2006-12-13 08:44:29 · 11 answers · asked by IM hip 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
You can't drive at the speed of light - you would have infinite mass, zero length and time would stand still (for you).
But if we make a slight modification that you are driving very near the speed of light, your head lights would appear normal - this is the basis of relativity and why it was so revolutionary - the speed of light is constant in all reference frames. Meaning, I will measure the photons leaving my head lights to be exactly the same velocity as you will standing still. That is because my "seconds" are longer than yours - my clock runs slower, thus the photons have "longer" to travel a specific length on my ruler than they do for you along your ruler. So for me even at near light speed, my headlights appear normal.
2006-12-16 14:03:37 · answer #1 · answered by kart_125cc 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on who you ask. You, as the driver of the car, may consider yourself stationary with the rest of the universe zipping by you at the speed of light. If you are approaching a sign, the law of the speed of light is not violated by the light getting to the sign before you because relative to your perspective, nothing is going faster than the speed of light.
The problem is if someone is standing on the side of the road you're driving on. He sees you approaching at the speed of light and watches you turn on your headlights. He will not see the light hit the sign before you pass it though, because in order for that to happen the light would have to be going faster than the speed of light, which is impossible by the theory of relativity.
Does that make sense? The same issue has been described much more eloquently by others.
2006-12-13 08:59:01 · answer #2 · answered by Deacon S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
More answers to this question can be found in a question posed yesterday about a person holding a torch traveling at the speed of light. The answer is that you, the driver, will see the headlights, and someone else on the road will see the headlights, though your perception of the circumstances will be different.
2006-12-13 09:03:58 · answer #3 · answered by woocowgomu 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no longer somewhat. in case you've been somewhat occurring the speed of light, then time, area and mass would attain a singularity. by the time your finger had pressed the headlight button, the entire relax of the Universe would have already got handed by eternity, so there will be no longer something left to basic up. besides to, you would choose the Universe as infinitely skinny and your self as stretching each and each and every of how around the Universe, so there will be no area purely before your vehicle for the basic to bypass into, purely extra vehicle.
2016-11-26 01:26:08 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Moot point: its not possible to drive at the speed of light. That begins to deal with quantum physics, and how the matter would revert back to energy.
2006-12-13 08:46:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you drove the speed of light, I think that you and the car would disenigrate because the speed of light is laser sharp...
2006-12-13 09:29:27 · answer #6 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it's called synchrotron radiation, and it works so well that particle accelerator builders have to put in shielding for this sort of stuff.
2006-12-13 08:49:40 · answer #7 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think you could make a U turn on the headlights even if you were going slow, but it would probably break them.
2006-12-13 08:50:10 · answer #8 · answered by rockdog935 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you run at 10 mph and can throw a baseball 30 mph
How fast can you throw a baseball while running.
2006-12-13 08:52:54 · answer #9 · answered by Electric_Napalm 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No. Mostly because I forgot to change the burned-out fuses.
2006-12-13 08:48:29 · answer #10 · answered by gregory_s19 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋