Can the characters exceed the speed of light?

James R. Cadwell · Post by **James R. Cadwell** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 5:53 pm

I asked a similar question on alt.fan.dragonball a few weeks ago, but I didn't like having to wait two days for new posts to appear on Google Groups, so I thought I'd ask it again here.

We know that "Chibi" Trunks in his normal form can't accelerate to anything even approaching relativistic velocities within a reasonable time frame because he had difficulty moving in 150 g. His inability to move freely in that gravity would limit his acceleration in his normal form to less than 1450 m/s^2.

People have referenced Radditz's ability to dodge Piccolo's "Makankosappo"(sp?) early in the series as evidence of superluminal capabilities in DBZ, but that would give Radditz outrageously high accelerative abilities somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.997e8 m/s^2, so I don't really consider that convincing evidence.

I would personally say that the characters usually maintain a velocity slightly slower than the speed of sound.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 6:19 pm

We all know that Dub Raditz is faster than light.

...

Sorry, been to often to the GameFAQs board of DB >.>

SonGohan-san · Post by **SonGohan-san** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:44 am

Impossible. No way.

tablet the eunuch · Post by **tablet the eunuch** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 5:20 am

Whatever theories you have, you are correct. Will that encourage you to stop applying the normal law of physics on the Dragonball world? Because if it does the world will be a much better place (sorry)

Also, this belongs in the Questions section

Post by **TripleRach** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:04 am

I never quite agreed with Jim's notion that Makankousappou = light, but...

Actually, any mention of light speed always reminds me of a very stupid error of mine, but looking back on that, I'm reminded of my argument about flight speed not being physical movement, and thus wouldn't be reliant on the body's speed.

Science and physics are not exactly a strong point of mine, but now, light speed seems a bit much even for Dragon Ball, just from a common sense standpoint. Even if the strongest few people near the end were capable of attaining that speed, I have to doubt that they would've had the power to maintain it.

James R. Cadwell · Post by **James R. Cadwell** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 11:35 am

tablet the eunuch wrote:Whatever theories you have, you are correct. Will that encourage you to stop applying the normal law of physics on the Dragonball world? Because if it does the world will be a much better place (sorry)

Gravity and light both exist in the Dragonball Z universe.

tablet the eunuch · Post by **tablet the eunuch** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 5:58 pm

James R. Cadwell wrote:Gravity and light both exist in the Dragonball Z universe.

That's not debateable, you are completely right there, however, the normal laws used for their Gravity and Light are not used there, as it is fiction and the universe is lead and bound by the story. Physics and whatnot is subject to that, thus all contradictions and errors are null and void. Also, it doesn't have to explain itself.

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 10:39 pm

however, the normal laws used for their Gravity and Light are not used there, as it is fiction and the universe is lead and bound by the story. Physics and whatnot is subject to that, thus all contradictions and errors are null and void. Also, it doesn't have to explain itself.

Zanzoken is "proof" that they're moving faster than speed since it leaves an after image on the viewers retina.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 10:51 pm

One thing that confuses me is, if they're not moving as fast as people think, then why is it that except for trained warriors can no one see their movements?

And even then, remember when Goku was fighting Freeza, after a while, their speed increased so much, that even Kaio-sama couldn't follow them.

James R. Cadwell · Post by **James R. Cadwell** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 11:17 pm

Jerseymilk wrote:One thing that confuses me is, if they're not moving as fast as people think, then why is it that except for trained warriors can no one see their movements? And even then, remember when Goku was fighting Freeza, after a while, their speed increased so much, that even Kaio-sama couldn't follow them.

It only takes about 30 m/s^2 of acceleration to be too fast for the human eye to perceive.

EDIT: If training was able to improve their ability to see someone accelerating that quickly, it was probably connected to their ability to sense "ki" rather than direct visual perception.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 11:48 pm

Ah, okay that makes sense. Thanks!

SonGohan-san · Post by **SonGohan-san** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:42 am

I don't think they go that fast. Not speed of light fast anyways.

But whatever, right? It's Toriyama land not <insert some scientist's name that knows about physics and stuff> land.

But the point about them not being able to see the movements I think has a lot to do with the nature of the movements. They move everywhere in a very erratic no-pattern sorta way during battle (a lot harder for the eye to follow than a line in the sky) unlike say a fast jet which obviously doesn't know zanoken. Anyways...

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:55 am

SonGohan-san wrote:I don't think they go that fast. Not speed of light fast anyways.

But whatever, right? It's Toriyama land not <insert some scientist's name that knows about physics and stuff> land.

"It's Toriyama land not Stephen Hawking land."

How's that?

Deus ex Machina · Post by **Deus ex Machina** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 1:26 am

I'm not really certain whether the characters can move at the speed of light during a fight, however Goku's Instantanious Movement (Despite Funimations dub) must be faster than light. He could use it to transport between Earth and North Kaio's planet instantly, and the distance is unfathomable.

mAcChaos · Post by **mAcChaos** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 1:32 am

Doubtul.

How long did it take SSJ3 Gotenks to go around the Earth a few times?

The Raditz comment was a dub re-write; it never really happened.

Post by **TripleRach** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 4:11 am

I don't know if Gokuu's technique could really be considered light speed movement. It's teleportation, and not zooming along constantly to get from one place to another.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 7:02 am

Uhuh, it's a teleport, not a really really fast movement. Though the FUNi dub makes a mistake again there...

Zackarotto · Post by **Zackarotto** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:47 pm

Yeah, there's literally no "speed" at all. Just dissapearing and reappearing in a new location. No matter how far away it is, the time it takes is equal. Of course, if it's long ways to teleport, it would take longer to find the ki.

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 4:09 pm

Dayspring wrote:Zanzoken is "proof" that they're moving faster than speed since it leaves an after image on the viewers retina.

That still doesn't make sense though. People don't "blur" as they move. Sure, there's a delay between something happening and a person seeing it, but the after-image left by the Zanzoken hangs around for several seconds. For that to make sense, a person would have to be standing several light-seconds away from the person they are fighting. If the after image was visible for 3 seconds, then the fighters would have to be 900,000 kilometres apart.

So, obviously, no.

Kanzenshuu

Can the characters exceed the speed of light?

Can the characters exceed the speed of light?

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