If you were to travel around the circumference of earth @ light speed,what would objects appear to be doing?

Question

SAY YOU CAN'T BE HARMED OR INJURED IN ANY WAY.... YOU ARE TRULY INVINCIBLE AT THE TIME YOU ARE TRAVELING AT LIGHT SPEED... WHAT WOULD YOUR NORMAL EVERYDAY SURROUNDINGS LOOK LIKE AND FOR WHAT REASON DOES THIS EFFECT TAKE PLACE???.... THANK YOU.... OLIVIA

Answer 1

blurry??

Answer 2

According to Einstein's famous equations (and I take that to be a very reliable source) as you approached the speed of light, time would slow down in your reference frame until it actually stopped when you equaled the speed of light. Time is needed to observe any changes or different surroundings - therefore, again in your frame of reference, you would observe nothing until you slowed down a bit and then you would be allowed the time to make observations once again. (I am discounting the of phenomenon of increased mass as you approach this speed)

Weird, eh?

Answer 3

ha..ha.. All the other answers are NOT totally correct...

When you get closer to speed of light... Time slows down for you, your mass increases..... AND... length appears to CONTRACT!!!.

So if you can (hypothetically) travel at the speed of light orbitting the earth above it's equator, the earth would appear to be one straight line from North Pole down to South Pole...

Answer 4

Since you can't travel at the speed of light, let's make it 0.95c instead.

Everything directly in front of you would be shaded blue, and everything to the sides would be shaded red. This is due to the relativistic Doppler effect:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativisti...

Everything would be foreshortened (thinner) and curved due to the relativistic Lorentz contraction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FitzGerald-...

For example, at .95c, a 1.0 meter stick would appear to be:

L' = L √( 1 - v²/c²)

L' = L √( 1 - .95²)

L' = 0.31225 m

in length.

And, last but no least, your clock would run slower, but you wouldn't notice it because the clock is moving with you. This is known as time dilation:

t' = t √( 1 - v²/c²)

Here's a cool video that explains it all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vpu6yJPR...

Answer 5

You can't travel at light speed, so the question is meaningless.

Answer 6

you would have infinite mass. i dunno. what do things look like when you have infinite mass?

i would say your eyes wouldnt be able to keep up with your surroundings if you were moving that fast, so you wouldnt be able to make anything out.

make it a good day