Everyone has heard this at one point or an other in their lives...
- Quote :
- You are driving a car at the speed of light; when you turn on your head lights, what do you see?
of course, the answer that is always given is "Nothing because nothing can go faster than the speed of light, including light". And, of course, you are looked upon as an idiot for disagreeing.
Well... I disagree. And here is why.
Let's first break down the elements.
1. "You are traveling at the speed of light"
2. "You turn on a flashlight"
3. "What do you see?"
The flashlight and I are traveling at the speed of light. However, keep in mind that that makes us a reference point for anything coming off of us. When the flashlight is turned on, its initial reference point is
0.
Try this visual... get on a bike and pedal away. While riding, drop a tennis ball from an extended arm; the ball will drop in a location in reference to you (ie, it'll drop in the same area as if you were standing still). That's because the ball is initially moving at the same speed as you. Make sense? The ball's starting reference point was
0.
Now, same scenerio. Race your bike downhill. You are going faster than you normally could... let's say you are going 25 mph. Now, whip that ball as hard as you can in front of you. You have always been able to whip a ball like that at, oh, 65 mph. even now, while racing your bike, you toss the ball at 65 mph... BUT... the ball is clocked at 90 mph! Did you manage to get extra power? No. You tossed the ball as normal, and the ball left you, the reference point of o, at the same speed, but because you were traveling at 25 mph, it affected the speed of the ball.
That makes sense, doesn't it? Because the reference point was at 0, the balls speed is the same... it's just because of the speed coming from the reference point was higher that the balls speed was increased. For the person who tossed the ball, the speed remained the same as normal... but not to the outsider.
Same thing with light, and the original question. What would you see? As stated above, the answer has always been "nothing because light cannot go faster than light"... but the second light isn't competing against light, it is originating from it's reference point of zero. From that point, it will travel at the speed of light; it just so happens that the reference point is traveling at the speed of light. You would see everything as you normally would.
Still with me?
