"If I have two electrons close together, they can vibrate in unison, according to the quantum theory," Kaku explains on Big Think. Quantum entanglement sounds complex and intimidating but at a rudimentary level entanglement is just the way subatomic particles communicate with each other. Within a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, the universe repeatedly doubled in size and as a result, the outer edge of the universe expanded very quickly, much faster than the speed of light. This is exactly what physicists think happened immediately after the Big Bang during the epoch called inflation, which was first hypothesized by physicists Alan Guth and Andrei Linde in the 1980s. "Therefore, empty space can certainly expand faster than light." "Since nothing is just empty space or vacuum, it can expand faster than light speed since no material object is breaking the light barrier," said theoretical astrophysicist Michio Kaku on Big Think. Empty space contains no material substance and therefore, by definition, has no mass. Photons, by their very nature, cannot exceed the speed of light, but particles of light are not the only massless entity in the universe. Keep in mind that Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity states that nothing with mass can go faster than the speed of light, and as far as physicists can tell, the universe abides by that rule. (Casey Stark (UC Berkeley) and Khee-Gan Lee (MPIA))Ī 3D map of the cosmic web at a distance of 10.8 billion light years from Earth. ![]() While these particles are traveling faster than light does in water, they're not actually breaking the cosmic speed limit of 670,616,629 miles per hour. Similarly, when electrons travel through water at speeds faster than light speed in water, they generate a shock wave of light that sometimes shines as blue light, but can also shine in ultraviolet. Once it reaches the speed of sound, the waves bunch up creating a shock front that forms a loud sonic boom. When a rocket, for example, travels through air, it generates pressure waves in front that move away from it at the speed of sound, and the closer the rocket reaches that sound barrier, the less time the waves have to move out of the object's path. Particles, like these electrons, that surpass the speed of light in water, or some other medium such as glass, create a shock wave similar to the shock wave from a sonic boom. In water, light travels at 75 % the speed it would in the vacuum of outer space, but the electrons created by the reaction inside of the core travel through the water faster than the light does. It's called Cherenkov radiation, and it shows up as a blue glow inside of nuclear reactors, like in the Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory in the image to the right.Ĭherenkov radiation is named for Soviet scientist Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, who first measured it in 1934 and was awarded the Nobel Physics Prize in 1958 for his discovery.Ĭherenkov radiation glows because the core of the Advanced Test Reactor is submerged in water to keep it cool. ![]() In fact, this light boom happens on a daily basis in facilities around the world - you can see it with your own eyes.
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