I hate being late for a speed of light thread but I think it should be noted that the speed of light has been broken... or rather sped up. Scientist sped of light by passing it through cesium gas and as a result began exiting the other opposite side before it had even finished entering it.
speed of electricity
- Thread starter B34ST1Y
- Start date
- Status
killians45
Fully Optimized
- Messages
- 3,243
yes, look at the listing of links I have... it talks about these experiments... both of speeding up and slowing down light. And as noted above, if traveling at the speed of light, and you turn your headlights on the speed of light does NOT double in speed but stays constant. The light speed is relative to the object, read the links I've posted it explains it all.
killians45
Fully Optimized
- Messages
- 3,243
if you REALLY want to be technical there is no definative answer to this question, only theories. However, some experiments have provided data that shows that if you were to travel the speed of light, then the light cone would itself travel at its normal speed and would NOT travel 2x as fast as itself. Here is an exerpt from Einsteins theory of special relativity:
In 1905 he realised how it could be that light always goes at the same speed no matter how fast you go. Events that are simultaneous in one reference frame will happen at different times in another that has a velocity relative to the first. Space and time cannot be taken as absolute. On this basis Einstein constructed the theory of special relativity, which has since been well confirmed by experiment.
Questions of relative velocity in relativity can be answered using the velocity subtraction formula v = (w - u)/(1 - wu/c^2) (see relativity FAQ: velocity addition). If you are driving at a speed u relative to me and you measure the speed of light in the same direction (w = c in my frame), the formula gives v the speed of light in your reference frame as, v = (c-u)/(1 - u/c). For any speed u less than c this gives v = c so the speed of light is the same for you. But if u = c the formula degenerates to zero divided by zero; a meaningless answer.
If you want to know what happens when you are driving at very nearly the speed of light, an answer can be given. Within your car you observe no unusual effects. You can look at yourself in your mirror which is moving with the car and you will look the same as usual. Looking out of the window is a different matter. The light from your headlights will always go at the speed of light in your reference frame. It will strike any object in its path and be reflected back. Everything else will be coming towards you at nearly the speed of light, so the light reflected from it will be Doppler shifted to very high frequencies--towards the ultraviolet or beyond. If you have a suitable camera you could take a snapshot. The objects passing are contracted in length but because of the different times of passage for the light and effects of aberration, the snapshot will show the objects you pass as rotated.
The reason, though, this can not be ever truelly proven is because we can not go the speed of light so this is a hypothetical question and thus can not have a definative answer.
In 1905 he realised how it could be that light always goes at the same speed no matter how fast you go. Events that are simultaneous in one reference frame will happen at different times in another that has a velocity relative to the first. Space and time cannot be taken as absolute. On this basis Einstein constructed the theory of special relativity, which has since been well confirmed by experiment.
Questions of relative velocity in relativity can be answered using the velocity subtraction formula v = (w - u)/(1 - wu/c^2) (see relativity FAQ: velocity addition). If you are driving at a speed u relative to me and you measure the speed of light in the same direction (w = c in my frame), the formula gives v the speed of light in your reference frame as, v = (c-u)/(1 - u/c). For any speed u less than c this gives v = c so the speed of light is the same for you. But if u = c the formula degenerates to zero divided by zero; a meaningless answer.
If you want to know what happens when you are driving at very nearly the speed of light, an answer can be given. Within your car you observe no unusual effects. You can look at yourself in your mirror which is moving with the car and you will look the same as usual. Looking out of the window is a different matter. The light from your headlights will always go at the speed of light in your reference frame. It will strike any object in its path and be reflected back. Everything else will be coming towards you at nearly the speed of light, so the light reflected from it will be Doppler shifted to very high frequencies--towards the ultraviolet or beyond. If you have a suitable camera you could take a snapshot. The objects passing are contracted in length but because of the different times of passage for the light and effects of aberration, the snapshot will show the objects you pass as rotated.
The reason, though, this can not be ever truelly proven is because we can not go the speed of light so this is a hypothetical question and thus can not have a definative answer.
i dont know much about physics, i wish i did, it sound very interesting.
but i would bet money(all my money) agains the theory that light coming out of headlights already traveling at the speed of light would go backwards threw time. (or photons or you surpassin light speed, or whatever it was, i forgot)
the theory of time going backward at those speeds sounds a lot more appealing, but thats probably the biggest factor against its balievability.
but i would bet money(all my money) agains the theory that light coming out of headlights already traveling at the speed of light would go backwards threw time. (or photons or you surpassin light speed, or whatever it was, i forgot)
the theory of time going backward at those speeds sounds a lot more appealing, but thats probably the biggest factor against its balievability.
that would look pritty cool depicted threw photoshop. no way im takin the time to do it though.
killians45
Fully Optimized
- Messages
- 3,243
thats because it travels at the same speed, here is an easier example. Even though the galaxy is traveling at 300 km/sec or 1/1,000 the speed of light when you point a laser in one direction, measure the time it takes the light to travel a specific distance, turn the laser around 180 degrees pointing it in the other direction, and measure the speed to and equally spaced mirror, it is the same relative to the distance of the equally spaced mirror in that opposite direction.
killians45
Fully Optimized
- Messages
- 3,243
me, too... suprisingly enough alot of it I can understand... its just damn hard to explain it sometimes.. oh, and nice animation there 
ROFLMAO, I can't believe I've missed this thread so far. Everybody's a physicsist.... The only thing moving faster than the speed of light at Lawrence Livermore National Lab is the ego of the physicists that work there.
I hope the "Coming Soon" Quiz score includes special and general relativity. They need to add some quantum physics also since the discussion is touching on Bell's Theorem. Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance" and 70 years later with the best that modern science can offer, it's still kinda spooky.
I hope the "Coming Soon" Quiz score includes special and general relativity. They need to add some quantum physics also since the discussion is touching on Bell's Theorem. Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance" and 70 years later with the best that modern science can offer, it's still kinda spooky.
jinexile said:
For lack of a better reference, this link has a fairly straight forward discussion
http://www.npl.washington.edu/AV/altvw105.html
Crackpot scientists are a dime a dozen. You can spot if they obsessively strive to prove that Einstien was wrong and say things like "depending on your discipline of physics" (sorry ShoobieRat - couldn't pass on that one). In physics we have a process called peer review which, until the explosion of the web, had maintained a fairly good boundary between fact and fantasy. Since we are discussiong the speed at which information travels, it's fair to point out that fantasy travels a whole lot faster than fact.
- Status
