If you're in a car...
- Thread starter Dr_-X-
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Mass of a Car: About 2000 kgCitrus Insanity said:
Assuming you come to a dead stop, and assuming no nuclear reactions occur (which they probably would):
E = m*v^2 = 2,000 kg * (299,792,458 m/s)^2 = 1.798x10^20 J = About 1/3~1/4 of the world's total annual energy consumption.
(Wikipedia: 4.37x1020 J, Total World Annual Energy consumption (15TW years))
In other words, OUCH.
If I was in a car travelling at the speed of light, I'm reasonably sure that I'd currently be stationary, approximately half way through a mountain.
Einstein... still relevant to this day.AvsJoe said:
Yeah, this had a pretty obvious answer. The light would still be there, but you just wouldn't be able to see it.
To be serious, this (I think) is the correct answer. Apparently the only way this makes sense is if time in your reference frame is moving much slower than it is for people outside your reference frame.mexicola said:
I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough to comment on the mathematics, but they've tested it, and it is true. High-precision chronometers record time as moving just slightly slower when they're mounted on satellites speeding around earth at thousands of miles an hour than they do when sitting on a desk somewhere on Earth's surface.
The light will get to the glass at the speed of light, sure, but once outside the bulbs everything is going as fast as the light can go so it cannot get any farther. Thus you will never be able to see the light from your headlights.p3t3r said:
Lemme put it another way. Let's say you are on a roof of a train going 15km/hr. You start running to the from of the train at 15km/hr. You are going 30km/hr relative to the ground. But once you jump off the train (and assuming you don't lose a stride), you will only be going 15km/hr relative to the ground, same as the train. You will not be going any faster and thus will not be getting farther from it. Same as a car going the speed of light, the light from the headlight will never exceed farther than the bulbs.
I wish I could explain this better but this is why you'll never see the light.
It will be getting to the edge of the bulb but not a millimeter further. Once it gets out of the bulb the references change from not moving to moving as fast as light can go.mexicola said:
I really wish I could explain this better.
This is a similar question to 'What would happen if you went back in time and...?' as it is physically impossible for anything but light to reach the speed of light, so there are enough undefined factors in the question that you can't actually answer it.
From your reference frame, the light exits your headlights at 300000000 meters per second.
From a stationary reference frame, the light exits your headlights at 300000000 meters per second.
However, an object of nonzero mass cannot travel at the speed of light. At a speed close to that, though, the above applies. The speed of light is the same in all reference frames.
The reference frame isn't just a car- shaped bubble anyway.
(EDIT: Mistyped 300000000 as 30000000)
From a stationary reference frame, the light exits your headlights at 300000000 meters per second.
However, an object of nonzero mass cannot travel at the speed of light. At a speed close to that, though, the above applies. The speed of light is the same in all reference frames.
This isn't true. If you're running at 15 kph in the same direction of motion as the train, which is also moving at 15kph, then you will be moving at 30kph relative to the ground. When you reach the end of the train and end up on the ground, you'll still be moving at 30kph. As a human being, your legs will get tangled up and you'll fall, but if we neglect friction you'll be sliding along at 30kph.AvsJoe said:
The reference frame isn't just a car- shaped bubble anyway.
(EDIT: Mistyped 300000000 as 30000000)
Haha, yes.Pimppeter2 said:
Also I ride a bicycle. Those don't have headlights. But they have reflectors.
