2006-09-29 23:35:59 · 23 answers · asked by vinodh 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, yes. It's debatable, and not necessarily proven, though.
Einstein's theory was, if I understand it correctly, that if by chance you were traveling through the universe at the speed of light (which is impossible in today's universe), if you turned on a flashlight or something that emits light in front of you (as in the same direction you are traveling at the speed of light in), you would see the light traveling away from you (in the "forward" direction) at a the speed of light faster than your velocity. In other words, it would travel away from you at the speed of light. But you are traveling at teh speed of light, so relative to a "stationary" object, it would be traveling at 2 times the speed of light. But that isn't possible, because two times the speed of light doesn't exist! So this is a very hard to understand and hard to comprehend as true idea.
The answer to your question is yes and no. I think yes. Others think yes. Others think no. You sort of have to decide for yourself, unless you are an astrophysicist, in which case you can prove (or attmempt to prove) it.
Oh yeah. And I'm excluding the fact that the person above me just pointed out about you being of infinite length when traveling at the speed of light. That just makes things messy!
2006-09-29 23:41:29 · answer #1 · answered by mattomynameo 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes you would. Time is the important factor here, if you were travelling at the speed of light and a stationary viewer could see your watch to them it would not appear to be moving but when you look at your watch it would still be moving forwards.
So when you switch on your torchthe light from wil still move away from you at 3x10^8 m/s it's just that the length of a second to an outside observer has changed so much that would not be able to see the torch light.
2006-09-30 16:45:24 · answer #2 · answered by grating_pairs 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At "almost" the speed of light, if you saw anything in your headlights while you were going that fast you'd have about three picoseconds to kiss your high velocity hiney goodbye. You can't actually go that fast in normal space.
You'd also see some very blue or ultraviolet things, since the objects coming toward you at that velocity would be blueshifting the relected light.
2006-09-30 08:09:57 · answer #3 · answered by Nomadd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I thought the speed of light was supposedly constant, unlike other things so that regardless of what speed you are traveling, a light from you still travels at the same speed (not your speed plus the light speed as would be the case with anything else)
2006-09-29 23:46:52 · answer #4 · answered by Mrkaras 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your headlights would be travelling along with you. Your speed relative to objects outside your spaceship might be very high. But your speed relative to your headlights would be zero. You would see them perform as usual.
2006-09-30 02:21:22 · answer #5 · answered by David S 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you probably wouldn't need to - the sun is on 24hours!
if you're on the dark side though you might want to, and as you're travelling at the speed of light you'd be side by side....maybe..who knows?!
if your headlights are bust don't worry - no traffic cops up there, except nasa and the russians....both can be bribed if you get stopped, to the tune of a few millions and they'll give you a tour of the space station and all that.
are you suggesting that you're travelling in a space ship at the speed of light here on earth or in space?
don't know...sorry!
2006-09-29 23:44:42 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This same question was asked recently. I dont know what the answer was on that!
No you wouldn't see it as that would mean you were outside the spaceship and at the speed of light you would, as I understand it, be of infinitesimal length which is as impossible as your question.
2006-09-29 23:41:07 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No object can travel with the speed of light as it takes infinite energy to travel with the speed of light,which is impossible
so there's no Q of travelling with the speed of light
2006-09-30 02:58:59 · answer #8 · answered by Prakash 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Would you see anything if you stationary?
Given that Space is a vacuum, and infinite.
If you were travelling at the speed of light, would you see the obstacle before your *rse went through your brain?
2006-09-29 23:46:51 · answer #9 · answered by Simon D 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes you would.
Remember that the speed of light is relative to the observer.
2006-09-30 02:22:04 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋