If you're in a vehicle going the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights?
86458
because, you are already part of that light, so there is no headlights, vehicle, even you.
302939
are you referring to after you turn the vehicle off ?\ni know my car will keep the headlights on for 30 seconds after it's turned off if i turn the headlights off AFTER the car has been shut off.
54308
As you travel faster and faster, time for you slows down, and length contracts. From your point of view, when you measure the speed of light, it will always be the same. An observer standing still with respect to you and the beam of light could measure your speed at 185000 mps and the speed of light as 186000 mps, and say the difference in speed is 1000 mps. But that is relative to them. The speed of light will always be the same for whoever measures it, no matter how fast they are moving.\n\nSee the website below for more about relativity.
1185271
I've heard this one before, there is no answer for we do not have the resources nor the expertise yet to answer such a perplexing problem. but i would imagine that the light from the headlights would travel 2x the speed of light and rip a hole in the time space continuum and cause a black hole.
24020
Neglecting the lengthy derivation of why light speed travel is impossible, the first postulate of relativity is that light has the same velocity regardless of how fast you're moving.  So, at ANY speed you can achieve in your car, when you turn the lights on you'll see the waves moving away from you very very quickly.
219832
The speed of light is indeed a constant.  What's important is that it is a constant to every observer.  If you are traveling toward a light source at 1000 m/s, you will measure the light's velocity at 300,000 m/s.  If you are traveling AWAY from the light source, it will still measure 300,000 m/s.\n\nLight IS the absolute speed limit. (Of this universe anyway)
588349
The speed of light is invariant---no matter how fast or slow its source is moving, the speed of light remains unchanged (...please don't ask 'why?' because nobody has the vaguest idea) If you're in spaceship going at 99% the speed of light and shine a light outward in any direction, that light will move away from you at the speed of light, no faster, no slower.\n\nWith regards to the answer given that mentions the Doppler effect. The FREQUENCY (wavelength) of light is affected by the speed of the light source (Doppler effect), but frequency has nothing to do with the actual velocity of the light itself.
340667
Again, the speed of light is a constant!  It does not increase in speed of the flashlight is moving really fast.  Its' like sound, sound goes 700mph in air at sea level.  If the plane goes faster than that it catches the sound, the sound doesn't go faster in front of the plane.  Same with light. Same with the opposite direction.
341703
Yes, and no- The theory of relativity states that light moves at the same speed regardless of the viewer-it is "special relativity".  If you are riding a beam of light, and switch on a flashlight, that light will speed away from you at the speed of light.  However, to a person standing still behind you, both you and the beam of light you just sent out, are traveling at the same speed.  So, light is always in motion, but it is not relative to the source.  Light, no matter how fast you are moving or in what direction, always travels relative to you (and everything else) at the same speed.  All that will happen is a change in the frequency of the light.
688056
This question comes up very regularly. If you do a search you will find it has been answered dozens of times in the past few months.\n\nThe speed of light is an absolute constant. It doesn't matter what speed you are travelling at the light will always be travelling away from you at the same speed: the speed of light.\n\nThe freaky part is that the light from your headlights would seem to be travelling away form you at the speed of light (C), but to an observer who was sitting still the light would also appears to be travelling away from them at the speed of light. How can that happen? Well it's one of the tricky bits of relativity, but part of the solution lies in understanding that although light never slows down or speeds up relative to any observer it does change frequency.\n\nSo to you the light from your headlights will look quite normal, but to someone sitting still your headlights will appear to be emitting x-rays. The light would be invisible to them.\n\nThe corrolary of that is that any light approaching your windshield will be equally shifted into the x-ray part of the spectrum. Although the headlights will be emitting visible light, any time they strike an object and reflect back they will reflect back extremely low frequency light that is invisible to the human eye.\n\n\nSo no, it won't do a damn bit o good to turn on your headlights. That's not because the light won't travel, it will travel just fine. The problem will be that any light that reflects back off the road will be invisible to the human eye.
276783
No, the speed of light remains constant, the frequency changes.  This is known as the Doppler Effect.  As something emitting light moves away from you (very fast), the wavelengths become longer (more red).  Likewise something moving towards you, the wavelengths become shorter (more blue).\n\nTo make a comparison to sound.  Think of standing alongside a train track and listening to a train horn.  The pitch (frequency) drops as the train passes by.  The speed of sound really isn't changing much at all, since the density of the air surrounding you remains the same.  But while the train is moving towards you, the sound waves become compressed, resulting in a higher frequency.  When the train passes, the sound waves are expanded, resulting in a lower frequency.
33169
IF YOU WERE GOING AT THE SPEED OF A BULLET,YOU WOULD BE RIGHT NEXT TO IT AT SPEED O. THE SAME WITH LIGHT, IF YOU WERE GOING THE SPEED OF LIGHT IN YOUR CAR (LET'S SAY )YOU WOULD SEE THE LIGHT ON,BUT TO SEE THE LIGHT OFF YOU MUST BE GOING FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT.SO THEN YOU SEE THE LIGHT ON AT THE SAME SPEED THE CAR IS GOING.
64267
Well, if you're traveling faster than light, then the light can never be in front of you.  There would be just a big nothing, probably drive you crazy if you looked at it.  I know, I come from andromeda.  We travel through space backwards so we can see where we're going.
379094
Think of Einstiens theory of relitivity E=((MC)squared) Where C = the speed of light and M = th electrons flowing from the electric source to the bulb = E (the ability to do work) wich results in theroy the light bending around the vehicle eirgo the light bends becaus both the light and the vechile are travling at the same speed.
45561
This is where The Theory Of Relativity starts to come in to play. Relative to your position in the car traveling at the speed of light, the headlights come on and illuminate your path. Relative to someone outside the car watching you travel the speed of light, nothing happens, no light travels outward past the headlamps.
37094
well, its absolutely impossible to travel at the speed of light, but lets pretend you can so i can actually give you an answer to the question. The speed of light is actually the ultimate speed limit to the universe, nothing can travel faster than light, so although you would expect the light to be going at twice the speed of light (you plus the speed of light, because of einsteins theory of relativity)it can't because it is physically impossible for even light to travel faster than the speed of light so it would be going at the same speed of you and not reach any path in front of you. Of course, if you turned on your headlights before you started moving, the light would always be one step ahead of you.\n\nbut again, this situation couldn't happen anyway since you can't get to the speed of light, it would make the denomonator in the lorentz factor 0, and you cant have a 0 in the denomonator of a fraction.
719819
This question comes up very regularly. If you do a search you will find it has been answered dozens of times in the past few months.\n\nThe thing you need to relaise is that the speed of light is an absolute constant. It doesn't matter what speed you are travelling at, the light will always be travelling away from you at the same speed: the speed of light.\n\nThe freaky part is that the light from your headlights would seem to be travelling away form you at the speed of light (C), but to an observer who was sitting still the light would also appears to be travelling away from them at the speed of light. How can that happen? Well it's one of the tricky bits of relativity, but part of the solution lies in understanding that although light never slows down or speeds up relative to any observer it does change frequency.\n\nSo to you the light from your headlights will look quite normal, but to someone sitting still your headlights will appear to be emitting x-rays. The light would be invisible to them.\n\nThe corrolary of that is that any light approaching your windshield will be equally shifted into the x-ray part of the spectrum. Although the headlights will be emitting visible light, any time they strike an object and reflect back they will reflect back extremely low frequency light that is invisible to the human eye.\n\n\nSo yes, you most ceratinly owuld need headlights if a car is travelling at the speed of light. Unfortunately it won't do a damn bit o good to turn on your headlights. That's not because the light won't travel, it will travel just fine. The problem will be that any light that reflects back off the road will be invisible to the human eye.