if a car

chav1

chav1

Pillar o' t' Community
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if a car was to travel at the speed of light what would happen when you switched the headlights on ...?
 
there is no answer to this question unfortunately(infinite energy required for your car to reach 'c' [1]m/s),

If you were close to c, effectively the wavelength of the reflected light would be doppler shifted well into UV so you wouldn't 'see' anything. in the UV spectrum things would appear rotated.

I don't suppose this post goes any way to dispelling teh idea I'm a geek now does it?


[1] c is 3x10^8m/s and is defined as a constant(teh speed of light in a vacuum)
 
entwisi said:
there is no answer to this question unfortunately(infinite energy required for your car to reach 'c' [1]m/s),

If you were close to c, effectively the wavelength of the reflected light would be doppler shifted well into UV so you wouldn't 'see' anything. in the UV spectrum things would appear rotated.

I don't suppose this post goes any way to dispelling teh idea I'm a geek now does it?


[1] c is 3x10^8m/s and is defined as a constant(teh speed of light in a vacuum)
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Thanks entwisi that just went right over my head.:D
 
chav1 said:
if a car was to travel at the speed of light what would happen when you switched the headlights on ...?
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You'd lose your licence, don't try it.:D
 
garinda said:
You'd lose your licence, don't try it.:D
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How, Gatso's are not fast enough. They tested one on Top Gear, I think you had to do 160 or 170mph before it could not get you.
 
Thats only gatsos though, forward facing lasers are good into 300mph. above that its pretty clear that you are speeding and the coppers say so is enough. They don't have to give an exact speed.
 
entwisi said:
Thats only gatsos though, forward facing lasers are good into 300mph. above that its pretty clear that you are speeding and the coppers say so is enough. They don't have to give an exact speed.
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gotta catch me first :D
 
What would happen? you'd crash of course, you wouldn't be able to see where you was going, as your travelling at the same speed as the light coming off the bulbs you'd be there before the light, therefore it would be dark, and you'd crash.
 
Ah but you miss Einsteins theory of Relativity states that light must still travel at the same speed in all frames of reference so the light would leave you the same, the major problem would be in viewing the reflected light due to the doppler shift taking the 'visible' light and shifting it into UV. So you 'could' see if you were able to 'see' in the UV spectrum.

However as teh link Iposted earlier shows what you 'see' would be surreal to say teh least.
 
You'd still crash because you'd be travelling faster than the light coming towards you from other vehicles, stationary objects etc (which is how we see things) so you wouldn't see them and you'd crash into them.
 
chav1 said:
if a car was to travel at the speed of light what would happen when you switched the headlights on ...?
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Another fan of Brainiac:Science Abuse, then?
Jon Tickle's a legend...
 
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