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In article <32AA9D...@garlic.com>, "C. Capps" <m_c...@garlic.com> wrote:

> If you are in a car traveling at the speed of light, and you turn the
> car's headlights on, what happens?
> And DON'T give me any technobabble.

SHORT ANSWER:  The light from the headlamps appears to leave at the speed
of light.

CLARIFICATIONS:

1)You (or your car) can NEVER travel the speed of light:
Without technobabble, no explanation.  If you DO want some technobabble,
I'll be happt to oblige.  It would be impossible to PROVE it without math,
though.

2)HOWEVER, you and your car can travel ALMOST as fast as light:
e.g. 99.9999999999999999999% the speed of light (or closer!)

3)***Here's the kicker***:
NO MATTER HOW FAST OR SLOW YOU GO, a beam of light ALWAYS appears to be
traveling at the speed of light!!:

In other words, whether you travel at 10 mph or 1 million mph, the beam of
light always appears to travel at 'c', the velocity of light.

COMMENTS
-There are a lot of great books on the subject, some of which explain it
in very plain terms.
-This is not supposed to be intuitive... in fact, it's 100%
counter-intuitive, and sounds impossible
-A lot of the strange phenomena (like time dilation) make sense if you
expand on the idea of 'c' as a true constant
-Although you may say 'impossible!', all sorts of tests continually prove
that the speed of light is a constant, regardless the observer's velocity
(a.k.a. "observer's frame of reference").  For example, time dilation has
been proven over and over again (to name one of many examples).
-I'm avoiding defining "time dilation" since you don't want technobabble."
Think of it as the fact that time seems to travel more slowly or quickly
depending on the frame of reference you're in compared to the frame of
reference you're observing.  It's that old story about leaving earth at
near the speed of light, and then stopping, turning around, and returning
a few years later to discover that centuries have passed on earth.

-- 
Neelav Hajra
Student, University of Michigan
"this signature is deep and thought-provoking..."