Why can't anything travel faster than the speed of light?
GeneralClass 12AllAnswered 27 Mar 2026
Answer
According to Einstein's special relativity, as an object approaches the speed of light (c ≈ 299,792,458 m/s), its mass effectively increases, requiring infinite energy to reach light speed. The relativistic mass formula is: m = m₀/√(1 - v²/c²) What happens at high speeds: ● At 90% light speed, mass increases by 2.3 times ● At 99% light speed, mass increases by 7 times ● At 100% light speed, mass would be infinite (impossible) Insight: This is a fundamental law of physics—not a technological limitation, but a property of spacetime itself. Only massless particles like photons can travel at light speed.
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