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From: rl@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Robert Langridge%CGL)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Speed of Light and beyond
Message-ID: <504@ucsfcgl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-May-85 04:01:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucsfcgl.504
Posted: Mon May 20 04:01:07 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 24-May-85 07:50:25 EDT
References: <1776@mordor.UUCP>
Reply-To: rl@ucsfcgl.UUCP
Organization: UCSF Computer Graphics Lab
Lines: 17

In article <1776@mordor.UUCP> @S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC:TENCATI@JPL-VLSI.ARPA writes:
>I know this is impossible, but what would happen if...
>A ship could exceed the speed of light?  When the space shuttle crosses the
>sound barrier, there is a sonic boom.  If it were possible to cross the
>"light barrier", what phenomenon would result?

There is an equivalent to the "sonic boom" which occurs when the speed of a 
particle entering a transparent medium (i.e. water) exceeds the group velocity
of light in that medium.  It is known as Cerenkov radiation and is in fact
used in some modes of particle detection.

Bob Langridge				(rl@ucsfcgl.UUCP)
Computer Graphics Laboratory		
926 Medical Sciences			(rl@ucsfcgl.ARPA)
University of California		       
San Francisco
CA  94143				(Phone: +1 415 666 2630)