How is it not possible for a particle to attain 100% speed of light and what will happen if it attains the speed of light?
1 Answer
How can we say that difference in energy between 99.99% and 100% of speed of light is infinite?
The relationship between energy and velocity of an object is not linear but instead follows this equation
$E^2 = m_0 ^2c^4 + p^2c^2$ (1)
where $p = \gamma m_0 v$
and where $\gamma$
$\gamma = \frac{1}{\sqrt{1 - (v/c)^2}} $
and as you see, as $v$ approaches $c$, $\gamma$ explodes to an infinite value. So even between 99.99% and 100% there is an infinite range.
You can also use this equation in place of (1)
$E = \gamma mc^2$
what will happen if it attains the speed of light?
There a quite a few effects like time dilation which ill link below but an interesting one is how mass changes, or more accurately, relativistic mass (how much an object will resist a change in motion). As velocity reaches near light speed this equation takes affect:
$ m_v = \gamma m_0 $
where $m_v$ is relativistic mass ans $m_0$ is the mass of the object at rest and $\gamma$ is defined above. As $v$ approaches $c$, $\gamma$ explodes to an infinite value again and the object effectively gains infinite mass, clearly impossible and is a good illustration of why particles with mass can not reach or exceed the speed of light. Massless particles on the other hand can only travel at light speed.
Here is the wiki link which would describe some other effects