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??? for the scientists here
iceracerx
Member Posts: 8,860 ✭✭✭
You are in a car traveling at the speed of light. You turn the headlight switch to "on".
Does anything happen?
Does anything happen?
Comments
What if the switch is made by Semens?
then the car was designed by DWS if it's made out of semen.
If I remember correctly, light does not behave that way. Light appears to move at the speed of light, independent of the speed of the viewer. But I think at the speed of light time stops, so it might be kind of difficult to get to the light switch in the first place.
I would like to know where did you buy your engine? And do they have anymore in stock?[;)]
Shucks, my 6.1 Powdersmoke'll do better than that!
Please dont ask anyone on Capitol Hill as they might spend millions having this hypothetical farce study done. I think you think too much.....too
make a phone call its already in the works.
quote:Originally posted by dennisnielsen
Please dont ask anyone on Capitol Hill as they might spend millions having this hypothetical farce study done. I think you think too much.....too
make a phone call its already in the works.
At a cost of 50 Mil. to the taxpayers !
You people aren't supposed to know about
warp speed for another six centuries.
if you were standing on planet X and saw the car go by at the speed of light, it would appear to be a car frozen in time with photons shooting out of the headlights, also frozen in time. but it's all going by at the speed of light.
a few light years away on planet Y, the photons coming out of the headlights would have made some progress.
keep in mind that nothing about the car is actually traveling at the speed of light relative to the rest of the universe, because mass can't do that. it becomes infinitely heavier as it approaches the speed of light. extra speed is translated into mass instead. that's how it is that the headlights can actually work, because that's light but the rest of the car is matter that has mass.
Fire a gun..light + fps of bullet.
Turn on headlight..light times light.
Shine light out the back window..light beam starts at the point you turned on the light, and goes back to the point of origin. When you turn off the light, the beam will stop at the point you shut it off.
Think of it as a skywriting airplane making smoke symbols. Joe
You caused the first occurence, all other occurences are relative to your first action. Joe
EDIT:
Remember..folks were having this same discussion about exceeding the speed of sound as little as sixty-one years ago. Never discount any possibility, or your mind atrophies, and dies a slow death. Joe
Wouldn't the light travel away from it's source at the speed of light? If the source were traveling at the speed of light, and the light was traveling away from its source at the speed of light, wouldn't that mean that the light was traveling at 2x the speed of light![}:)]
Yep. If you shone the light forward. However, if you shone the light rearward, the beam would begin at the point you turned it on, and would travel with you (elongating), until you shut off the light, then the beam would stop. Sorta like a very long "dash" in the heavens. You wouldn't see it, however, unless you were in the energy path created by the light. The only time you can see your car's headlights is during a fog, etc. Best, Joe
sorta like smoke fumes in a moving car with windows closed.
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Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
Former NSSA All American
Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
MO, CT, VA.
The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off, with off indicating that your wiring harness is now on fire.
what good would they be at that speed
The man asked a very valid question and got a lot of smart * answers. If you don't know or at least have a theory then why answer at all? A couple how ever were well thought out. I don't know but sure would like to. I don't buy the theory that nothing can exceed the speed of light either.
Damn, retirement is making you pissy. Don
I don't buy the theory that nothing can exceed the speed of light either.
You would be correct,
Eat a few pickled eggs with lousiana supreme habanero sauce on it, one of them tail winds will clear a room quicker than you could turn the lights on.
Haven't retired yet. Just wait if you want to see pissy! [}:)]
I know. You need to make a trip down here, we could put the grand kids on the horses, shoot a few hogs and maybe toss a few beers. Don
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_095.html
quote:Dear Cecil:
I have a question about the inability of matter to exceed the speed of light.
Suppose I am in a spaceship traveling at the speed of light minus five miles per hour. What would happen if I fired a gun in the direction that the ship is moving? Or tried to run forward at six miles per hour?
Would I prove Einstein wrong? --John B., Niles, Illinois
Dear John:
There are two ways we can go about this.
First there is the Way of the Wimp, wherein I simply tell you no, you wouldn't prove Einstein wrong, and we leave it at that. This avoids distracting complications, but leaves something to be desired from the standpoint of intellectual rigor.
Then there is the Way of Righteousness, which requires mental tenacity and moxie. Fortify yourself and we'll give it a shot...
Read the article for the Way of Righteousness.
According to Einstein, we cannot reach or exceed the speed of light. If we did, we would turn into energy (or something like that) and time would slow to a halt.
Has anyone heard of TACHYONS? For those interested in such things, many articles are available on line.
The speed of light is THE top of the speed heap and no person or thing can travel that fast. IF you did, your molecules would come unglued [;)]
You theory begs the question; does light have mass? Einstein and Hawkings maintained that nothing with MASS can exceed the speed of light.
PS bobski - relativity is the answer (I may have known the answer before I asked the question).
And this is for Kristov -
if you are traveling at the speed of light, and you turned on your lights, in theory the lights would come on but they would be no use to you,because you are traveling at the same speed.
second theory says that the lights would shine in front of you because the light from the car is traveling at x speed, with the car. it could foreseeably then leave the vehicle at an accelerated x+x.
one must remember that theories are only thoughts of how something is before it is either a, proved or b, disproved. current technology would not be able to prove or dispel the formentioned theories
second theory says that the lights would shine in front of you because the light from the car is traveling at x speed, with the car. it could foreseeably then leave the vehicle at an accelerated x+x.
No, it wouldn't be x+x. (See the article linked upthread for the equation and explanation.) But the light would appear to be ahead of you because you're compressed along the axis of travel.