If i were traveling 1 mph below light speed and i fired a gun, would the bullet break the light barrier?
2006-09-27 15:50:58 · 15 answers · asked by rich 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Not according to the theory of relativity.
Try it and get back to me.
Seriously, what you are missing is the time dilation factor. As you fire the gun, the bullet would appear to you to be going very fast. The bullet, however, would be travelling at bullet speed relative to you. If an observer in an inertial frame (you are travelling at 99.9999% the speed of light relative to him), he would see the bullet travelling at ~99.9999% the speed of light. The difference is in the timeframe. Time passes much, much faster for the observer not moving, much slower for you, and even slower for the bullet. (speed is distance multiplied by time, as speed approaches light speed, time is reduced to keep the object under light speed.) Crude examples to a complex problem.
2006-09-27 15:57:53 · answer #1 · answered by lumos 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I thought the answer is yes because you're travelling below the speed of light and the bullet travels slightly under the same speed so,yes,the bullet will break throught the barrier because the bullet travels faster than you even though light travels faster than anything but the acceleration is expounded by the speed of displacement.
2006-09-27 18:24:25 · answer #2 · answered by fadly j 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
A very good question, but the answer is no. Not because light is a limit (which isn't very helpfull), but because of inertial reference frames. That is to say, that if you were travelling at 1mph below the speed of light, you wouldn't really know that you were travelling at that speed. You see, the light you would be using to see would still be travelling 3.0x10^8m/s faster than you. So, you would basically have no idea of your rate of travel because everything would appear to be same as if you were still on Earth. Now, if there was an observer on Earth watching you fire your gun while you were travelling at 99.99% the speed of light relative to their inertial reference frame, then the bullet would actually appear to be going slower, but it still wouldn't be at the relative velocity of light.
2006-09-27 16:05:52 · answer #3 · answered by ohmneo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, but good idea.
The reason for this can be interpreted with something called a frame of reference. If youre stationary that is equivalent to being stationary in a frame of reference with a velocity of zero. If you are travelling at 1 mph slower than the speed of light that is equivalent to being stationary in a frame of reference with a velocity 1 mph slower than the speed of light. Regardless of the velocity of the frame of reference light travels at roughly 3*10^8 metres per second, assuming it is a vacuum.
Relativity is a very peculiar thing.
2006-09-27 19:57:59 · answer #4 · answered by propheticwalnut 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you were traveling at 1 mph below light speed you would need more energy than exists in the Universe so your question is mote at best ;-) and light (EME) is the "only" thing that can break the light barrier ;-) and that in itself is another subject all together.
2006-09-27 15:59:20 · answer #5 · answered by TommyTrouble 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
absolutely no may be the answers such as at relativistic speeds u r addition law becomes false and many more sounds valid ... but u see when u are actually travellin at 0.99c then u r body gets deformed say u would be compressed to such as a size of a photon along with u r pistol or any thing u use to fire a bullet .... so u and u r projectile can never exceed the speed of light
2006-09-27 19:59:02 · answer #6 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. It would be going faster than you but less than light speed as observed by another observer. From your point of view, it is travelling a muzzle velocity regardless of how fast you are moving.
2006-09-27 16:04:52 · answer #7 · answered by gp4rts 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, to you it would fire as if everything was normal. To a stationary observer, however, the bullet would appear to barely exceed your speed--because it can not go faster then light.
2006-09-27 16:09:32 · answer #8 · answered by bruinfan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Velocities don't add like that when you are working with relativistic speeds.
Although it would look to you as if the bullet was travelling at it's normal speed.
When you want to add relativistic velocities you use the formula:
w = (u + v)/(1 + uv/c^2)
Where u would be your velocity and v is the bullet's.
2006-09-27 15:58:47 · answer #9 · answered by Michael E 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
we can't holiday on the value of sunshine in a vacuum. notwithstanding it extremely is achievable for debris to holiday on the value of sunshine in water (that's slower); they emit Cherenkov radiation like a airplane going supersonic. the probabilities of a human doing that are fairly 0; it would take a daft volume of power and you'd be grew to become to plasma in a nanosecond.
2016-10-01 10:58:16 · answer #10 · answered by vanderbilt 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋