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Light's speed...
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by
on 2007-03-03 23:50:50 |
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I saw this question on a science show, but apparently the answer was never shown. What happens when ur car is travelling at light speed and u switch on the headlights? I though the answer to be at light is at stationary(no light), but the problem is how can there be no light? (X.X)  A friend of today is an enemy of tomorrow. I am an empty shell. I don't feel loved at all |
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Re: Light's speed...
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by
on 2007-03-04 00:31:55 (edited 2007-03-04 00:47:59)
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repeat topic but, since i feel like typing, i will repeat answer here. you ask a silly question because there is no well defined speed of one object in isolation! to describe a moving body, you MUST describe both the object's inertial frame, and the observer's inertial frame. also, keep in mind that the speed of light is a constant of nature, and is agreed upon by all observers. let's say i am the observer, standing somewhere along an infinitely long and measurably strait race track. let's say you are the driver of the car. lets say the car drives by me very fast, and I measure it's speed as being 299,792,457 m/s (c-1m/s). i will see the car whiz by, but it will be squished in the direction of it's movement due to length contraction. i will also see your headlight's on the pavement, however this light will be blue shifted when you are approaching me, and red shifted after you have whizzed by. when you look out your window, you will see the me whiz by at some point, and i will look to have been squished flat in the direction of your travel, like a card-board cutout of a person. you will see me when i come into range of your headlights, which will shine on me, the light bouncing off my body and coming back to your eyes. the race track is also squished in the direction you travel, so if the road had an end, you would reach it quite soon. too bad it doesn't! in short, no, you cannot slow down and stop light by changing your speed relative to it. the speed of light is constant in all reference frames. 
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