The limitation on traveling faster than the speed of light is deeply rooted in the fundamental principles of physics, particularly in the theory of special relativity. While I will explain the underlying logical reasoning without relying on advanced theories, it's essential to note that these conclusions are supported by extensive experimental evidence and are well-established in the scientific community.
Time Dilation: As an object approaches the speed of light, time dilation occurs, meaning time passes more slowly for the moving object relative to an observer at rest. At the speed of light, time dilation would be infinite, implying that time would stop for the object. This would lead to logical inconsistencies, such as events happening simultaneously in some reference frames but not in others. The concept of time stopping entirely for an object is not compatible with our everyday experiences and leads to paradoxes.
Relativistic Mass: As an object's velocity increases towards the speed of light, its relativistic mass increases significantly. This means that more and more energy would be required to accelerate the object further. As the speed of light is approached, the required energy would become infinite, making it practically impossible to reach or exceed the speed of light.
Lorentz Contraction: As an object moves at high speeds, its length in the direction of motion appears contracted from the perspective of an observer at rest. At the speed of light, this length contraction would also be infinite, implying that the object's length would shrink to zero. Again, this contradicts our everyday experiences and is not physically possible.
Causality and Paradoxes: Traveling faster than light could lead to violations of causality, where the cause of an event could occur after its effect in certain reference frames. This could lead to logical paradoxes, such as the famous "twin paradox," where one twin traveling at relativistic speeds ages much slower than the other twin on Earth. If faster-than-light travel were possible, information could potentially travel backward in time, leading to contradictions.
In summary, the logical limitations on traveling faster than light are derived from observations and experiments, which consistently support the principles of special relativity. These principles demonstrate that objects with mass cannot reach or exceed the speed of light due to time dilation, relativistic mass increase, Lorentz contraction, and potential causality violations. As a result, faster-than-light travel remains implausible within the framework of known physics.