if you are traveling at speed of light what will happen when you turn on your headlights?
414243
OK, traveling at light speed is impossible, just as Einstein proposed when he said that light speed is a limit speed.  However in the fiction part of it, lets assume you are traveling in a space shift at that speed, then nothing happened and you would see the light bulb as if you were traveling at a lower speed, that is because of relativity. You both are traveling at the same speed, so the relative speed between you and the light bulb is zero.  I hope this helps you and I'm adding a link so you can study a little bit more on those subjects.
600967
No there is no 'summation' of speeds involved with light.  Light is Electro-Magnetic Energy, although light travels as particles as well as waves.  In this Universe the speed of light is a constant, roughly 186,000 miles-per-second, or 300,000 km/sec or 300 Mega-Metres / sec.  Unless some POWERFUL external force acts upon light, it cannot change speed.  This entails the gravity of black-holes and such. (Not even light can escape from them.)\n\nA vehicle might weigh somewhere in the neighbor-hood of 3,300 lbs. (Approximately 1,500 Kg, for those of you who have not learned to count properly, just yet ...)\nCheck out da' math ...\n\n60mph = 100 kmph = 27.77r mps. \n(1,500 Kg x 27.77r mps) / 9.81 mps = ~ 4,246 N\n\nI doubt, very seriously, that a little over 4,000 Newtons is enough force to even put a dent in the factor of light-speed.  For more info, look-up Einstein's Theory of Realtivity' (Although I believe 90% of it to be short-sighted ancient crap ...)  This subject is covered in it ...\n(umm covered in Einstein's Theory, not copvered in crap .. which err .. is the same thing at times ...
1075094
Of course they'll work. The question is if you will see them. You can't travel at the speed of light, anyway, or physics is wrong, so nobody would be able to give you an answer. \n\nAssuming you were just really close to the speed of light, you would still see them. Einstein discovered that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant to ALL observers, no matter how fast the source of light is going relative to the observer. So at any speed, you can see your headlights just fine.
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.
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.
490235
Assuming you are standing still relative to the airplane, and the airplane is going at the exact speed of light... yes you would see it, but only as it colides into you.  if you are asking if you would see if before it hits you, then no.  Due to it's speed, all of the light coming off of it would not be able to outrun the plane.
44895
Interesting quatum phenomenon question.  The lights would come on, but they might appear strange to an observer due to the Doppler effect.  You, inside the car, would continue to see a headlight 'beam' because light's speed is a universal constant and not dependent on the speed of the source.  However, traveling beyond the speed of light in conventional space is not possible, to our knowledge.  For one, it would require infinate energy.  It would also cause macro-scale collapses in casaulity (effects happening before the cause).  To date, these bizzare effects have only been seen on quantum scales.
902581
The moment you hit the speed of light, time would stop for you, so it would be pretty hard (impossible) to turn the darn lights on!\n\nSaid another way, as you approach the speed of light, the outside observer sees you slowing down; when you hit the speed of light, it would take the observer an infinite amount of time to see any change in your state.\n\nNow, suppose you left your headlights on the whole way, what would everyone see?\n\nAs you approached the speed of light, the light is still reflecting off the objects around you, so the observer, and you, continue to see the reflected light. Once you hit light speed, however, the energy transfer required to turn heat into light wouldn't occur, so no one would see the photons. Of course, since you're traveling at the speed of light at that point, everyone would see you hit the object.\n\nOr this way... the light leaving your headlight changes it's frequency in proportion to the speed you're moving, once you hit light speed, the light would become matter! Of course, the wave packet that is light + your car wouldn't are too much, since time wouldn't exist for you anymore.\n\nHave a nice trip!
970195
This is one of the oldest questions in the world, after Einstein came out with his special relativity.  The answer is that no matter how fast you are going, your headlight beam is STILL shining ahead at the speed of light. This is exactly what the equations say, and it works.  If it wasn't true, then all the giant particle smashers in the world costing billions of dollars wouldn't even work.
60189
I would not recommend driving at the speed of light.  There is a very good chance that you will get pulled over by the cops, and unless you have a very good excuse, the will most definitely give you a speeding ticket.  Since, in most states, the amount of the fine is directly related to the speed you are traveling, most of the money you earn for the rest of your life will be going to paying off the fine.
109643
No you can not.\nNothing can travel faster than light. Not even light itself.\n\nIf you think that light is a wave (like a wave on the ocean) Imagine that you were riding one wave and were trying to make a new wave from your position (with equal frequenzy ofcours). The new wave would not have twize the speed as the one you were riding, it would have the same speed as the one you ride (try in the bathroom and you will see).\n\nMy point with this explanation is that the light from the back of your car will never reatch the mirror. I think your mirror would seem black, because no light would reatch it. The lightwave from the back of your car would be "flying" towards the mirror in the same speed that the mirror would fly from it. :)
591715
No. First, matter can't get to the speed of light because it would be infinitly massive and would take an infinite amount of energy to do it so the question starts out with a bad premiss.\n\nHowever, if a plane were traveling at half the speed of light and turned on it's headlights, they would be going the speed of light to him and the speed of light for someone on the ground watching. You see the speed of light is constant for all observers in a non-Newtonian reference frame.
997335
Well, I guess you must be made of massless particals, since they are the only thing that can travel at the speed of light. And I guess by asking "What would I see?" would suggest that you have an ability to "see" by interacting with outher light. Stated that way I think you would have good question.\n\nWell, do to time dialation, you would travel the width of the universe with out any change in time. Basicly, you clock would stop.\n\nThat aside, you would find out that light still passes you at the speed of light. So, if your head lights shine on an object and it is reflected back , you could see it. However, the light is now different. You would find that the light has more energy a lot more energy. How much i'm not sure. In other words the light would have changed color from say visible light to powerful gamma rays. \n\nSo, your question is a good one but the answers are wierd. But I think that's what the general theory of Relativity says.\n\nIf you do the math you would find that at low speeds add just as we expect. That is, an object is traveling at v1 and is passed by an other object at V2 the the speed is simply the sum of the two.\n\nHowever, as we approach the speed of light, "c" and the math becomes odd. If a photon of ligh is passed by an other the speed to an outside observer is both are traveling at "c." \n\nThis odd situation is resolved by how time is measured by the travelers. In this case, no time passes for either traveler. And now it doesn't make since to say who passes who if no time passes. Sort of like trying to divide by zero. It makes no since to common sense.
61325
the Flash @ speed of light ;)
724874
Answer is yes.  By "seeing", what we really mean is our eyes receiving light either reflected or emitted from an object.  It doesn't matter how fast the object is moving, or if it's approaching or receeding - the speed of light is constant, therefore you will see it both coming and going.  That's one of the beautys of relativity - the speed of light is not relative to the object it's coming from, but instead is fixed and will measure the same speed for all observers in the universe, moving or not.
228021
Some people would argue the logic of a space craft having headlights at all, others might find fault in the fact that, physically, nothing with mass can ever travel at the speed of light.  But lets put that aside.\n\nThe speed of light is constant in any frame of reference, no matter who is "watching" it, it always travels with respect to them at the speed of light (c).\n\nIf you are in a space ship already traveling at the speed of light [with respect to some outside observer], when you turn on the headlights, the light will move away from you at the speed of light.\nIf some outside observer (who you are flying past at the speed of light) watches all this, they would, too, see the light travel at c with respect to them.  But since you and the light are traveling both at the speed of light with respect to the observer, you and the light would be keeping up with eachother.
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.