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Theoritically if I could ride a plane travelling at the speed of light and hold a mirror infront of me... what would I see considering that my image is also travelling at the speed of light? (Relative to light it will be faster than light)

2007-01-04 14:55:14 · 7 answers · asked by Aga 2 in Science & Mathematics Physics

7 answers

the mirror would also be travelling at the speed of light
you would see yourself

2007-01-04 14:59:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

No, it will not be faster than light. You will be traveling at the speed of light. So, if you held a mirror up to see what is behind you, it will be the same as if you were not moving at all.

Let me explain. If you had a clock that was set at 12 noon right behind you once you left at the speed of light... the image behind you will be the clock that is still at 12 noon. The image or speed at which it is traveling is the same.

Therefore, the image, which is light radiation traveling with you... remains the same.

2007-01-04 22:58:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

as you approach the speed of light your vision would tunnel. It's physically impossible to ACTUALLY reach the speed of light, but i suppose if you could, you would probably see nothing but black....so you wouldn't see the mirror or an image in it.
You see images in a mirror because light is reflected back off of it, but if you were traveling at the speed of light you would be just as fast as the initial light reaching the mirror...so the mirror would fail (as would all other vision)

The mirror would not be traveling faster than light either...it would be traveling at the same speed you are (the speed of light).

2007-01-04 22:59:07 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Theoretically you are correct. However this phenomena doesnot occur in real life. The relative velocity of aproach of two moving masses toward each other would would be the scalar sum of each moving mass velocity.
The collision resulting velocity would be less the relative velocity of the two moving masses. if the moving masses were moving at the speed of light ,which can only be the mass of two light particles, would have a relative velocity of approach of the sum of their velocity which would be twice the speed of light.
At collision their collision velocity would be less than their relative approach velocity.

2007-01-04 23:25:47 · answer #4 · answered by goring 6 · 0 0

Setting aside the fact that Einstein theorizes that you cannot actually go the speed of light, your question is a great way to learn about the Theory of Relativity. Short answer is that you'd see yourself just like always. Long answer which explains that follows:

To understand Relativity, you must understand that when you say that you are traveling "at the speed of light" you are only traveling at that speed relative to a certain frame of reference.

The classic example is a train. Let's say that you are riding a train going "30 mph." You ask the porter for a glass of water. You set the glass of water down on the little table that folds out from the seat back in front of you. Now, that glass of water is on a train going 30 mph, but it does not rush off into the distance away from you at the speed of 30 mph. Why??? Because you, too, are on the train and are travelling in the same direction and at the same speed as your glass of water. This is cool because that means your water will still be there when you reach for it. Okay - now then - I am standing beside the raliroad tracks as the train goes by. From my point of view (which Einstein calls my "frame of reference"), the train is going past me at 30 mph. So are you, and so is you glass of water. So - from my frame of reference, the glass of water is going 30 mph, and from your frame of reference the glass of water is going zero.

OK - now we think we understand, but we do not (this is the really tricky part and the part that goes directly to your question). Einstein's theory is that no matter what speed that glass of water is going relative to my frame of reference or your frame of reference (remember it is going 30 mph to me and zero to you), the speed of light is the same for me, for you and for the glass of water. So - no matter what our own relative speeds are, we all experince the speed of light as a constant (roughly 300,000 kilometers per second) This is what makes Einstein so difficult for most people.

What Einstein is saying is that you cannot add velocities to determine relativistic speed. In other words, if two cars pass each other in opposite directions and each is going 25 mph relative to the ground, then you actually cannot add 25 + 25 to determine what each car's speed is relative to the other, because the relative speed of each car to the other is not quite 50 mph due to the effect of Relativity. Remember that the speed of light is a constant for the ground and both cars. Thus, the speed of the cars in opposite directions has zero effect on the speed of light for either. NOTE - it may as well be 50 mph because at such low speeds, the effects of Relativity are very minimal.

Yeah - it is confusing. To finally answer your question, you would see yourself just like you always see yourself in a mirror. Remember, the earth is hurtling around the sun, the sun is zooming through space at enormous speeds, and our galaxy is zooming along at enormous speeds as well, and you can see yourself in the mirror just fine - even though you and the mirror are probably moving at or near the speed of light relative to some distant objects in the universe at this very moment.

Einstein figured all this out mostly by thougth experiments in which he reasonaed that the speed of light HAS to be the same for all objects, regardless their motion. As such, what follows is a VERY compliacted theory in which EVERY object has its own frame of reference and its own Relativity. That is the only way the universe can work as a cohesive whole.

NOTE: Einstein also holds that only light can actually go the speed of light - nothing else can, so you could only approach the speed of light, but you could never actually ahcieve that speed - the effect of getting very near light speed would be enormous with regard to your experience of time and space. At light speed, to you, you'd be everywhere, all the time, and at once - time and space would kind of have no real meaning to you. That just did not suit Einstein, so he reasoned that you could not go light speed, and his mathematics demonstrate that he was most likley correct that you cannot actually go light speed.

2007-01-04 23:34:51 · answer #5 · answered by Quantum Aurelius 2 · 0 0

You'll see a hideous looking man.

2007-01-04 22:56:31 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

You must be a very lonely guy.

2007-01-04 22:58:13 · answer #7 · answered by guicho79 4 · 0 0

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