suppose that my house is moving with the speed of light to north.if i stand up and move to north then my speed will be the speed of light+the speed that i am moving to the north.is that correct?
2006-09-27 01:38:39 · 18 answers · asked by Dargian 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
It's a classic example, but it won't work. When you approach the speed of light, time dilates as a result of special relativity. What this means is, the house can't be traveling at the speed of light, but it can get very close. Then, when you walk in the same direction, you think you're walking fast enough to exceed the speed of light, because in the reference frame of the nearly lightspeed house, you're walking faster than the amount by which the house is moving slower than light. However, this is a trick of the time dilation. In an external reference frame, you are moving only a tiny fraction of the speed you think you are moving relative to the house, and thus you are still moving below the speed of light.
2006-09-27 01:42:26 · answer #1 · answered by DavidK93 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. Nothing can move faster than light, not even light. Your house cannot move at the speed of light. As an object starts to approach the speed of light it gets shorter and shorter in the direction of travel, and heavier and heavier. The additional mass of the house comes from the fact that it is moving faster (momentum = energy = mass). Now it takes even more energy to make the house move faster and that additional energy will be added to the house's mass, then it takes an even greater amount of energy.... you see where this is going? eventually you will need an infinite amount of energy and that doesn't exist in the universe because the universe if finite. Nothing can move faster than light, not even light.
2006-09-27 08:52:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Read the theory of relativity. If I give you an example: A container truck is running at 50mph, there is a jar in the truck, inside there's a fly flying at 10mph (same direction with the truck). Question: would the fly struck the glass because it couldn't catch up with the speed of the truck? Answer: No. The fly is still flying at 10mph (relative to the truck). But relative to a person standing by the road, the fly has a speed of > 50mph.
2006-09-27 08:46:59 · answer #3 · answered by lkusmail 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Speed is relative. Compared to some other location in the universe, you are probably already going faster than the speed of light.
2006-09-27 08:40:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
math _kp has the right answer.
The only correction I have is that if you check the equations you find out that no matter can be accelerated to the speed of light (usually denoted by c).
But if instead of your house moving in the speed of light we will think of a photon you "shot" out of a flashlight, you can see that the relative velocity between you and the photon is c(it doesnt mean, as kp_math writes that you move in that speed..).
Actually for anyone watching a photon, the velocity of it appears to be c.
A different phrasing would be :
(copasted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity#Lack_of_an_absolute_reference_frame
)
The speed of light in a vacuum is always measured to be c, even when measured by multiple systems that are moving at different (but constant) velocities.
2006-09-27 09:00:01 · answer #5 · answered by Ilham Aliyev 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
speed itself is a relative term.
it is always measured with reference to some other object.
in the first place it is impossible to move at speed of light.
but even if we imagine that your house is moving at speed of light, then you start moving towards north then your speed can't be more than that of light because your speed is measured with respect to the house as the house is your frame of reference.
even from someone at a distance, your speed will remain normal walking speed.
you would have observed people moving in a running train.
they never seem moving with a speed more than that of train...
2006-09-27 08:51:19 · answer #6 · answered by pragyp 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is not correct. You cannot move at a speed greater than light. This comes from special theory of relativity. If your speed is u and house speed is v then relative speed is
not u+v
but (u+v)/(1+uv/c^2) where c is speed of light.
when u v are small even 100km / sec is small as compared to c
this becomes u+v
when u=c we get
(c+v)/(1+cv/c^2) = (c+v)/(1+v/c) = c
so you are moving at speed c that is of light
2006-09-27 08:50:09 · answer #7 · answered by Mein Hoon Na 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can. The Flash moved as fast as the speed of thought!
You can definately go super speed if you drink enough rum tonight.
2006-09-27 08:49:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Can you move faster than the speed of light?
Doesn't that depend on whats chasing you?
2006-09-27 08:42:10 · answer #9 · answered by Isis 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no, you can never move faster then the speed of light. the speed of light is 3X10^8m/s which is know as 300000000m/s
and an average human only can run at 12km/h. (3.33m/s)
2006-09-27 08:49:33 · answer #10 · answered by cYnthia 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋