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Light and time

  1. Jun 1, 2008 #1

    neh4pres

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    [SOLVED] light and time

    ok from what i understand if im traveling just under the speed of light and looking foward the the light is aproching me at 186000 mps... theres 2 unites of measure here distance and time.. from what i know my time slows.. so the light seems to be reaching me at the speed of light instead of allmost double the speed of light... heres where my thought experiments come in.. if i turn around and look back in the direction im coming from and time for me is still slow it should seem that light would be reaching me at 1/4 the speed of light. i know this not to be true... but it seems that if im looking behind me at close to the speed of light my time would have to speed up to compensate and make me and any insterments percieve that the speed of light is still 186000miles per second
     
    neh4pres, Jun 1, 2008
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  3. Jun 1, 2008 #2

    Doc Al

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    Staff: Mentor

    Only to the observer who sees you moving at that high speed will your clocks run slowly. As far as you are concerned, your clocks run just as they always do.
     
    Doc Al, Jun 1, 2008
  4. Jun 1, 2008 #3

    granpa

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    neither time dilation nor length contraction can explain why both the light coming at you head-on and the light coming from behind both appear to you to be moving at the same speed. that is where loss of simultaneity comes in.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity_of_simultaneity
     
    granpa, Jun 1, 2008
  5. Jun 1, 2008 #4

    neh4pres

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    ok i realize that to me everything is normal and and my clocks runing to an observer explaines y light coming at me from in front still seems to come at me at 186000 mp(s) cause (s) seconds are slower for me... however if i look backwords light will need to be coming at me at 186000mps... however wont my clock observed from someone watching me have to be running faster for this to happen..
     
    neh4pres, Jun 1, 2008
  6. Jun 1, 2008 #5

    neh4pres

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    ok thanks granpa .. i will look into this.... not a bad question for someone who gets their knowledge from sci channel
     
    neh4pres, Jun 1, 2008
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