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How Space Can Expand Faster Than the Speed of Light

Posted by timothy on from the space-is-silent-but-deadly dept.

StartsWithABang writes You know the fundamental principle of special relativity: nothing can move faster than the speed of light. But space itself? That's not a "thing" in the conventional sense. Two years after coming up with special relativity, Einstein devised the equivalence principle, and thus began the development of general relativity, where space itself would have properties that changed over time, responding to changes in matter and energy. This includes the ability for it to expand, even faster than the speed of light, if the conditions are right.

4 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. 60 years later by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Dead for almost 60 years and still taking us to school...

  2. I thought I did know the principles by pettik · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And it does not say anything against going faster than light, just about accelerating from below the speed of light to the speed of light. Which would need unlimited energy. But actually just going faster than light is no problem at all.

  3. Re:Isn't that how warp drives work? by towermac · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes. And the summary is a lie: TFA doesn't explain 'how' the universe expands FTL; just that it does.

  4. Re:Does the speed of light change? by arth1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The speed of light cannot change, because it's the definition of speed, not a measured speed. When we say that the speed of light in vacuum is 299 792 458 m/s, what we're defining is the meter and the second relation. If you "slowed" the speed of light, distances would shorten and time would expand and c would still be 299 792 458 m/s. I.e. you would not notice anything. Only an observer outside our universe could possibly detect it, because inside our universe, we exist relative to c.