A Conversation for Things that could happen to you when travelling at lightspeed
lightspeed
TIMELORD Started conversation Apr 2, 2001
If the speed of light is as is thought a constant and it was measured on earth which is moving around a sun which is moving around the galaxy which is moving around the universe how can we measure the speed.
Also if for each action there is a equal but opposite reaction what would happen if you fired a high powered laser in space I.E. if the light travels at light speed one way should the laser travel at light speed the other.
lightspeed
Andrew Wyld [kt:'Burning Pestle', kp:'Mutamems, Ideodiversity', Zaph.] Posted Aug 1, 2002
The fact that light speed is constant DESPITE the fact we are on Earth which is travelling ... and so on is one of the reasons why relativity theory was developed. It was in order to explain the fact that two people travelling at radically different speeds can measure the same light beam as having the same speed that caused it to be required.
In fact, since speed is just a distance travelled divided by the time it took, it's not hard to see why it was concluded that if light travels at a constant speed for two people travelling at totally different speeds, distance and time must be distorted to account for this.
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