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Old 23-01-2011, 04:17 PM
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FlashDrive (Poppy)
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This is an awkward one....!!!!!

Sometime ago, I came across this question....and I haven't a clue to the answer. ( neither was an answer given. )

BTW....This is not a " trick " question.

If you could travel at the speed of light.....What would you see " at all four points of the compass ....? "

Thinking about this, I thought it would just be a " blur " ...That's my educated " guess ".

FlashDrive. ( Colin ).
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Old 23-01-2011, 04:36 PM
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Mind blown.

H
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Old 23-01-2011, 05:19 PM
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That is quite a poser as travelling at light speed is only part of the theory of relativity and other factors come into play

In the vastness of space I suppose says the time would appear to stand still so what you would see would be just basically the same. However if you were travelling toward something you would see it as it was at a later time and if you were travelling away you would see it as it was at an earlier time. The view in other directions would have a time variation in proportion to your angular velocity.

If you were travelling at that speed on the bus to work that would be interesting. Ignoring rates of acceleration you would not see anything other than your starting location would suddenly be your destination location. One thing I am sure of though is the bus would not be part of the Sydney transport system.

Barry
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Old 23-01-2011, 05:37 PM
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Colin,
for your compass to work, need a magnetic field.
If there is a magnetic field, and you speeding with 'c' the induced current would fry any conductive matter.
Including any humans holding it.

I wouldn't mind to try though... what a way to go

Mick.
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Old 23-01-2011, 09:02 PM
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There is a demostration of this in one of the episodes from Cosmos.
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Old 23-01-2011, 09:05 PM
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I don't remember where I heard or read this, but...

My understanding is that as you approach the speed of light, "space" collapses into a single point in the direction of travel. Thus, you would see nothing if you looked in any direction.

Not being an astrophysicist, I do not know if this is correct or not.

OIC!
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Old 23-01-2011, 09:32 PM
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Lightbulb

Quote:
Originally Posted by thunderchildobs View Post
There is a demostration of this in one of the episodes from Cosmos.
This jogged my memory... looked into Carl Sagan's book "Cosmos"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl Sagan - Cosmos - Chapter XIII - Travels in Space and Time
As your speed increases, you begin to see around the corners of passing objects. While you are rigidly facing forward, things that are behind you appear within your forward field of vision. Close to the speed of light, from your point of view, the world looks very odd ultimately everything is squeezed into a tiny circular window, which stays just ahead of you.
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Old 23-01-2011, 09:35 PM
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This is an interesting simulation at 99% of c ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lMYhhCkPXE

Can't comment on its accuracy.
Regards, Rob
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