Slides for a talk given at Physics Day at Space Center Houston, May 1-2 2014. Explains why nothing can move faster than the speed of light using spacetime diagrams.

4. Albert Einstein
(1879-1955)

6. http://lookslikescience.tumblr.com/

7. What to Tell Your Dog About Einstein
Chad Orzel
http://dogphysics.com/

16. http://xkcd.com/1071/

19. "Space is big. Really big. You just won’t
believe how vastly hugely
mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you
may think it’s a long way down the road
to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts
to space."

20. Nearest Star  24,635,923,200,000 miles
Over 4 years at light speed
http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/12lys.html

21. Voyager I  11 miles/second
Nearest Star  24,635,923,200,000 miles
71,000 YEARS
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/voyager_share.jpg

22. Albert Einstein, 1905
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Einstein_patentoffice_full.jpg
Special Relativity:
Nothing can travel
faster than the speed
of light
c=299,792,458 m/s
=186,322 miles/s

23. Special Relativity:
Nothing can travel
faster than the speed
of light
c=299,792,458 m/s
Albert Einstein, 1951
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Einstein_tongue.jpg
=186,322 miles/s

24. The Principle of Relativity:
The Laws of Physics Do Not Depend
on How You’re Moving

25. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galileo_Galilei_4.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Galileos_Dialogue_Title_Page.png

26. t=0.0 s t=0.1 s t=0.2 s t=0.3 s t=0.4 s
t=0.0 s t=0.1 s t=0.2 s t=0.3 s t=0.4 s

27. The Principle of Relativity:
The Laws of Physics Do Not Depend
on How You’re Moving

28. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Faraday.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Clerk_Maxwell_profile.jpg

29. http://rickmanelius.com/article/power-dork-mode

30. The Principle of Relativity:
The Laws of Physics Do Not Depend
on How You’re Moving

31. time
space
0:00
0:01
0:02
0:03
0:04
0:05

32. time
space
0:00
0:01
0:02
0:03
0:04
0:05

33. time
space
0:00
0:01
0:02
0:03
0:04
0:05

34. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goddard_and_Rocket.jpg

35. http://www.universetoday.com/91857/boris-chertok-rocket-pioneer-dies-at-99/

36. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_15_launch.jpg

37. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0818/
Star-Wars-fans-ask-NASA-to-build-a-hyperdrive

38. time
space
0:00
0:01
0:02
0:03
0:04
0:05

39. time
space
0:02

40. time
space-3 -2 -1 1 2 3
0:02

41. time
space
0:02

42. time
space
0:00
0:01
0:02
0:03
0:04
-3 -2 -1 1 2 3

43. time
space
0:02

44. time
space
0:02

45. time
space
0:02

46. time
space

47. Special Relativity:
Nothing can travel
faster than the speed
of light
c=299,792,458 m/s
Albert Einstein, 1951
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Einstein_tongue.jpg
=186,322 miles/s