I just came up with a thought experiment that will break the speed of light!

[SaltyNuts]

Imagine a flashlight. It is turned on. So, naturally, the light is coming out to the flashlight at the speed of light.

Now, imagine that flashlight attached to a car going 100mph. The light coming out of the flashlight is still coming out of the flashlight at the speed of light RELATIVE TO THE CAR, but remember the car is going 100mph, so relative to anything other than the car the light is now moving at the speed of light + 100 mph. Speed of light thus broken.

Have no scientists realized this?

 

[Mayne]

first post

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Have no scientists realized this?

Scientists are handicapped by understanding special relativity better than you do.

 

[stlc8tr]

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5527521/what...he-speed-of-light-and-turn-on-your-headlights

 

[dainthomas]

Genius! I smell a Nobel Prize.

Or something.

 

[Ferzerp]

dumb troll is dumb

 

[PowerEngineer]

Your thought experiment describes what ought to happen if Newtonian physics was completely correct. It is not.

What scientists did realize when they made measurements is that the speed of light is always the same, regardless of the speed of the object emitting that light. Your thought experiment gives you an answer that is contradicted by what actually happens in nature. So either you or nature are wrong. Sorry, it must be you!

Einstein's theory of special relativity tweaks Newtonian physics in a way that neatly accommodates the invariability of the speed of light.

 

[IronWing]

Now put the car in reverse and floor it. The doppler shift of the headlight illumination... popcorn!

 

[Printer Bandit]

Imagine a flashlight. It is turned on. So, naturally, the light is coming out to the flashlight at the speed of light.

Now, imagine that flashlight attached to a car going 100mph. The light coming out of the flashlight is still coming out of the flashlight at the speed of light RELATIVE TO THE CAR, but remember the car is going 100mph, so relative to anything other than the car the light is now moving at the speed of light + 100 mph. Speed of light thus broken.

Have no scientists realized this?

 

[TheGardener]

But can the flashlight make casino chips?

 

[MongGrel]

Having a supply of dry roasted peanuts, knowing where your towel is at, and a babel fish has always seemed more a prerequisite when hitchhiking around the galaxy.

What is this speed of light thing ?

 

[Red Squirrel]

If you go fast enough the light will even change colour because of the dopler effect. That's why those assholes that always drive too fast and dangerously have blue head lights as the wave length shifted.

On serious note I always kind of wondered about that myself, everything is relative, so technically something that is producing light and moving, that light should be relative to that thing. But light is a bit odd and I think it actually ends up breaking that rule.

You can probably use a laser to make casino chips, as well. That is the important thing right there.

 

[MongGrel]

A Tardus doesn't hurt either.

 

[JulesMaximus]

But can the flashlight make casino chips?

Mmm, casino chips... those are yummy dipped in sour cream.

 

[Yakk]

Emm...

Right...

You can start by reading up on Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity.

And then you can look at your first post again. If you still have questions we can start discussing them after that.

 

[Stopsignhank]

But can the flashlight make casino chips?

Mmm, casino chips... those are yummy dipped in sour cream.

But if you have been traveling for more than a month at 100 MPH with your lights on, is it OK to have ketchup on the hot dog that you have cooked with your Anova?

 

[gorcorps]

Well you're going way too fast so you're gonna get pulled over... And then possibly shot depending on how dark you are

 

[Iron Woode]

Imagine a flashlight. It is turned on. So, naturally, the light is coming out to the flashlight at the speed of light.

Now, imagine that flashlight attached to a car going 100mph. The light coming out of the flashlight is still coming out of the flashlight at the speed of light RELATIVE TO THE CAR, but remember the car is going 100mph, so relative to anything other than the car the light is now moving at the speed of light + 100 mph. Speed of light thus broken.

Have no scientists realized this?

 

[sandorski]

Only works if the car is covered in ketchup.

 

[MongGrel]

Only works if the car is covered in ketchup.

I think Mayonnaise has a lower drag coeffecient, but some forum members are adverse to using it :biggrin:

 

[brianmanahan]

light always travels at c relative to all observer frames of reference

duh

 

[Red Squirrel]

The A/C also has to be on, and free of any lodged mice.

 

[Thebobo]

Mind you this is from my drug induced days (High school 70s)
Ok so everything that travels the speed of light is pure energy<-- this is key
Build space ship to go 99.99999999 the speed of light.
Make telescoping pipe to shoot out at the remaining .1111111
Ride space ship load and light pipe
Activate telescoping pipe and your smoking pure energy!

D: man was I an idiot

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Having a supply of dry roasted peanuts, knowing where your towel is at, and a babel fish has always seemed more a prerequisite when hitchhiking around the galaxy.

What is this speed of light thing ?

Even light, which travels so fast that it takes most races thousands of years to realize that it travels at all, takes time to journey between the stars. It takes eight minutes from the star Sol to the place where the Earth used to be, and four years more to arrive at Sol's nearest stellar neighbour, Alpha Proxima. For light to reach the other side of the Galaxy, for it to reach Damogran for instance, takes rather longer: five hundred thousand years. The record for hitch hiking this distance is just under five years, but you don't get to see much on the way.

 

[SP33Demon]

Except light is a constant, homey.