Spacehip, the speed of light and headlights.
Discussion
You know the question already - a spaceship is travlling at almost the speed of light, see. I mean c. It turns on its headlights.
What does the spaceship captain see? A beam of light that is barely moving ahead of his craft, or a regular beam of light?
What does the headlight beam look like to alien sitting on a nearby planet?
What does the spaceship captain see? A beam of light that is barely moving ahead of his craft, or a regular beam of light?
What does the headlight beam look like to alien sitting on a nearby planet?
The magic thing about the speed of light is it is a constant no matter who the observer is
So the guy in the space ship sees a beam of light traveling away from him at the speed of light
Where as a ET on a rock watching the beam of light come past him also sees the beam of light traveling at the speed of light
When you look into particle physics and some of the other nutty branches of physics, The bibles explanation for the universe existing is far more sensible and easy to understand.
So the guy in the space ship sees a beam of light traveling away from him at the speed of light
Where as a ET on a rock watching the beam of light come past him also sees the beam of light traveling at the speed of light
When you look into particle physics and some of the other nutty branches of physics, The bibles explanation for the universe existing is far more sensible and easy to understand.
This is based on my guess work, but not any form of scientific fact (apart from the second bit), i would happily have someone prove me wrong.
He would see the lights normally - relative to his ship they are going at the speed of light. As for what it would look like from a planet watching him, it would be the same as looking at a light being switched on a large distance away, the light will be going quick enough that you don't see it "extending"
It is possible to have things travel faster than the speed of light - if a plane flys over your garden, its shadow will move quicker up a wall than on the ground - if the plane is going close to the speed of light, the shadow will being going faster than c. There are a few more examples of this, but they don't break the law of "nothing can be faster than light" because they cant be used to transmit information.
He would see the lights normally - relative to his ship they are going at the speed of light. As for what it would look like from a planet watching him, it would be the same as looking at a light being switched on a large distance away, the light will be going quick enough that you don't see it "extending"
It is possible to have things travel faster than the speed of light - if a plane flys over your garden, its shadow will move quicker up a wall than on the ground - if the plane is going close to the speed of light, the shadow will being going faster than c. There are a few more examples of this, but they don't break the law of "nothing can be faster than light" because they cant be used to transmit information.
As time is relative, as you approach c, time would slow to the point where the light leaving the ship appears to be travelling at c. As said above, once you read into particle physics fully, you're head will either explode, or you're eyes will go all funny. If you read a book on it and think you've got it, you are either much smarter than most, or you really didn't get it at all!
For a starter for 10, have a look at wave-particle duality. That should either get you interested, or make you run for the hills.
For a starter for 10, have a look at wave-particle duality. That should either get you interested, or make you run for the hills.
Bushmaster said:
If there were a second spaceship moving at around lightspeed, ahead ofour spaceship and going in the same direction and we wanted to flash our lights to get him to move over, would he see us?
Yes. Although since space is pretty big, you should be able to safely pull off a nice banana over take, just to annoy all the rospa types.Bushmaster said:
If there were a second spaceship moving at around lightspeed, ahead ofour spaceship and going in the same direction and we wanted to flash our lights to get him to move over, would he see us?
Yep he would see the beam traveling past him at the speed of light its particle physics its not meant to make sense
as the ship is projecting the light GOING AT nearly the speed of light, as the light leaves the bulbs it would then be travelling at the same velosity as the ship, so then it would be going nearly twice the speed of light (if thats possable)
think of it like when you throw something out of a moving car hard and foward, cos its matching velosity with the car you throwing it will add extra speed and will go foward like you threw it standing on the ground [minus the air friction]
HTH
think of it like when you throw something out of a moving car hard and foward, cos its matching velosity with the car you throwing it will add extra speed and will go foward like you threw it standing on the ground [minus the air friction]
HTH
Edited by Urban_Ninja on Saturday 31st January 11:34
Urban_Ninja said:
as the ship is projecting the light GOING AT nearly the speed of light, as the light leaves the bulbs it would then be travelling at the same velosity as the ship, so then it would be going nearly twice the speed of light (if thats possable)
think of it like when you throw something out of a moving car hard and foward, cos its matching velosity with the car you throwing it will add extra speed and will go foward like you threw it standing on the ground [minus the air friction]
HTH
Only works at low speeds. As you approach c, all the normal rules go straight out the window.think of it like when you throw something out of a moving car hard and foward, cos its matching velosity with the car you throwing it will add extra speed and will go foward like you threw it standing on the ground [minus the air friction]
HTH
Edited by Urban_Ninja on Saturday 31st January 11:34
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