Can we really beat the speed of light? [closed]








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This is a rather physics question but I wanted to get an insight from a chemistry perspective. I heard from some that you can beat the speed or go faster than it but is that really true. Physicists as we all know look at the theoretical possibilities but what is your insight from a chemistry-ish view. 


[Here](http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121003-can-we-travel-faster-than-light) and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPsG8td7C5k&t=34) for more information.




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If we can then how much more faster is it? I heard one view into this that goes along the lines of:


If you distorted space and moved it then you would be light-years away from where you started. This seemed very *dumb* at first but as I thought about it is this anyway possible.




There are a number of things that exceed the speed of light:


1. Particles in a medium such as water can enter faster than light [in that medium] but are slowed and release energy as [Cherenkov radiation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation).
2. The [phase velocity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_velocity) of a wave can exceed that of light [in that medium].
3. An arbitrary point, such as the point on a pair of scissors where blades,
meet, can move faster than light.
4. Most puzzling to me: [entangled particles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement). Einstein called this "spooky action at a distance". Although each *particle* moves at C or less, information *might be* shared between them in an indefinitely short time; see [superluminal communication](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superluminal_communication). Entanglement *does* apply to chemistry, as do other odd quantum effects; e.g. the detection of single photons with silver halide photography as they form an interference pattern in the [double-slit experiment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment).


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From classical special relativity it can be shown that anything (particle, object, electromagnetic wave, Z-wave, a dishwasher, anything) that travels faster than the speed of light (in vacuum) would violate the causality principle. In relation to chemistry, this means more qualitatively that the second law of thermodynamics would be violated. Hence I would argue that from a chemistry viewpoint traveling faster than the speed of light is impossible.


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