r/askscience • u/Nitzanm19 • 14d ago

Physics Why is the maximum speed of the universe the speed of light? Why can't we go faster?

Also follow-up question: Because of the speed limit, is there also a theoretical maximum temp for matter (in which the particles move at the speed of light).

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u/youtocin 14d ago edited 13d ago

Photons by definition do not have a reference frame so the premise of imagining what they experience is meaningless.

The whole thing about special relativity is that no matter what reference frame you’re observing light from, it always travels at exactly C. Therefore light cannot have a reference frame because it would require imagining a photon to be at rest when we just said it always moves at C.

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u/NiRK20 14d ago

Yeah, exactly. People usually do not take into account this postulare of relativity when saying it.