Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding, it's only impossible for an object with mass to accelerate to the speed of light. If something was magically accelerated to above c, it wouldn't break any rules to stay above c.

So what would happen in a collision between a slow object and something moving faster than c?

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[–] 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 child)

The kinetic energy equation does not apply, because classical mechanics (including Ek = 1/2mv^2^) only works for scenarios much slower than c.

in relativistic scenarios you have to use Einstein's math. That involves multiplication by the Lorentz Factor 1/√(1-v^2^/c^2^). Solving for any velocity larger than c results in taking the square root of a negative number, which means that the kinetic energy of a superluminal object is literally imaginary (in the mathematical sense).

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