I believe my friends are no strangers to speed. It is precisely with the continuous improvement of speed that we can have a broader vision, be able to travel to every corner of the earth, and even be able to go out of the earth to explore the universe.
Speed runs through all aspects of people’s lives, and it accompanies us all the time. In many people’s perception, speed is only related to transportation and work efficiency, and other aspects have nothing to do with speed. However, the emergence of Einstein’s theory of relativity gave us a new understanding of speed.
Einstein’s theory of relativity believes that everyone knows that it is the greatest scientific theory in modern history, and it is precisely because of the proposal and contributions of the theory of relativity that Einstein has been on the throne of the number one science. Until now, no scientist has been able to. Surpass him.
Einstein’s theory of relativity gave us a new understanding and definition of speed. It tells us that speed cannot increase infinitely in a three-dimensional world. There is a limit, that is, the speed of light. Moreover, according to current scientific knowledge, the speed of light is also the fastest speed in the universe.
The limit theory of the speed of light is not good news for mankind. We must know that the vast scale of the universe is too large for us to imagine. If the limit of speed is the speed of light, it will become a “yoke” that binds mankind to go out, preventing us from going out. A truly comprehensive understanding of the universe, let alone exploring the ultimate mystery of the universe.
It is precisely because the speed of light cannot break through that the concept of the observable universe is now available. It is just an observable universe with a range of 92 billion light-years. It is conceivable how big the universe is. The inability of the speed of light to break through means that there are many places in the universe that humans cannot reach, and it is possible that even observation cannot be achieved.
Although the speed of light has become an invisible “yoke”, it also brings some good wishes for the future to mankind, that is, a long life span and even endless eternal life. I believe many friends are aware of the “clock slow effect”, which is actually a product of the theory of relativity.
The theory of relativity tells us that time and space can be distorted, and when the speed of light is infinitely close, time will become slower and slower. Once it reaches the speed of light, time will stop. So a friend asked this question: If we leave the earth at the speed of light for a minute and then return, what will we see?
In fact, the question raised by this friend is not correct. The reason is that mass objects cannot reach the speed of light, but can only approach the speed of light infinitely. So what is the ratio of speed to time? What kind of speed can make time very slow?
Some friends may think that as long as the speed reaches a certain speed, time will become particularly slow. At that time, we can have an extremely long life span. Is it really that simple? Probably not. From the perspective of relativity, speed is indeed inversely proportional to time. The faster the speed, the slower the time.
But to reach the point where time is distorted to become very slow, then this speed is not that simple. Scientists have calculated that if an object reaches the speed of light of 0.9999976, then the time at this time will be slowed down by a ratio of about 1 minute: 1 day, which means that if you leave the earth for one minute, the earth has passed by one day.
Of course, this proportion of time continuation is already very exaggerated. You must know that there are 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day, which is 1440 minutes. If you take a spacecraft at this speed and leave the earth for one day, the earth will pass 1440 years. Of course, for the people in the spacecraft, only a short 24 hours have passed.
If the ratio of this speed to time continues to increase, for example, when the speed reaches 0.9999999999982 the speed of light, the ratio will become 1 minute: in 1 year, then you leave the earth one minute and then return, the earth has passed 2 years. For you, this time will not have any particularly big impact. After all, the earth will not change much in two years.
But if the speed continues to approach the speed of light infinitely, for example, when the speed of light reaches 0.999999999999, then the situation is completely different. At this time, one minute may correspond to hundreds of years or even thousands of years of the earth. If you leave the earth at this speed and return for one minute, then the scene you see will be a completely unfamiliar earth.
Compared with the present, the earth after a thousand years will definitely have huge changes. Human science and technology will continue to transform the earth. It is possible that the earth at that time will become a more beautiful and dazzling blue planet. After thousands of years of continuous destruction, the earth has lost its blue color and turned into a dim and desolate planet.
In addition to the great changes that will occur on the earth, for hundreds or even thousands of years, those relatives and friends you have known may no longer exist, and all you can see are their descendants. Perhaps when you return to Earth, you will find that you have become the ancestor of a family, and at the same time a human being with a life span of up to a thousand years.
Can you accept such a result? I’m afraid it will feel very uncomfortable. The earth is no longer the one you saw when you set out. Everything in the past is nothing but human beings. This is an unbearable consequence for social creatures like humans.
No matter what, I believe that a large number of people still very much hope that this kind of thing can become a reality, because flying at the infinitely close to the speed of light, for the very limited lifespan of human beings, still has the temptation to resist. Flying at the speed of sublight means that we can have a longer life span and even reach an endless eternal life.
So can such a beautiful wish become a reality? Some friends may say that the speed of particles can be infinitely close to the speed of light, so macroscopic objects can naturally do so. However, according to current research by scientists, a macroscopic object composed of countless particles like humans cannot be accelerated to an infinitely close to the speed of light.
Even if human science and technology are more advanced in the future, with the ability to fly at sub-light speeds, and spacecraft can reach infinitely close to the speed of light, but the human body may not be able to withstand this speed at all. In addition to this speed, humans may Will be broken down into particles and disappear in the universe.
Therefore, if human beings want to achieve interstellar navigation in the future, they cannot rely on the spacecraft itself to reach sub-light speeds, but must use the power of space to achieve it. I believe many of my friends know that there is actually a phenomenon that exceeds the speed of light in the universe. For example, the expansion of the universe far exceeds the speed of light. The reason for this is that the expansion of space is actually the extension of itself, rather than the movement of objects with static mass in space, so it can exceed the speed of light, and it is not contrary to the theory of relativity.
Only by relying on space distortion and expansion to achieve interstellar navigation can humans have the hope of truly going out and exploring the farther depths of the starry sky. Of course, the speed of light or super-light speed achieved by relying on space distortion and expansion cannot slow down time significantly. The effect of slowing time is a fact that only exists in the theory of relativity. The distortion and expansion of space are not within this range.
It can be seen that if humans want to achieve a longer lifespan, they still need to rely on the genetic technology we are constantly researching. Only this technology has the hope of increasing the lifespan of human beings so that they can better explore the mysteries of the universe.