2006-08-24 08:45:09 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
A vehicle can't travel with the speed of light. But let's say it travels with 99.9999% of the speed of light.
Seen from the driver's seat, the light emited from the head light travels with the speed of light.
Seen by a person on the ground, the speed of the light emited is the usual speed of light as well. So he will see the photons from the headlight increase their distance to the vehicle by only 100-99.9999 = 0.00001% of the speed of light. So the two persons disagree.
This paradox is resolved because distances look much smaller when seen from a different frame of reference, and also time differs. Whenever the driver of the vehicle see the photons having traveled 300.000.000 meter in one second, the person on the ground perceives the distance as much less, and also the time is perceived as much more than one second.
2006-08-24 08:57:48 · answer #1 · answered by helene_thygesen 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Einstein requested this very question, more desirable or a lot less. it really is the reason no longer something can go back and forth on the speed of light. What occurs is that the headlights shine ahead on the speed of light. If the automobile is vacationing close to mild %, the subsequent question is relative to what? as far as you sitting in that automobile is going, you're status nevertheless and the headlights are doing their job, illuminating what's in the front of you. the speed of light is consistent, regardless of the reference body. If someone said you zipping through at just about the speed of light and said you swap on your headlights, the observer might want to make certain the mild out of your headlights shifting on the speed of light, as might want to you, regardless of your state of action.
2016-11-27 19:26:03 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Einstien's General Theory of Relativity shows that the light from those headlights will move away from you at the speed of light If you are travelling at the speed of light your time would come to a
COMPLETE stop.
C, or the speed of light is an absolute speed limit. As a moving object gets closer to that speed it becomes more massive and time slows down, stopping at the point that velocity = C
Travelling at C means time equals zero in your timeframe.
Science fiction is full of stories of astronauts travelling at a large fraction of the speed of light across the heavens. After a couple of years they return to Earth and discover that decades and centuries have elapsed at home.
2006-08-24 08:56:50 · answer #3 · answered by Anthony M 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Suppose you're zipping down to the Dairy Queen in your Hyundai at 0.99c--in other words, 99 percent of the speed of light. While en route you flip on the high beams and perform various subtle and ingenious experiments that I will not describe here. You discover that the light from the headlamps is traveling away from you at (surprise!) the speed of light. In other words, your headlights operate normally.
Now suppose a stationary observer at the side of the road performs the same experiment on the same beam of light. She (her name is Myra) discovers that the beam is moving away from her at speed c also. But how can this be, you ask? Since I'm going nearly the S. of L. to start with, shouldn't that give the photons emitted by the headlamps a running start, so to speak, enabling them to travel nearly twice the speed of light with respect to Myra?
Not to put too fine a point on it, no. The explanation for this is a little complicated, but the gist of it is this: when your speed approaches c, you and all your measuring sticks become foreshortened, i.e., squished like an accordion along your axis of travel. This throws off all your measurements, making the light beam appear to recede from you at the same speed c no matter how fast you're "really" going. Unfortunately, nobody knows how fast you're "really" going, because in this morally permissive universe of ours, everything's relative. You think I'm moving and you're not? Hey, maybe the truth is you're moving and I'm not.
2006-08-24 08:53:31 · answer #4 · answered by They call me ... Trixie. 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
according to the special theory of relativity you are proposing something impossible. if, however, it was possible the headlights would not produce a beam because their light travels at the same speed as you and is therefore not moving away from your vehicle.
2006-08-24 09:04:28 · answer #5 · answered by nerdyhermione 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
according to Einstein's theory of relativity, the light travels away from you at the speed of light. So it is theoretically impossible to outrun light that is being generated from a vehicle you are traveling in.
2006-08-24 09:25:21 · answer #6 · answered by Casey J 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you are travelling at the speed of light you must be light. Mass cannot attain the speed of light.
2006-08-24 09:35:20 · answer #7 · answered by Amphibolite 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is impossible to reach the speed of light unless you are, in fact, light.
2006-08-24 08:56:23 · answer #8 · answered by Mike H 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You would see the light beam as another object slowly trailing behind you until the whole beam is behind you and slowly moving away. It would be like a car driving past another car on the highway.
2006-08-24 09:09:05 · answer #9 · answered by shamand001 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Theoretically, if you're driving, you will see the lights. If I'm standing in front of you, the lights will never come on.
2006-08-24 08:51:57 · answer #10 · answered by miker714ii 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋