thing. It is called a tachyon, and has the ability to travel at beyond light speed. However, the physics of such a particle are very hard to figure out, because of the sheer mechanics of such a feat. \n\nAnd, as one of the guys above me said, galaxies that are beyond 13 billion miles away from us are travelling away from us at light speed and greater; this is why we cannot see them. The only way we know they're out there is because we think the universe is infinite, and that it is much the same throughout as it is here.
410964
i think its very much possible to travel at the speed of light, its just that we would need an extremely strong processor (like a fax machine) to break down the matter that we are made of into energy (E=MC^2) and then after reaching the destination just convert the energy back into matter. (not possible with the technology we have today)
746381
No, the laws of physics currently prohibit any type of matter from accelerating to light speed, since it would take an infinite amount of energy to do so.
8700
no. well, its absolutely impossible to travel at the speed of light, but lets pretend you can so i can actually give you an answer to the question. The speed of light is actually the ultimate speed limit to the universe, nothing can travel faster than light, so although you would expect the light to be going at twice the speed of light (you plus the speed of light)it can't because it is physically impossible for even light to travel faster than the speed of light so it would be going at the same speed of you and not reach any path in front of you.  Of course, if you turned on your headlights before you started moving, the light would always be one step ahead of you.\n\nbut again, this situation couldn't happen anyway since you can't get to the speed of light, and if you want to know why, look at some of my answers to other questions about time travel (which involves velocity distorting time) and shining flashlights and such.