'We have broken speed of light'

Telegraph ^ | 8/16/07 | Nick Fleming

[LibWhacker]

A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.

According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second.

However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.

The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences.

For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.

The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws.

Dr Nimtz told New Scientist magazine: "For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of."

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

Do photons have mass?

No. Photons are Baptists.

[Red Badger]

E=MC^2......

[TommyDale]

[Lee'sGhost]

Explain, please?

Einstein was wrong? Misinterpreted? Lied?

[GunRunner]

"The other day I put instant coffee in my microwave oven ... I almost went back in time ..."
- Steven Wright

I bought some powdered water, but I didn't know what to add.

[Andy from Beaverton]

Make it so!

[kinoxi]

The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws.

This is many decades old. Einstein coined the phrase I used in post#3. Some textbooks describing this phenomenon have since decayed from age no doubt. This is not news. Peculiar, but nothing new.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

Do photons have mass?

I'm pretty sure they don't, which makes the E=MC^2 equation irrelevant here. The whole basis for saying that nothing can travel faster than light is assuming that thing has mass.

[TYVets]

Wow! That’s almost as fast as Teddy Kennedy driving off a bridge.

[Red Badger]

Hogwash, I agree....See my post #51....

[ditto h]

Yeah, and I'll still have someone tailgating me!

[Southack]

Aye. Gravity is faster than the speed of Light in a vac.

[numberonepal]

ocated at two places at the same time- quantum physics says this is a possibility

But never at the same place at the same time.

[From One - Many]

I wonder the photon traveled between the two prisms or if it was in both prisms at the same time (ie, located at two places at the same time- quantum physics says this is a possibility.)

You are correct. The photon would have to be in the second prism before the photon left the first prism. I do not think it could be physically measured.

[Lee'sGhost]

Sounds more like teleportation.

[camerakid400]

I thought the speed of gravity was C plus or minus 1 percent?

[PAR35]

So smart yet he can’t master elementary grammar.

Yes, I thought every German knew the verb at the end to put.

[TommyDale]

Even assuming light hits the second site first, at only 3 feet apart there is room for error in calculations. Sort of hard to believe that they could measure so accurately at 3 feet.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

At that speed won’t you overdrive your headlights?/snicker.

[Lee'sGhost]

You can’t see it — it was black light.