If u are driving a car in the dark at the speed of light?

Question

Then u turn ur headlights on would u be able to see where u are going?

Answer 1

You should be able to, since the car is moving at light speed, then in relation to the car, light would move a light speed, thus in real space, 2x the speed of light. And since light is continually emitted from the bulb, it should continually light the way ahead of you.

But then you have to account for the phenomeon that time moves slower the faster you move, which would dictate that at the speed of light, time would be moving slower in the car then in the world around you, so maybe since time is going twice as slow for the light being emmitted from your car, then your path would not be lighted. It sounds logical to me, hope I didn't confuse you with 2 different answers.

Answer 2

The light from your head lights will surpass you by 3.00X10^(8) meters/sec and refleat back at you at that same speed even though you are going THE top speed (Meaning nothing can go faster than you). To make this work, your depth (front to back shrinks from a 3rd person view) becomes 2D so to speak. Then light doesn't have to go very far to pass you and doesn't have to change it's speed to do it.

So the ground will be passing you by at the speed of your car and the light refleating off the ground will be passing you by at the speed of light. In the end you will not be able to see where you are going since the objects are passing you by at a rate faster than your brain can handle. It's like looking at a CD going 72,000rev per min... you can't read the lable on the CD. But it's not the fault of the light, because it's always going the same speed.

So in a nut shell, the light from the head lights is going 3.00x10^(8) m/s, which is also how much faster it's going than you, even though you are going 3.00x10^(8) m/s, but yet it's not going twice as fast as you, it's just going 3.00x10^(8) m/s. Then the light coming back at you is passing you by at the same speed it always goes, 3.00x10^(8) m/s, even if your going toward or away from it.

Answer 3

The speed of light is constant, if you were travelling at the speed of light or even faster, the light would be seen by you exactly as it would be seen by an observer. Don't ask me to explain this.. it all has something to do with relativity.

"Contrary to one's usual intuitions, regardless of the speed at which one observer is moving relative to another observer, both will measure the speed of an incoming light beam as the same constant value, the speed of light"

but no one can really say yes or no on here, just give opinions. As this is (currently) totally unprovable either way (for the scenario you gave). The only real point of reference is Einstein's theory of relativity, or Galileo's principle of relativity which is just that, a theory, not definate fact.

RE: pat from ohio answer, why would the radio not work? the sealed atmosphere of the car you should be able to hear music? ie if you passed the speed of sound in a concorde you could still talk to eachother inside the plane.. because your atmosphere inside the concorde is different to that outside?

Answer 4

Hi >
Well, 1st off if you are driving at c - speed of electro-magnetic radiation, the whole show would have infinite mass, and, er cease to exist in a big way. Dragged towards a sun, or the nearest planet. Dodgy insurance claim.
The theory of switching on the headlights though, is fine, as according to relativity :
The beams would still shine out.
Think of light as being massless, (which it isn't, sort of), and it gets past the theories, (ish).

OK take playing table-tennis on a train. The ball is going back & forth at, say, 40mph.
The train passes through a station at 50mph, and the person on the platform goes - "that ball was travelling at 90mph.
Who is correct? - Both.
It's all relative.
Bob.

Answer 5

YES! In your frame of reference, the speed of light is 3 x 10^8 m/s relative to YOU (as always).

By saying, "you are driving at the speed of light", you are actually saying, "an observer sees you driving at the speed of light, relative to him/her self". In YOUR frame of reference, however, you are not moving at all (that's sort of a strange way to look at it, but it's technically correct), so your headlights have free reign to travel at the speed of light.

Does the observer see your headlights? No.
If you are travelling at the speed of light directly toward the observer, the frequency of your headlights will be infinite (doppler effect) and thus far, far out of the detectable range.
If you are travelling directly away from the observer, the frequency of your headlight will be zero.

Answer 6

Yes, light always behaves the same way.

If you are travelling at the speed of light (an impossilbity for you) and you played catch with one 50 feet away and threw the ball at them the ball is travelling faster than you are, but it's not exceeding the speed of light, it's only moving at 40 - 60 MPH relative to your stationary position inside a car.

Answer 7

No. You would be traveling at the same speed as the light coming from your head lights. Therefore the lights from your headlights would never be able to advance into your vision.

But I must say that anything with mass cannot travel the speed of light as it would take an infinite amount of energy to propel it at that speed... As speed increases weight increases....

Answer 8

'Blue' & 'Grimmy Tea' have pretty much got this question sown up - apart from one (possibly) interesting thought...

Energy (such as light) is mearly mass that has had it's vibrational quotant raised (if Einstein is to be believed ~ that whole MC squared = E thing....). So if you were travelling at the speed of light then you may well become light... maybe not to your own frame of reference, but to some dispassionate observer who is stationary.... So, how would you see yourself, were such a car feasible?... One assumes that you would see yourself no different. However, the stars and so forth may well look very different (to paraphrase an ancient seer). Their light out-put might just reveal itself in some seemingly matter-like form if you have raised your vibration enough to travel at light speed....

Answer 9

If it's dark how do you know you're travelling at the speed of light?

Seriously (yeah!) You really have to consider yourself travelling at just under the speed of light. It could be the tiniest bit slower. Now switch on your headlights and the light travels away from you at the speed of light, relative to your car. So it can easily be reflected from objects and return to you. It doesn't matter what speed you are going, light from your headlights travels away from you at 300,000 km/sec.

Answer 10

i think it relates to the concept of if you were on a train and you were going the same speed as a bullet and you fired a gun the bullet would go twice the speed. i think this can relate to the concept that you are thinking of as the car is going the speed of light but from the lights point of view you are stationary there fore the light travels twice the speed? so yes i belive u would be able to see where you were going