what would happen if you turned on the headlights on a spaceship traveling at the speed of light?

Answer 1

nothing youd be traveling at the speed of time theory says as you approach the speed of light time slows down so if you where traveling that fast time would be frozen, but if you want to know what youd see blackness for the light wouldnt be able to reach your eyes for processing at that speed and probably for that matter anything the whole experiance would be like being blind and deaf going faster than sound and light would do that also as you started slowing down you would see after images of or ghosts of the past and future untill you slowed to a speed more reasonable einstien talks about the effect of gravity and speed on time quit exstenively it's pretty cool like you know if you fall at the same rate of gravity that time slows down as well only a very very very small fraction but enough to be recorded it has somthing to do with gravity bending light waves around the earth and can on some level actaully bend time its self if your into this sort of thing read some qutaum phsyics i know it sounds scary but its really not and really quite interesting!

knowlage and preception
P.E.A.R
princeton anomoly research program
(great book)

Answer 2

You have mostly incorrect answers here...

As some have pointed out a ship cannot travel at the speed of light (because it has mass).

but it CAN travel at 99.999999999999999999999999% the speed of light... (pick as many 9's as you like)

So, the question is still valid in this limiting case.

It turns out that the speed of the ship does not matter. The light will always travel away from the bulb at exactly the speed of light, regardless of who is observing it. The speed of light is a constant that must be the same for all observers regardless of their inertial reference frame. This is all you need to know about special relativity (along with the assumption that physics is the same everywhere in the universe). If you follow this line of thinking, you can derive the rest.

Answer 3

Whenever you mention the speed of light, you have to specify the point of reference, because light travels at the same speed relative to all observers, regardless with their state of motion or rest. Therefore, when you're on that spaceship, and you turn on those "headlights," the light will travel in front of you an additional 300,000 meters per second. To someone in front of you however, the light will reach him at the same instant that the spaceship does. This is according to Einstein's theory. I know, it's a paradox.

Answer 4

convinced, mild can go back and forth the speed of sunshine for sure. yet it truly is by using the indisputable fact that is a mass-a lot less particle. The debris that spaceships are made up of all have mass. once you upload mass issues commence to get weird and wonderful. action stops, mass will grow to be countless, etc...hence it really is not available. yet a number of those concept experiments are what led Einstein the strengthen the concept of relativity. lets say you're driving a automobile 10 cases "fly velocity" (10f), now a fly contained in the again of the motorcar flies to the front at precisely fly-velocity(1f, the fastest velocity a fly can...properly fly). . Does the fly harm into the again of the window? No, it quite flies ahead to the front. the point is, the speed of the fly is relative. The flies relative velocity to someone contained in the motorcar is 1f. Relative to someone outside searching contained in the window on the fly, it appears that evidently to be vacationing 11f. mild would not exaclty play via those guidelines(search for "time dilation" to get better information as to why) yet with slightly of success you get the perception.

Answer 5

The answer isn't too difficult really. Maybe mostly based on physics. Headlights, or the speed of light, starts from the platform it is based on. Theoretically, the headlights would function normally. Maybe a brilliant physicist will be along shortly. The lights would emit light, they wouldn't be dark.

Answer 6

I remember these complicated questions from my college physics courses! There are DETAILED equations that deal with this type of subject.

Look-- 70 years ago, we thought it was impossible to travel at the speed of sound. We did it and then some. I know there are physics "groupies" that are going to disagree with me, but one of these days there will be a human being in a spaceship that will do this very experiment.

Answer 7

*Sigh*

A spaceship can't travel at the speed of light. If you're going to have one impossible thing, then you're got to have them all.

If a spaceship *could* travel at the speed of light, then it could also turn into a flock of birds. Or talk. Or turn light into chicken soup. Or -- anything could happen !!

Answer 8

i suspect that the light could never get ahead of its source (the spaceship) and wouldn't illuminate your way



P.S you would slow down, but not necessarily stop, depending on what the speed of light in your headlights is on, because scientists can now alter the spped of light its no longer a constant

Answer 9

you wouldn't know because you couldn't see it,I don't think its that hard the ship is already moving at the speed of light the beam from the head light moves at the speed of light and would never catch up with the ship. in order to shine on the ship the beam from the head light would need to move faster than the speed of light .

Answer 10

light is instantaneus it will be as if ur going normal speeds down a high way no matter if ur going the speed of light and it would take houres to explain it propely or with correct spelling