If it spaceship could travel faster than the speed of light

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NewTime
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23 Apr 2017, 8:59 am

If it spaceship could travel faster than the speed of light, would it create a bright flash or "light boom"?



EclecticWarrior
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23 Apr 2017, 11:11 am

That would be pretty darn cool.


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naturalplastic
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23 Apr 2017, 11:51 am

There is a phenom called "Cherenkov light" that is often called "the optical equivalent of a sonic boom".

Water in the cores of nuclear reactors has a wierd blue glow that is cherenkov light.

The speed limit of the universe is the speed of light in a vacuum. But when light enters a medium made of matter (gas, water, glass) it usually gets slowed down (often by as much as 25 percent) below its speed in a vacuum. So in that local medium light can not quite go "the speed of light". And in that local medium subatomic particles can out run light, and produce a cone shaped burst of light (shaped much like a sonic boom) called "Cherenkov light".

Google "Cherenkov light" to get a better explanation. Cant seem to link to it, but a publication called "Symmetry" gives a pretty good explanation for the layperson.

But you're talking about breaking the light barrier in the vacuum of space, not with a subatomic particle, but with a human piloted vehicle.

I dunno. Will hafta to get back to you about that. :D