The speed of light is a number.
It was a theory before it was measured. After it was measured, and the prediction
was found to be correct, it was no longer a theory nor a hypothesis. It became a
"physical constant".
According to the Theory of Relativity, nothing can go faster than the speed of light. And since light is information, it cannot go faster than the speed of light.
The law of conservation of matter doesn't hold well for a body moving at the speed of light ( c = 3.0*108 m/s). In theory, if there was a parallel universes the law of conservation of anti-matter should still apply. As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass approaches infinity. Because masses approach infinity with increasing speed, it is impossible to accelerate a material object to (or past) the speed of light. To do so would require an infinite force. Since masses change with speed, a change in kinetic energy must involve both a change in speed and a change in mass. At speeds close to the speed of light, most of this change is in mass.
Assuming the speed of light in air is already known (it is close to the speed of light in a vacuum), you might check how the light refracts when it changes from air to water (at what angle), and then use Snell's Law.
At speeds near the speed of light, the formulae from the Theory of Relativity show that there are discrepancies with classical physics - for example, in adding velocities. These discprepancies have been verified by many experiments. In theory the discrepancies arise at any speed, but if the speed is much lower than the speed of light, the difference between classical physics and the more accurate Theory of Relativity is so insignificant that it can be ignored, and you can safely use the simpler formulae of classical physics.
Yes. According to the extended theory of relativity, mass will increase as an objects speed increases. The closer the object's speed gets to the speed of light, the greater its mass will be and a greater force will be required to continue to accelerate it.
The speed of light is the same for every observer everywhere. That is a fundamental tenet of the theory of special relativity (and everything based on it, such as the general theory of relativity and quantum field theory). To date no violation of the consistency of the speed of light has been measured. By the way, this does not say the speed of light is the maximum speed, just that the speed of light is constant, so the possible discovery of faster-than-light neutrinos does not invalidate this.
The difference between theory and natural law is that a theory is a framework, while a natural law is a single rule, usually expressed in mathematics. They are not two different stages of acceptance among scientists (as it is sometimes claimed in error); they are two completely different things; a theory does not evolve into a law with when sufficient evidence for a theory has been gathered for example. For example consider: The Theory of Special Relativity <-- Theory Speed of light is constant <-- Law Theory of Electromagnetism <-- Theory Divergence of the Magnetic field is zero <-- Law Quantum Field Theory <-- Theory Conservation of Energy <-- Law
Neither, mass can never reach the speed of light, this question also contridicts the theory of realativity.
You can't travel at the speed of light. It might be possible, in theory, to approach it, but not quite to reach it.
Speed of light is constant, not the other things.
A theory is what many people working together have come up with to answer a question. A law is the description of an observed phenomenon. It doesn't explain why the phenomenon exists or what causes it. The speed of light is a law.
A theory is an idea system with a lot of evidence to support it--for example, the theory of evolution. A law (in science) is an idea system with proof attached to it--no contradictions--example, the law of gravitation.
This is part of the Special Theory of Relativity.
According to the Theory of Relativity, nothing can go faster than the speed of light. And since light is information, it cannot go faster than the speed of light.
No. According to special theory of relativity, the speed of light in all inertial mediums remains the same as that in the vacuum.
The theory of relativity uses light speed as the theoretical maximum speed of all things in the universe. A question posed Einstein himself is as follows: "If I were on a train travelling at light speed and I walked from the rear to the front, would I not have exceeded light speed?" Einstein: "No, the force you placed on the train in order to move foreward would have slowed the train a small amount, meaning that you would not exceed light speed"
Short answer: As for today, we do not know for certain. It is by existing theory, Einstein's theory of relativity, impossible for matter (mass) to reach the speed of light.A little longer: By Theory of relativity, the energy which is required to reach the speed of light is a limit which stretch to infinity. As energy can't be created nor destroyed, there is a finite amount of energy in the universe, and the speed of light cannot be reached.