Quote:
On 2002-08-07 00:09, Silas wrote:
Quote:
On 2002-08-06 18:02, g99 wrote:
So to a stationary observer the headlight beams would be traveling at twice the speed of light. Is that right?
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Nope... To the stationary observer, the car, travelling at the speed of light, would emit a photon of light, also travelling at the speed of light. The two would appear to travel together.
Suppose the car turned on its turn-signals: i.e., emitting light at 90 degrees to its path of travel: the light would travel at c, not at c times the square root of two, as one might expect from vector addition.
Suppose the car flashes its brake-lights: i.e., emitting light backwards. The light would travel at c, not at a speed of zero, as one might expect from vector addition.
Given these ideas, the Lorentz-Fitzgerald equations fall out.
Silas
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Thanks Silas and SeanF. I am actually getting it. That really makes sense!! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] YAY!! I am getting the basics of Physics, now onto thermodynamics, Quantum physics, and the hardest of all Algebra!!:-)
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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: g99 on 2002-08-07 00:39 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: g99 on 2002-08-07 00:40 ]</font>