would the laser ray go faster than the space-craft
2006-08-09 05:59:25 · 8 answers · asked by robert t 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
kind of funny you asked that, since I was just having that discussion yesterday. In theory, nothing can travel the speed of light, so therefor, it could not travel faster then the spaceship. So, following this theory, it would more or less back fire (think of planes that can't be mounted with guns because they run into their own bullets). To owe to this, while stellar objects obviously travel at great velocities, the light coming from them, or even reflecting off of them, does not seem to have it's speed effected at all. So most likely, the energy of the laser would simply build at the point of emmision.
2006-08-09 06:06:55 · answer #1 · answered by custosnox 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
as others have said, it is impossible to create a spaceship such as that, but we all know that in paper physics, we can always create an imaginary world where light speed travel is possible. Ok, just imagine so that a light speed spaceship IS available, we could travel in light speed. Then... my speed would be the same as the light, and the light would never get any further from me, nor I would be able to catch up with it. Light, on the other hand, would never have increase or decrease in speed without the change of material or medium it goes through, and thus it'd be in front of us forever, until we run into an obstructor (perhaps a planet or stars).
2006-08-09 13:32:55 · answer #2 · answered by Lie Ryan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First off, anything with mass (and this includes a spaceship) can never travel at the speed of light.
To accelerate an object to the speed of light it would take an infinite amount of energy, and in the entire universe, there is not an infinite amount of energy.
In any frame of reference, the speed of light is always measured to be the same.
So lets assume the space ship was traveling just under the speed of light (at 99.9999999999999999% of c) and then shot the laser.....still, the laser would still travel away from the ship at the speed of light.
2006-08-09 13:05:48 · answer #3 · answered by mrjeffy321 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Assuming that it is possible (which is not), the result would depend on if you look at it through the ship or the ground.
First, let's remember one of the postulates of the specil theory of relativity: The speed of light in vacuum is the same for all reference frames.
If the ship was traveling at any speed lower than the speed of light, both ship and ground observers would see the beam travel ahead of the ship.
There is a spaceship moving at the speed of light relative to an observer on earth. If the spaceship fires the laser, the light would travel from the laser and move ahead of the ship. So an observer on the ship would see the beam move ahead of him.
However, an observer on the ground would see the light ray and the ship move at the same speed, so to him the ray does not travel ahead of the ship.
This is the paradox of the constancy of the speed of light. And the only way this can be avoided is if travel of any material object at the speed of light is not allowed by the laws of physics.
BTW, Einstein himself asked this exact same question before he worked on Special Relativity, and it was only then that he realized that no material can travel at the speed of light.
2006-08-09 13:40:08 · answer #4 · answered by dennis_d_wurm 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The laser would shoot out the front of the spaceship just as
if the spaceship were standing still...
Light always travels at the same speed relative to the source.
2006-08-09 13:03:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, first off it is (theoretically) impossible to go the speed of light.
Lets assume he was moving at .99999 speed of light. The light emanating from the laser will only still go the speed of light. You ask how is this possible. Special relativity says time slows down (relatively) as you speed up. S=D/T. Since we KNOW speed of light is constant, the time INCREASES so that the distance covered can be the same when light is shot from an already fast moving object.
The speed of light is constant for all inertial frames. If I am moving at .9999 speed of light, or at 0, we both see the light moving at the same speed. Confusing, eh?
2006-08-09 13:03:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, nothing can equal the speed of light, not even your spaceship.
2006-08-09 13:07:15 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have such a spaceship first. If a donkey and horse are running, commonsense says that horse will win.
2006-08-09 13:05:44 · answer #8 · answered by somu98 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋