What is the fastest that a human being of average weight could possibly travel, and what is the most widely held theory for how this might be achieved (assuming this person is impervious to all forms of speed-induced death)?
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1$\begingroup$ There's no distinction between a human being and a proton, physically speaking. Allowed velocities for everything that has a mass are in the set $[0, c)$. $\endgroup$– QuantumBrickCommented Mar 20, 2015 at 21:47
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1$\begingroup$ Proton $\ne $ photon. $\endgroup$– JavierCommented Mar 20, 2015 at 21:57
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$\begingroup$ Ah ok. My mistake. $\endgroup$– MirCommented Mar 20, 2015 at 21:58
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1 Answer
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There is no limit to the velocity that a person may travel. However, there is a limit to the acceleration that a person can handle. This is complicated as that maximum acceleration depends on how long the person is at that acceleration, how fast they got there, their muscular structure etc. The shorter time you have an acceleration the greater that acceleration can be without killing the person.
If you had a small enough force applied over a long time human could reach to 99.99999% the speed of light.
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$\begingroup$ Right. Okay. So what is the most widely held theory for how we might reach 99.99999% of c? $\endgroup$– MirCommented Mar 20, 2015 at 21:52
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$\begingroup$ I don't think anybody is realistically trying to get humans to that speed. You can check out the Large Hadron Collider for info on how we get subatomic particles to speeds that close to light. Also the material in space, dust and etc. might be a problem if a spaceship were to go through it at a high velocity. I don't have a source for that. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 20, 2015 at 21:55