# What happens if the speed of light is surpassed?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-speed-of-light-is-surpassed/809413>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 23, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-speed-of-light-is-surpassed/809413 "2018-02-23T16:17:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-speed-of-light-is-surpassed/809413/61 "2018-02-28T21:17:02Z")

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The simplest answer is that you can’t, so any conjecture is just that. So my answer is that confetti falls from the ceiling and a giant neon flashing “You Win!” sign appears and God pops down and says ‘Nice one’ while giving you a high five. You then start over again at level one only with a higher difficulty.

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**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-speed-of-light-is-surpassed/809413/62 "2018-02-28T21:40:18Z")

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> [@Doubticus](#):
>
> I was asleep the day we talked about FTL travel in physics class, but doesn’t mass increase as we approach light speed, like up to infinity? My WAG is that the ship would immediately implode into a black hole prior to exceeding light speed.

No, only its relativistic mass increases. An observer on the ship doesn’t notice a thing different. No implosions.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-speed-of-light-is-surpassed/809413/63 "2018-02-28T21:42:41Z")

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That’s what I did describe. If you’re really close to c, and speed up, you’re now even closer.

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**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-speed-of-light-is-surpassed/809413/64 "2018-02-28T21:59:19Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> That’s what I did describe. If you’re really close to c, and speed up, you’re now even closer.

[five year old child in the back seat]

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

[/fyocitbs]

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