Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: SkaterFreak00400 on 05/05/2004 16:05:18
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I need some help on the speed of light.... I have a major project due by the 10th *May* and I can't find my info... I need to know some theories on what will happen when we reach the speed of light[:)] and how we can reach the speed of light.... I will take your opinion or a website.... thank you! [:)][8D][:D]
Eagles may soar, but weasles dont get sucked into jet engines....[?]
Paul Jayes :)
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You need to study special relativity to answer this question. If you Google "theory of special relativity", you will get a lot of hits. Here is one of them: http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/theory/relativity.html
You have a serious problem with your projet: It is predicated on an impossible task, to wit, "when we reach the speed of light". That doesn't happen, unless you are doing a science fiction report.
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Paul, welcome to the forum.
gsmollin is correct (as always): There is no way to reach the speed of light. It would require an infinite amount of energy to accelerate anything (even a quark) to the speed of light. Here is another link that might help with the explanation:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Relativity%20theory
Good luck on your paper!
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John - The Eternal Pessimist.
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Okay, lets ignore the problems of getting to the speed of light, and assume you are there.
What do you see?
Very Naiively (i.e. classically), looking forward and back you would not see anything, looking left or right (or out of the window) you would see blue to red streaks of light as the stars go by. Your radial component of velocity is not c to these objects.
Also, add a paragraph on superluminal velocities (for example of the jet from M87) to look like a smart arse.
Maybe mention exotic matter for compressing space-time (hahhaha warp drive), so that to the external observer you appear to travelling faster than the speed of light.
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Carl Sagan wrote a great explanation of this in his book Cosmos. It is written so that even I could understand. He is also the author of Brocas Brain, another one of my favorite books.
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quote:
Originally posted by SkaterFreak00400
I need some help on the speed of light.... I have a major project due by the 10th *May* and I can't find my info... I need to know some theories on what will happen when we reach the speed of light[:)] and how we can reach the speed of light.... I will take your opinion or a website.... thank you! [:)][8D][:D]
Eagles may soar, but weasles dont get sucked into jet engines....[?]
Paul Jayes :)
According to Einstein anything having mass cannot reach the 186,000 mps or 300,000 kms in a vacuum. So that automatically excludes us from reaching that speed. But that does not prevent us from travelling at a significant percentage of that speed.
However, we still have to deal with time dilation and increasing resistance to accelleration. Time dilation works in the following way. The faster you travel the slower time moves for you in relation to the rest of the universe. A trip to a nearby star might have seemed like a year to you. On earth many years could have gone by. People left behind as children might be adults when you return. Governments that existed might have disolved. People you knew might have expired. Even the earth's geography might have changed if the trip has been long enough. Also, the faster the ship travels the more resistance it encounters to further acceleration. As you approach light speed, the resistance to furtheer acceleration reaches the requirement of infinite thrust or impulse power. Since that is beyond human capability, the speed of lght is unatainable.
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That's what they said about breaking the sound barrier in the early 1900s.
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quote:
Originally posted by Donnah
That's what they said about breaking the sound barrier in the early 1900s.
Here is a nice photo of the sound barrier being broken.
http://www.wilk4.com/misc/soundbreak.htm
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excellent Picture Rocko ....thanks
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