My guess is that it causes problems with the math.
How do you deal with negative/infinite frequencies (which implies negative time) in the real world . The math works better when velocities don't exceed c.
e.g.
Dumb question alert: why is the speed of LIGHT specifically supposedly the ceiling on speed?
Relativity was devised to explain some things about electromagnetic radiation. It explains nothing about things that aren’t photons or photon related. Cerenkov radiation is an example of something of possible interest.
E=MC^2......
To make the math work. ;)
“Dumb question alert: why is the speed of LIGHT specifically supposedly the ceiling on speed?”
I always questioned that myself. The answer that I was told back in college was that light is the fastest thing known and the only thing known not to be subject to relative motion.
Quick example: You are traveling on a train going 60 MPH and you toss a ball to your friend sitting a few feet in front of you. To you and your freind (both sitting on the train) the ball is going 20 MPH (from your toss). To some-one sitting next to the tracks outside the train to ball is traveling at 80 MPH.... the train imparts it’s relative motion (60 MPH) to the ball. This behavior seems to hold true for pretty much every object they’ve been able to test.... except light, which is the fastest thing ever observed. Light appears to always travel at a constant speed regardless of the speed of the object that generates it.
That’s my dime store explanation of it. Note I’m not a scientist (nor was I even a science major).... so if the explanation is off a bit some-one please feel free to beat me with a rubber chicken.
The thing I always wondered, was why people always assumed the phenominom was due to some sort of universal law....rather then just some funky quality of light itself.
Not a dumb question, but it's not practical to answer it here. Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implies this (his earlier, Special Theory of Relativity didn't go far enough to be definitive).
Of course, if one actually understands the "General Theory", it still leaves a tiny amount of room for doubt, since it's unlikely we have final and complete understanding on this subject.
My guess is that it causes problems with the math.
How do you deal with negative/infinite frequencies (which implies negative time) in the real world . The math works better when velocities don't exceed c.
e.g.
“Dumb question alert: why is the speed of LIGHT specifically supposedly the ceiling on speed?”
It’s is partially due to this equation...
a = F/m (more commonly seen as F=ma)
...and partially due to this equation...
m = m0/sqrt(1 - v^2/c^2)
That’s mass dilation.
So, as an object accelerates close to the speed of light, it gains mass. The more mass it gains, the more energy is required to accelerate the object. If v=c in the second equation, then mass is infinite. Any finite number over infinity is zero, so the acceleration is zero. That is, you can’t go any faster.
Theoretically.
(I believe this can be broken.)
While you are at it, why not ask the other question: Does light ever slow down and stop? ;o)