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speed of light

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joebob296 On February 24, 2009




Whittier,
#1New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:23:56
If I was going the speed of light in a car and I turned on my headlights what would happen? All impossibilities aside.
Asme251 On December 21, 2017
Area Man





Boston, Massachusetts
#2New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:27:56
You would see it moving away from you at the speed of light.
jonnythan On August 02, 2014
Bringer of rad mirth


Deleted



Here and there,
#3New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:27:59
You would observe your headlights working just as you'd expect.

If you were to measure the speed of the light coming out of your headlights, you'd measure it to be about 300,000 km/s.

The speed of light is invariant. Reality is set up in such a way that it's impossible to measure the speed of light in a vacuum to be anything besides 300,000 km/s.
jonnythan On August 02, 2014
Bringer of rad mirth


Deleted



Here and there,
#4New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:30:33
Also note that the world around you would look incredibly warped and distorted. But the headlights would work.
Sonnet On May 13, 2009

Deleted



,
#5New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:31:27
joebob296 On February 24, 2009




Whittier,
#6New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:32:21
As long as my headlights work its ok.
jonnythan On August 02, 2014
Bringer of rad mirth


Deleted



Here and there,
#7New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:35:04
Also it's worth noting that if you're going that fast, the headlights probably won't actually do you any good
humphriesd84 On February 28, 2009




pinson, American Samoa
#8New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:39:26
you would still see it moving away from you at the speed of light
alexkidd On February 07, 2012
Captain Awesome!


Deleted



in a bog, Ireland
#9New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:52:39
So is it time that's effected instead of the speed of light that lets it travel ahead of you as normal?
jonnythan On August 02, 2014
Bringer of rad mirth


Deleted



Here and there,
#10New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:58:44
@alexkidd Said

So is it time that's effected instead of the speed of light that lets it travel ahead of you as normal?


Not exactly. It's more like the inherent speed limit of the universe means that no information of any kind can propogate faster than that speed limit.

When you're traveling close to the maximum speed at which information can possibly travel, your ability to perceive objects and events is severely compromised. The invariance of the speed of light coupled with the fact that it's a true universal speed limit basically means that f***ed up things happen at that speed.

It really appears for all the world that, if the universe is literally built around anything, it's the speed of light. Everything - time, space, energy, etc - revolves around that concept.
humphriesd84 On February 28, 2009




pinson, American Samoa
#11New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 02:59:50
@alexkidd Said

So is it time that's effected instead of the speed of light that lets it travel ahead of you as normal?



it doesn't matter how fast your going light is always reflected off yourself at the speed of light and the closer you get to the speed of light the slower time moves
alexkidd On February 07, 2012
Captain Awesome!


Deleted



in a bog, Ireland
#12New Post! Feb 23, 2009 @ 03:05:29
@jonnythan Said

Not exactly. It's more like the inherent speed limit of the universe means that no information of any kind can propogate faster than that speed limit.

When you're traveling close to the maximum speed at which information can possibly travel, your ability to perceive objects and events is severely compromised. The invariance of the speed of light coupled with the fact that it's a true universal speed limit basically means that f***ed up things happen at that speed.

It really appears for all the world that, if the universe is literally built around anything, it's the speed of light. Everything - time, space, energy, etc - revolves around that concept.



wow,
pretty interesting thanks.
pretty mind-blowing stuff i wish i had a better grasp of it to be honest.
jck200 On April 22, 2009




cardiff, United Kingdom
#13New Post! Feb 25, 2009 @ 23:59:25
The only thing going at the speed of light is light so anything going faster is in the dark as it started off in front of all the light in the first place and is now long gone out of sight and out of the light.

I have yet to see anything travelling at the speed of light so what we actually have is a load of theory on what happens if we could travel that fast. This is known as a wild guess.

I am not sure we have a perfect vacuum to test the speed of light anyway as anything in a so called vacuum might contain stuff we cannot detect.

Anyway given near vacuum conditions in space it would be the vacuum force that drives light at any speed concluding that it may well be in the vacuum of space at significantly longer distances that could accelerate an object just as fast as light and there may well be objects beyond the universe that did travel out of it faster than light.

The cosmic background radiation can just as easily be coming from outside the universe but who cares when all and sundry use it to claim a big bang sceanrio, does not really matter if there are alternative possibilities these days as far as cosmology is concerned, just fit it into the theory and that will do.

john
spadge On February 18, 2010
Aging Disgracefully


Deleted



Santa Land, United Kingdom
#14New Post! Feb 26, 2009 @ 00:04:16
I am on the understanding that the speed of light is not nessessily constant. I read somewhere that from vast distances, it can slow down. Particually if it passes through certain filters. Is there any truth in this?
Lili On July 12, 2019
....................





Sunshine Land,
#15New Post! Feb 26, 2009 @ 00:08:08
I thought I recalled reading about Einstein speculating that if he were a passenger on a train that was increasing in speed, approaching the speed of light, that if he looks outside the window, things would not be their ordinary color, they would start to take on a hue of the rainbow, kind of like the Dopler effect with sound, but with light. This effect is used in determining the location and velocity of stars for instance I believe, it's called red shift and blue shift. Anyways, so Einstein imagined that you would sort of pass through a rainbow effect as you approach the speed of light. So doesn't that mean that your headlights would not appear to work as normal at that speed?
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