Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
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Since the beginning of the human race, speed has been a rather important factor.
It helped us get around, travel to other areas, and most importantly, it helped us to survive.
But as the years go on, we continue to break past speed records, both in athletics and
with the use of technology.
Today we’ll delve into the limits of human speed, and ask the question: How Fast can
Humans go?
Let’s start with the simple stuff: how fast can humans go on their own?
Well, when it comes to running, one name likely comes into your mind: Usain Bolt.
Usain Bolt has become a household name with his effortless victories on the track, running
at speeds of up to 28 miles per hour.
While technically Justin Gatlin has beaten his time of 9.58 seconds for the 100m dash,
he did so with the help of giant fans that gave him a 20 metre per second tailwind.
He’s also been twice banned for the use of drugs.
So in the name of saying no to drugs and giant fans, let’s give the win to Usain Bolt.
In the water, humanity has another champion: Michael Phelps.
Phelps holds the world record in both the 100 and 200 metre butterfly, the 400m individual
medley, and several 4 man relays.
He is undeniably a powerhouse in the pool, even representing humanity in a race against
a shark.
However, Phelps’ 6 miles per hour in the water are nothing compared to the many fish
in the sea, not to mention human technology.
Which brings us to our next point.
Humans are clearly not the most physically capable of animals.
We’re slower than most animals our size (and many smaller), both on land and at sea.
But we have one advantage: Our brains.
Our cognitive ability has allowed humanity to reach speeds unheard of anywhere else in
the animal kingdom.
The invention of the automobile brought the world closer together.
The plane allowed us still more freedom.
And now, in a world of fighter jets and rocket ships, the numbers have started to get pretty
intimidating.
Currently, the fastest speed clocked in an automobile is 435.31 km/h, clocked by the
Hennessey Venom GT.
The fastest manned jet is the X-15, that reached mach 6.70, roughly 7200 km/h.
And if that sounds impressive, Apollo 10 will knock your socks off.
During the return from the moon, Apollo 10 set the record for fastest manned vehicle,
at 39,897 km/h.
Yowza.
But now we come to one of the important implications of this question: Light speed travel.
That’s right, it’s time to get physical.
For decades, science fiction has delved into the possibilities of near-light speed, light
speed, or even faster than light speed travel.
If we want to explore the galaxy and beyond, we need to find a way to travel vast distances
extremely quickly.
Many find themselves asking if humans can travel close to the speed of light.
As of now, this seems to be physically impossible.
The speed of light seems to be the universal speed limit, allowing nothing to exceed it.
It’s a bit complicated, as is common in physics, but it boils down to this: Particles
with mass need energy to cause them to accelerate.
However, the faster an object moves, the more mass it gains.
So, as an object approaches the speed of light, it needs more and more energy to speed up,
to the point where an object would require an infinite amount of energy to move at the
speed of light.
And considering that amount of energy doesn’t exist in the universe, it seems rather unlikely
that we could harness it here on Earth.
But that doesn’t mean humanity will forever be stuck in this solar system.
There have been many other theories put forth that could allow us to effectively travel
faster than the speed of light, such as theories surrounding the bending of space or creation
of wormholes.
This, however, is a story for another video.
And now we return to our question: How Fast can Humans Go?
Well, slowly but surely humanity is learning new ways to optimize our bodies to run and
swim faster than ever before, but that’s just the beginning.
As we continue to improve our technology, humanity continues to prove that our brains
are our most powerful organ.
As of now, the highest speed we’ve reached is 39,897 km/h, but each technological milestone
brings us one step closer to the ever-elusive light speed travel.
However, it seems that our technology is somewhat limited by the speed of light, that acts like
the surly state trooper of the universe.
But who knows?
Maybe we’ll find a way around it.
Only time will tell.
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Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
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