The answer is that it doesn't go above 3x10^9 m/s because that's the speed of light. The larger the ratio of the velocity of the speed of light, the more it picks up momentum (but not more speed).
This was one of the ways that "basic physics" (from Galileo through to about 1900) broke down.
Because c (the speed of light) is one of few fixed universal constants. Length and mass and even time can be sort of distorted (this comes with a lot of fine print), but the speed of light stays the same.
My best explanation is that there is a base rate at which the universe unfolds or progresses, and then there are things that are physically displaced at a rate slower than that. Say 10 units of distance can be crossed in 10 "steps" of time, but there are things that take a more meandering route, and that move less distance than the default with each step, so they take maybe 1 million steps to cross those 10 units. Electricity in an object might have a speed close to light, but the object as a whole is effectively much slower, because it takes exponentially more energy to get the large object going that fast.
Everything gets weird down below the scale that we're visually and intuitively familiar with. Probably because our reality emerges from a huge amount of complex interactions on the smaller levels.
Here's maybe a better example. You press play and some simple things go in straight lines. Atoms have their electron clouds pulsing/rotating at the default speed, but as a whole they go a lot slower. An electron goes through chlorophyll on a roller coaster-like trajectory at the same (-ish) speed that a photon goes through space. More massive molecules and objects have charges inside them moving at the default speed, but they themselves have a slower pace than the little bits that zip around at the default speed.
It's helpful to think of it not so much as a matter of speed, compared to 0, but slowness, compared to c.
The answer is that it doesn't go above 3x10^9 m/s because that's the speed of light. The larger the ratio of the velocity of the speed of light, the more it picks up momentum (but not more speed).
This was one of the ways that "basic physics" (from Galileo through to about 1900) broke down.
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Because c (the speed of light) is one of few fixed universal constants. Length and mass and even time can be sort of distorted (this comes with a lot of fine print), but the speed of light stays the same.
My best explanation is that there is a base rate at which the universe unfolds or progresses, and then there are things that are physically displaced at a rate slower than that. Say 10 units of distance can be crossed in 10 "steps" of time, but there are things that take a more meandering route, and that move less distance than the default with each step, so they take maybe 1 million steps to cross those 10 units. Electricity in an object might have a speed close to light, but the object as a whole is effectively much slower, because it takes exponentially more energy to get the large object going that fast.
deleted by creator
Everything gets weird down below the scale that we're visually and intuitively familiar with. Probably because our reality emerges from a huge amount of complex interactions on the smaller levels.
Here's maybe a better example. You press play and some simple things go in straight lines. Atoms have their electron clouds pulsing/rotating at the default speed, but as a whole they go a lot slower. An electron goes through chlorophyll on a roller coaster-like trajectory at the same (-ish) speed that a photon goes through space. More massive molecules and objects have charges inside them moving at the default speed, but they themselves have a slower pace than the little bits that zip around at the default speed.
It's helpful to think of it not so much as a matter of speed, compared to 0, but slowness, compared to c.