Is there any way to put it into terms that don't involve equations, for those of us to whom they mean nothing?
What happens as the earth approaches the speed of light that prevents it from ever getting there?
Velocity does not add linearly. I will give you an example:
A spaceship is traveling at .6
c, and a person on the ship fires a proton gun, which shoots the proton at .8
c in the direction of travel. In classical mechanics, you would say that v1+v2 = v3, or .6
c + .8
c =1.4
c! But that is impossible, as nothing can travel faster than
c.
Using the equation I provided:
w= (.6
c+.8
c)/(1+(.6
c)(.8
c)/
c^2)) = .946
c