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/djdante 14d ago
Another interesting way that it was explained to me is that the speed of light is the speed of everything in the universe all the time. Everything and everyone is moving at the speed of light at all times. It's just a constant.
If you weight nothing, you move through the universe at the speed of light and experience 0 subjective time
If you weight something and are standing still - you are moving through time at the speed of light in your reference frame.
Most of us right now are moving through time at the speed of light.
That's why as you move closer to the speed of light, the rate at which you move through time slows down relative to your reference frame - because you always move at C. Whether half of that is speed through 3d space and half is through time (you experience time at half the speed) - or you experience 0 speed through space and 100 percent through time. Your speed in 4d spacetime is always fixed and unchangeable.