Speeds, Relative and Absolute

If you where inside a space vacuum would you be able to travel at a faster speed since there is no air that you would have to break through?
- Janice
United States

Actually, it doesn’t mean anything to say how fast something is moving, unless you mean how fast it is moving past some other object which you decide to call fixed. That basic principle of relativity has been successful throughout physics since the time of Galileo.

When something moves through air, friction with the air tends to bring it to rest relative to the air.

Mike W.

(published on 10/22/2007)