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You're saying the mirror is accelerating at the speed of light toward me, while I am speeding at the speed of light toward it?
The mirror will be speeding toward me at the speed of the light energy which showed me the where mirror was when the whole thing started. I will see the mirror as being still in it's original position (with the original image of me standing still), until we collide.
Answer: Nothing. You would die from the lack of air and cold then the speed of moving your body at lightspeed would generate heat that would vaporise your physical form. The Mirror would be broken and you would have 7 years bad luck too.Quote:
Originally Posted by lkmus
soz! meant to say the only light source was behind you.. and forget about turnin to energy as you get to the speed of light. purely a theoretical questionQuote:
Originally Posted by Bree Fletcher
and no rota.. you and the mirror are moving in the same direction
With most forms of matter, this is true. Mometum will be transferred from one to another (such as a car transferring momentum to a large number of glass shards.) To decrese the momentum, the car has to slow down. Completely correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hired_Goon
Light, however, acts differently. When it transfers momentum in some way, it decreases its own by decreasing wave frequency, not slowing down.
Sorry, But that appears to be an oxymoron.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bree Fletcher
It decreases, but doesn't slow down?
Drecreased wave frequency is slowing down.
You are, in a way, confirming my point.
We are moving at the speed of light forward, and the mirror is facing me as I face forward in the direction we are traveling. No light can hit the mirror, since it is outpacing the light beams it would reflect. I will simply see the mirror as a black nothingness blocking out the starlight behind it. When we slow down even the slightest bit below the speed of light, it will appear to me again complete with a reflection of me.Quote:
Originally Posted by lkmus
And that officially seals the deal folks. This poster is now on my awesome list.Quote:
Originally Posted by imnothere
The frequency is not intrinsically related to speed. In fact, you can keep the speed constant (and this is actually what happens) by increasing wavelength. (The equation: speed = wavelength x frequency) Therefore, keeping speed constant, wavelength of light increses as frequency decreases, all brought about by a decrease in momentum of the photon. No change in speed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hired_Goon
A good description of the Compton Effect, which I am describing: http://dev.physicslab.org/Document.a...ptonEffect.xml (Note that for speed, the constant c is always used. As in, the speed of the photons never changes.)
But if that mirror were to be slowed down to just below the speed of light you would probably see a very outdated reflection of yourself, lol.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Rota
According to modern physics, the speed of light is determinate on its' medium. Light moves faster in a vacuum, slower in air, slower still in a liquid or a solid. This backs up the fundamental theory that light behaves not only as a wave, but also as a particle, as it encounters an assumed resistance to a specified medium.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rota
We can see evidence of this in situations such as the refraction of light upon entering a body of water. The beam of light appears distorted and transformed to follow a new angular path, away from the perpendicular of the waters surface, rather than its' angle of incidence.
Fig. 1
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...ic/brokpen.jpg
This is due to water having a refractive index of 4/3, meaning that light travels 3/4 its' relative speed in air, in water.
So if your question is simply; "Does the speed of light have a definite value?". Then, no, it doesn't. The speed of light changes depending on its' medium. Theoretically, if you could find a medium with less resistance than what we currently know as a vacuum, then the speed of light would increase, conversely in media thicker than a vacuum the speed is decreased.
That aside, the speed of light does have a definitive value for a medium. Meaning, if you were asking; "Is the speed of light only a maximum value?". Then, no, the speed of light is a constant figure for a medium, and has never been measured at a different speed other than 'v'. Which in a vacuum is 'c' (299,792,458 M/s), and at a speed of c / 1.0003 in air. (Where 1.0003 is the refractive index for air) Due to this value being so small, we rarely find the need to state the difference between air and a vacuum in calculations, as it is assumed that this is a negligible figure.
To quote, and I feel dirty doing so, Wikipedia;
Does that answer your question?Quote:
The speed at which light propagates through transparent materials, such as glass or air, is less than c. The ratio between c and the speed v at which light travels in a material is called the refractive index n of the material (n = c / v). For example, for visible light the refractive index of glass is typically around 1.5, meaning that light in glass travels at c / 1.5 ≈ 200,000 km/s; the refractive index of air for visible light is about 1.0003, so the speed of light in air is very close to c.
(Citation; My A-Levels in Physics, and AQP (Advancing Quantum Physics), respectively)