Speed of light

[paralysis]

If you were in a can travelling at or near to the speed of light and you turned on the lights would the light be travelling faster therefore go back in time or would it be nestled in the reflector?

Would you even be able to see it?

[bernardo]

If you were travelling at near the speed of light, you would perceive light to be travelling just as fast as you would if you were stationary.  I don't quite know what you mean by "in a can" or "nestled in the reflector".

[paralysis]

Oops that was supposed to be Car

 

[trilobite]

Ooohh, am I floating in a tin can,

Far above the world.

Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do.

[Hippy]

At or approaching the speed of light (so theory of relativity predicts) you and your car would become "squashed" to a wafer thin section in the direction of travel and for you time would slow down as you reached the speed of light.

 

As we measure and perceive speed of light in some distance in some time (miles per hour ... kilometres per second etc.) at the speed of light the matter creating the light and the place where that light might be expected to shine are the same due to truncation in the direction of travel. To the light speed traveller all seems normal as all matter and time within their view is affected, to the inertial observer the light speed traveller is a wafer thin (and therefore invisible) strip whizzing past. The forward facing light is wholly contained in the wafer therefore not visible.

 

Similarly, a laterally shining beam would be truncated to a thin sliver that, although would protrude sideways from the light traveller, would be invisible from outside. The light traveller would still see this light beam, but as time would be slowed to an enormous degree it would take many thousands of the inertial observer's millennia before the light traveller perceived any motion in the light.

[zim4]

sounds weird I know but it would travel away at the speed of light. The speed of light is constant no matter what speed the observer is travelling at.

[Marvin84]

Turning your headlights on would not make any sense... haven't you ever wondered why the starship Enterprise has no headlights???