miles (08/06/82)
Lets try the mathematical approach. According to Einstein, re General Relativity, E=mc^2, as many know. In itself, this is a very simple equation. c^2 is a constant of 9.00e20 cm/s^2, while the energy function is in direct proportion to the mass. The bigger the mass, the greater the energy. (E == ergs , m == g , c == cm/s^2 ). No matter what the starting mass is, as its speed increases its "mass increases". The increase or dilatation is given by, m'=m/(1-v^2/c^2)^.5 . As you can see, if v=c, the function of the two = 1, therefore you get m'=m/0= infinite mass. If you plug this infinite mass back into the equa. E=mc^2, you get an infinite amount of energy. But this energy is all the energy in the universe, so if one dare to travel at the speed of light, or even close to it, (or just a bit faster, not really because then m'=(-n)^.5 which is undefined to date), then all the energy in the universe would be used up, and the universe would "blink" out of existance. This is the primary basis by which physisists base the "fact" that FTL travel is impossible, and that anything close to FTL, well the energy requirements are much to great to be created artificialy. Of course a complete explanation is not as simple, but i hope this is more appropriate. (note: the explanation given above is the accepted standard to date, Raymond S.