Can Anything Travel Faster Than Light?

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2018

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Two astronomical questions today sent in to [email protected] for Drs Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford to answer. The Cosmic Speed Limit "We often read that the fastest thing in the Universe is the speed of light. Why do we have this limitation and can anything possibly be faster?" asks Ali Alshareef from Qatif from Saudia Arabia. The team grapples with Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, with help from cosmologist Andrew Pontzen and a British train, travelling somewhat slower than the speed of light. Plus physicist and presenter Jim Al-Khalili describes how he nearly lost his boxer shorts in a daring bet concerning the speed of subatomic particles. The Cosmic Egg "How do we measure the age of the Universe?" asks Simon Whitehead. A hundred years ago this wouldn't even have been considered a valid question, because we didn't think the Universe had a beginning at all. Even Einstein thought that space was eternal and unchanging. This is the tale of how we discovered that the Universe had a beginning, and why calculating its age has been one of the greatest challenges in modern astronomy. We also uncover the mysterious dark energy that pervades the cosmos and discover why it's been putting a scientific spanner in the works. Helping to unravel today's question are physicists Andrew Pontzen, Jo Dunkley and Jim Al-Khalili. Picture: Star sun supernova galaxy gold, Credit: Eastern Lightcraft/Getty Images Producer: Michelle Martin

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	It's episode 4 of the curious cases of Rutherford and Fry with me, Dr. Hannah Fry.
0:08.0	And me, Dr. Adam Rutherford. Today we've got a really big cosmological couple of questions for you spanning the entire length, breadth and age of the universe.
0:18.0	And not just time but light and all of the physics things.
0:23.5	Yes, now I find this particularly difficult because I'm a mere biologist, but fortunately I have my
0:27.4	colleague Hannah Fry.
0:28.8	I mean I've dabbled, I've dabbled in theoretical physics in the past,'ve got a badge to show it but we also
0:34.8	thankfully have an array a plethora of some of the world's greatest physics
0:40.4	thinkers to come and talk on our program not just about physics but also as you will learn about pants.
0:47.0	A rather enlightening case for us to investigate today.
0:55.0	Yes, Ali al-Sharif who lives in Katiif in Saudi Arabia sent in this question to curious
1:00.2	cases at BBC.co. UK.
1:02.0	We often read that the fastest thing in the universe is the speed of light.
1:06.0	Now why do we have this limitation and can anything possibly be faster?
1:10.3	Have you ever stopped to think about what life would be like if suddenly all of the lights went out?
1:14.7	Yeah, well we wouldn't last very long because plants wouldn't grow so we'd starve.
1:19.2	Oxygen wouldn't be replenished so we would suffocate.
1:22.2	And eventually all of our energy supplies would dry up and we'd be
1:25.2	deafened by the incessant hooting of owls indeed we would but let's start by going back because
1:31.1	it's a curious tale of how he came to illuminate the secrets of light.
1:35.6	Greek mega mathematician Euclid in 300 bc.E.
1:44.8	believe that our eyes fire infinitely fast particles that light up everything in their
	...

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