According to Newton's classical mechanics, how much energy is required to reach the speed of light?

The speed of light is the fastest known speed in the universe. Under normal circumstances, no object can travel faster than the speed of light.

In the laws of physics of the universe, as long as there are objects with mass, they cannot reach the speed of light. Even if it is a tiny particle, scientists can only accelerate it to 99.999% of the speed of light. If they continue to accelerate the particle, there will only be more "9", will never reach the speed of light. For some massless particles, the speed of light is its own characteristic.

The main reason why the speed of light cannot be surpassed is because Einstein placed an equal sign between energy and mass. As the speed of an object increases, the energy of the object also increases, which in turn leads to an increase in mass, and acceleration becomes more and more difficult. , for a mass object to reach the speed of light, it takes "infinite" energy, which is impossible!

Newton could get an object to the speed of light, but how much energy would it take?

"The Theory of Relativity" has created an insurmountable "light barrier", but Newton's classical mechanics does not have this limitation. To reach the speed of light, you only need to use the kinetic energy formula E=1/2mv^2, and you can easily get the required energy. Newton's physical theory can indeed make objects reach the speed of light, but the energy required is also huge.

Suppose a 100-ton rocket leaves the earth and starts to accelerate in space, and the goal is the speed of light, then according to Newton's classical mechanics, we only need to substitute the mass and speed of the rocket into the formula to get the required energy - E=1/2( 100000)(3*10^8)^2=4.5*10^12J.

4.5*10^12 Joules, what is this concept? At present, the power generation of human megawatt-level power stations is about 5*10^8 watts, and it takes 9*10^12 seconds to generate the energy required for the speed of light, which is 285,000 years.

Even if according to Newtonian classical mechanics, regardless of any other forces, humans would have to pay a huge price to reach the speed of light, but it is still feasible.

At present, there are about 100,000 power stations in the world. Assuming that these power stations are all megawatts, all of which are used to accelerate the rocket, it will take nearly 30 years to complete the acceleration, which also means that the world will stop power supply for 30 years. More importantly, at present, rockets do not have enough capacity to carry energy, and the launch mainly relies on fossil fuels. It is impossible to reach 50% of the speed of light.

Although Newton's classical mechanics can calculate the specific energy required, Einstein does not think so. If you consider the "Theory of Relativity", how much energy is required to accelerate to the speed of light?

Can Einstein's "Theory of Relativity" break through the "light barrier"?

In the theory of relativity, Einstein considered the problem according to the four-dimensional space-time of three-dimensional space and one-dimensional time. When the speed of an object is close to the speed of light, the energy of the object will be converted into mass, and the relative time of the object will be affected.

Simply put, as long as it is an object with mass, the faster the speed and the greater the mass, the slower the relative time passes. If the object reaches the speed of light, then the mass becomes infinite and time tends to stand still - assuming we traverse the galaxy 100,000 light-years at the speed of light, the journey takes almost no time for us, but for For Earth, 100,000 years have passed.

Einstein's theory tells us that as long as there is mass, it is impossible to reach the speed of light, and it will only approach the speed of light infinitely! Unless you really find an infinite supply of energy.

According to Einstein's formula for the speed of light, as an object approaches the speed of light, the mass of the object increases exponentially and decreases exponentially with the passage of time.

A rocket, if it reaches 50% of the speed of light, its mass will increase by 15%; if it reaches 86% of the speed of light, its mass will increase by 100%; if it reaches 99% of the speed of light, its mass will increase by 700%; if it reaches 99.999% of the speed of light, its mass will increase by 22,400%. The closer to the speed of light, the faster the mass of the object grows. In theory, the energy of the entire universe is consumed, and the object with mass cannot reach the speed of light.

The theory of relativity is a bit ahead of classical mechanics. If you use the theory of relativity to calculate energy and accelerate a 100-ton rocket to 99.999% of the speed of light, it will take 128 million years for a megawatt-level power station to work. Even if all the power stations in the world work together, it will take several generations. people's waiting.

Is the speed of light really insurmountable?

For many years, scientists have been looking for a way to reach the speed of light or even exceed the speed of light. At that time, the particles accelerated in the laboratory could only be infinitely close to the speed of light, but scientists found a "cheating" method that allows particles to temporarily exceed the speed of light.

The speed of light can only play its fastest speed in a vacuum environment. When it enters the medium, it will decelerate instantaneously. However, when some particles enter the medium at ultra-high speed, there will be no instant deceleration. Using special media, scientists can make particles The speed briefly exceeds the slowed speed of light.

Although this is a major breakthrough in the scientific community, it is still difficult for such scientific experiments to help humans move at high speeds in the universe. In order to reach or even exceed the speed of light, human beings need to use the power of space.

Although Einstein's theory believes that the speed of light cannot be surpassed, the theory of three-dimensional space makes it possible for humans to surpass space - the wormhole theory. According to the three-dimensional space theory, the universe can be bent and twisted. If we can use gravity to bend the universe, we can make two places infinitely close and reach the destination directly from a higher dimension.

Compared with directly surpassing the speed of light, the wormhole theory is more feasible and will not break the rules of time. After all, travel at the speed of light will change the relative time. When we complete interstellar exploration, the earth may be extinct. The wormhole theory does not affect time, and the travel speed can even exceed the speed of light, after all, it is possible to "cut corners".

Summarize:

According to Newton's classical mechanics, the speed of light is an ordinary speed that can be reached. It may only take hundreds of years for human beings to accumulate enough energy to travel at the speed of light. However, the theory of relativity has created a "light barrier", and it is impossible for objects with mass to reach the speed of light. , the theory has also been confirmed in the particle acceleration laboratory.

Although the theory of relativity closes the door to travel at the speed of light, it also opens the window for travel at the speed of light. Wormholes exist in theory, but no man-made or natural wormholes have been found yet. Wormholes require huge gravitational bending space to form. Black holes, as the limit celestial bodies of human physics, may need to fully understand black holes before humans can create wormholes.