how fast light really is

[bstjames]

if your going atleast almost the speed of light does light get faster?

 

[triclon]

No, but you'll measure it at always the speed of since for you, time slows down the closer you get to the speed of light. Funky eh?<br />

 

[heyscottie]

Yes...<br /><br />Everyone, no matter where they are, no matter how fast they are moving, always measure the speed of light moving in any direction at the same value.<br /><br />This means that a car going .5 light speed shining headlights has a driver who sees the light receding at c, the speed of light. But an observer on the side of the road ALSO sees the light beams moving at c, not at 1.5 c.<br /><br />This, and the principle of relativity, (which says that physics should operate the same no matter where you are and how fast you are moving) are the two starting points Einstein used for formulating his theory of Special Relativity.

 

[bstjames]

does time slow down or does it just seem like it does?<br />

 

[bstjames]

also Einstein said the best way to explane relativity is "you put your hand on a hot stove for 1 minute and it seems like an hour but you spend 1 hour with a pretty girl and it seems like a minute thats relativity".... so if your going really fast it seems like your going slow? or does it seem like your going slow because you can focus further?

 

[heyscottie]

That was one of Einstein's jokes.<br /><br />Time does, in reality, flow at different rates. We can place superaccurate clocks in two moving reference frames, and observe them ticking at different rates.<br /><br />In the field of GPS (in which I work), there is a relativistic term that a receiver has to account for due to the fact that the clocks on the satellites are in orbit, and are therefore continually in motion relative to an Earth observer. If we didn't account for the time dilation, are solutions would be off!