This is all hypathetical and will be interesting to find an answer,
If You was able to sit on the beam of light from a spot light when it first starts out and ride that beam as it travels into outerspace and then someone shuts the light off would you keep going on the begining of the light that is traveling or would you just stop traveling?? The point is would the light that is already traveling keep going after the light was shut off?
2007-12-14 23:46:12 · 19 answers · asked by SPACEGUY 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
ok ok as I said this is all hypethetical, easy easy now, Ya I know about light friends,,
2007-12-15 00:13:24 · update #1
ouch fesson,
2007-12-15 00:30:49 · update #2
oh I mean faesson,,
2007-12-15 00:32:10 · update #3
I would guess 'yes', because of what I was told about what we see in the night sky.... since the light from the stars left them however many light years ago, that's what we see on this end, even tho they may have gone nova and blinked out already in REAL TIME, theirs....... so if someone was sitting on a beam of light from one of them, he'd still be travelling thisaway even if the star was actually 'gone'.....
2007-12-14 23:51:48 · answer #1 · answered by meanolmaw 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What do you mean 'sit on a beam of light'? Straddle it? Have it shine right up your .... behind you?
There are experiments being launched into space right now - I think Japanese - called 'solar sails'. Imagine an old sailing ship - and you fire peas at it from a peashooter. As each pea hits it, it either gets absorbed (splodged!) onto the sail or bounces off. Either way some of its momentum (mass x velocity) gets transferred to the sail - and pushes it away. Newton again. Mind you, as photons CANNOT lose speed, and apparently have no mass I'm not too sure how it works!
But anyway, keep shooting, the sail keeps accelerating. Stop shooting (or shining) and the thing sails on forever unless something else hits it.
So you ask >>would the light that is already traveling keep going after the light was shut off?<< Yes it would keep going, but it would, by bouncing off, be going somewhere else having helped you on your way a teenyweeny bit.
2007-12-15 14:12:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The source of light and heat is combustion.
Stamp out the fire and the heat will linger because it was conducted into the ground and air around the fire; however, the light is extinguished the instant the fire goes out and it has never been known to flicker around the place even for a split second.
There are no conductors of heat in Space, there is nothing in which the heat could linger, in this case the heat would also be extinguished the instant the fire goes out
Its not rocket science, its common sense.
The only reason for maintaining the myth about the speed of light is to sell books and make students feel stupid when they cannot grasp the ridiculous idea.
Not everyone can get an A rating and all the best job offers in town.
2007-12-15 09:09:59 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is the question Albert Einstein asked.
If you look up the night sky, the light from the stars you see came from afar. Many of the stars have since passed on and is no longer there.
However, the light still travelled on to reach you.
So, yes, to answer your question, if you were to sit on the light and travel out to space, and someone back home switches off the spot light, you will still travel on. You will not even know the light has been turned off.
2007-12-15 07:54:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some stars are millions of light years away. Thousands of years after that star has supernova'd, the light from the nonexistent star is still reaching earth. A flashlight beam would not be as ideal as a laser, because with a flashlight the light photons are different wave lengths
2007-12-15 07:53:52 · answer #5 · answered by Marissa1982 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That light would travel forever. However, the concentration of the light dissapates. Kind of how a light from a flash light is really bright if you put it on your hand right in front of it; if you shine it at a wall 20 feet away it's much more dim. But the light travels forever.
2007-12-15 07:53:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, the light keeps traveling. If you were to look at a star that was billions of light years away, and it were to all of a sudden "go out" we wouldn't be able to see it "go out" until billions of years later. Because the light has to continue traveling that vast distance before it reaches Earth. Hope that made sense : )
2007-12-15 07:53:06 · answer #7 · answered by Grey Man 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Dont worry... You ll keep travelling until you get hit on some thing (That may too either reflect , absorb or transmit the light but not you!!!!!!)
The reason is that light energy is emitted in packets of energy called photons. So, if you start you are sitting on one f the photons!!!!!!
Try to travel on a photon... May be you ve to tell us whether Tachyons (Particles that travel at speed greater than light ) exists or not!!
2007-12-15 10:29:05 · answer #8 · answered by AALUNGA >>RETURNS 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You'd keep going. Remember, light travels 'at the speed of light', so you (the traveler) would be quite a distance from the source (the spotlight) before the shut off signal ever reached you...Hypothetically, of course:)
2007-12-15 07:50:55 · answer #9 · answered by Baloneyus_Monk 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Really, top contributer in Astronomy & Space ?
Ever hear of Newtons first law ? If you were moving when the light shut off, you would keep moving. Of course since you have mass, you could not go as fast the "the beginning of the light that is traveling" so it would leave you behind, but you would keep moving at the same velocity as you were when the spot light turns off.
2007-12-15 08:08:00 · answer #10 · answered by tinkertailorcandlestickmaker 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋