• Question: Is the human body able to withstand going at the speed of light?

    Asked by JoeD to Parnika on 5 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Parnika Gupta

      Parnika Gupta answered on 5 Nov 2020:


      That’s a cool question, unfortunately we cannot travel at the speed of light because human bodies have mass . And there is a gravitational acceleration denoted as g-( 9.8 metre per second squared) which is related to all bodies with mass. Photons (or light particles) can go at the speed of light because their rest mass in free space is zero. So we can’t go at the speed of light simply because we are all fat:)
      Now this a real brain turner- Speed is relative. An object moving away from you at light speed is the same as you moving at light speed away from an object. It’s acceleration that matters, not speed. Humans can’t withstand too much more than 2 or 3 g of acceleration for any amount of time because of our physical limits. So that’s a maximum of 2 or 3 x 9.8metre per second squared in acceleration.

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