Weird but smart question?

Question

If you are driving at the speed of light and you turn your headlights on, what happens?

Answer 1

Then the light will only be at the headlights...

Pretty simple...

Answer 2

This smart question is asked here a dozen times every day.

Answer 3

Traveling at the speed of light is impossible. Therefore the question is meaningless and cannot be answered.

But if you were traveling at 99% of the speed of light, which is theoretically possible, or even 99.99%, the beam of light would move away from you at the speed of light. That is what Special Relativity. Speed of light is a constant for all observers.

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Answer 4

Theory of Relativity basically states that time changes so that you can't go the speed of light.  If you go the speed of light, your time is slower so your light can get away from you.  You are going faster than someone elses light.  The light from your headlights will move away from you at the speed of light.  It won't just run into your headlights.

Answer 5

it depends, you see, if the start of light( when photons are in the form of light) is at 0 mph then it can go at the speed of light, but if your already there, then, the light will just sit around , and EVERYTIHNG will be white

Answer 6

The theory of Special Relativity says: The speed of light is constant for all observers. That is, no matter what speed you have, it will appear to you that light in a vacuum travels at about 299729458 m/s. This suggests the answer, that you see the light travel away from you at this speed.

Hold on - how is this possible? It is possible only because _everything_ bends so as to create this "illusion" (those experienced in physics would probably agree that this is the "reality" and that common sense gives the "illusion"). Space, time, mass, etc. all change at relativistic (i.e. near-light) speeds.

So, if you are travelling at 99% the speed of light, you still see light from the headlights moving away from you at 299792458 m/s. This is because of the simultaneous contraction of length and dilation of time whose effects exactly cancel when you are observing light.

However, if you travel at exactly the speed of light, from the point of view of an external observer (who can't see you until you arrive, in any case), the light never leaves your headlights. You are supposed to see it move away from you at the speed of light...

But wait a moment. From the frame of reference of a photon being emitted, you must be catching up to it at the speed of light. After all, it is supposed to observe you moving in its direction at the speed of light (that is, if it could observe anything...)

The solution to this apparent paradox is that all those distortion effects become infinitely pronounced when you reach 100% of the speed of light. Your time stops completely. So, by the time you actually observe anything, an infinite amount of time will have passed for another observer. Therefore, what really happens is that you won't observe anything at all until you have decelerated below the speed of light... at which point you realize that the light is ahead of you.

Answer 7

If you are travelling at the speed of light and turn on your lights the light travels away from you at the speed of light.