If I were in a ship at light speed, or close to it, and I shot a projectile out of the front, so it moved faster than the ship outwards, would it be able to go faster, or would it slow down the ship?
2007-03-30 12:21:27 · 4 answers · asked by Luis 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Relative to you it will seem like the cannonball shoots normally, but relative to a stationary observer (outside the ship) the cannonball will be moving in slow motion, almost undetectable.
In your (and the cannonball's) time frame, time slows down; distance becomes compressed; mass increases. So from your perspective, the cannonball seems to act normally, but in relative to the guy sitting still, outside, it is very heavy, moving vey slowly (time slows down), and any distance it moves is compressed way down.
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2007-03-30 12:33:29 · answer #1 · answered by tlbs101 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Relativity says you cannot travel AT the speed of light, though it doesn't not prevent traveling at speeds as close as you can imagine to the speed of light. If you are traveling slightly below the speed of light and fire the cannon, then people on the ship will see the projectile leave the ship at the usual speed. But someone off the ship, watching it move, will see the projectile moving faster than the ship, but still less than the speed of light, no matter how fast the projectile appears to the people on the ship. That's the paradox of relativity.
2007-03-30 19:33:28 · answer #2 · answered by jim n 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't travel at the speed of light. Thus the answer to the question doesn't really matter at all. No laws of physics can or will be broken because you'd have to break them to get going the speed of light anyway :p
A better question would be to address the problem at CLOSE to the speed of light. In this case...well, it would be a pretty funny sight.
Since the cannon ball or whatever would not be constantly outputting the required energy to maintain that velocity, the moment you fired it, it would backfire and smash into your ship. What a disaster!
And no, the laws of physics have not been touched!
2007-03-30 21:36:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. The cannonball would travel forward RELATIVE to the ship. But from say, the earth's pov, it would never have fired at all.
Relativity is weird!
2007-03-30 19:25:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋