what happens to time at the speed of light
Similarly, when electrons travel through water at speeds faster than light speed in water, they generate a shock wave of light that sometimes shines as blue light, but can also shine in ultraviolet. Assume T s = 1 (eliminating it from consideration in the equation) and plug in v = 300,000km/s. There is no mass increase with velocity. Your instantaneous speed at that instant would be 40 km/h—the same magnitude but without a direction. Gianni Woods/NASA. Rev April 2020 If one would travel at the speed of light (which is impossible for many reasons) the time rate will at this speed completely stop This means that the time spent for its journey would be reduced to zero, which is to say, reduced to an infinitely small moment. Were there an infinite value for the speed of light, light itself would not exist at all. Moving at that speed, the second hand on the clock would not have advanced, in the least. Hence no real mass can be accelerated to the speed of light ( whatever that might mean) and if any real mass was at the speed of light ( relative to us of course) it could never be slowed or stopped. What happens to time if we travel AT the speed of light? What would happen if you could manage to go the speed of light? It isn't until we get to speeds that are a large fraction of the speed of light that any change in the flow of time becomes apparent. This is true no matter how fast a light source is moving relative to an observer. In a vacuum like space, the speed of light is just over 186,280 miles per second. And why does it matter? The question has no point because traveling with the speed of light means you have always been and always will be traveling with the speed of light. It actually travels a little slower in air and a lot slower in things like glass. But if u = c the formula degenerates to zero divided by zero; a meaningless answer. As for 'yes:' When traveling at speeds near the speed of light special relativity says that time is dilated. The speed of light is so fast, that to accelerate to it safely would take months! As you go faster, what happens to time and space? Answer Save. While these particles are traveling faster than light does in water, they're not actually breaking the cosmic speed limit of 299,792 kilometres per second (186,282 miles per second). What do YOU think is going to happen to you. At that same time his instantaneous speed was 3.0 m/s. 18 Answers. Here’s What Actually Happens When You Travel at the Speed of Light, According to NASA NASA created this fun video to answer all of our burning questions about near-light-speed Travel. When traveling with the speed of light time does not "exist". Does time simply stop flowing or do you go against the direction of time ? Light travels at a blistering 670 million mph — a speed that’s immensely difficult to achieve and impossible to surpass. The speed of light in matter can vary, but in this case that is not important since all the space between mars, the earth, and the sun is vacuum. However, at speeds very close to that of light the effect grows in magnitude very rapidly indeed until time almost comes to a standstill. He said from "the photons point of view," there is no period of time between when the photon is emitted from a star, and when it arrives millions of years of later, here on earth or somewhere else. Thus relative to another inertial frame (where perhaps a stationary twin sits) time for the moving twin is slowing down. So what happens to space time fabric around us when we travel at the speed of cosmic speed limit. A Slower Speed of Light is a first-person game prototype in which players navigate a 3D space while picking up orbs that reduce the speed of light in increments. According to relativity, time stands still at the speed of light. The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure scientists finally agreed on in 1975 – but why settle on that figure? The idea of travelling at the speed of light is an attractive one for sci-fi writers. The speed of light is not a universal speed limit either. Although Einstein's theories suggest nothing can move faster than the speed of light, two scientists have extended his equations to show what would happen if faster-than-light travel were possible. One of the reasons that prevent any object with a mass going at or faster than the speed of light is that the mass is not constant - it increases with velocity and it goes to infinity at the speed of light. There is no air in space. Time dilation refers to the fact that clocks moving at close to the speed of light run slow. Within your car you observe no unusual effects. Average speed, however, is very different from average velocity. If you are travelling at the speed of light away from me, then I am equally travelling at the speed of light away from you. If you want to know what happens when you are driving at very nearly the speed of light, an answer can be given. Or suppose that at one time during a shopping trip your instantaneous velocity is 40 km/h due north. Time dilation. To stop, from the speed of light, would then require an infinite force for an infinite amount of time. At 99.9% of the speed of light, the factor becomes about 22 times, at 99.99% 224 times, and at 99.9999% 707 times, increasing exponentially. , that to accelerate to it safely would take months during a shopping trip your instantaneous speed at that would... Possible to achieve and impossible to surpass you want to know what happens to time if we travel the... As you go against the direction of time hand on the clock would not have advanced, the... 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