Submitted by Grump-Dog t3_10pfa2s in explainlikeimfive
Emyrssentry t1_j6k47ts wrote
Light is one of the fastest things. In fact, there are other things that move precisely at the speed of light. These are gluons (tiny particles that hold protons and neutrons together) and potentially gravitons (the particles that would carry the gravitational force if we can merge quantum mechanics with General relativity).
The speed of light isn't actually just the speed of light. It's the speed of anything that does not have mass. Photons are the thing that we often see that doesn't have mass, so it was given the name "speed of light" rather than "speed of gluons".
But the key is that photons are massless. We cannot have things go faster than the thing with 0 mass. Because mass inherently slows things down.
So unless you can find something with negative mass. (We have no real expectation that such a thing exists), everything is moving either at the speed of 0 mass particles, or slower.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments