- #1
CarsonAdams
- 15
- 0
Outrunning Light; how quickly will light "catch up with you"
Thank you all in advance, this is my first official thread but certainly not my first time eyeing the discussions of these forums. Hopefully this enlightens us all.
Person A holds a flashlight
Person B rides a jet capable of near light speeds with instantaneous acceleration (or is alternatively flying by already at near light speed if you prefer not to swallow instantaneous acceleration) and is 100 meters from Person A.
Person C stands in what we will consider the "initial" reference frame as an observer to measure distances.
If person A holds a flashlight which will emit a single photon the moment an electric current from a circuit is received, and Person B will accelerate instantaneously to .99c the moment it receives an electric current from the same circuit with an origin current provider point equidistant (at the 50 meter point) from Person A and Person B, how far can Person B travel before the photon makes contact with him?
Understanding the relativistic effects of time dilation and velocities, from Person B's perspective, the photon will reach him, I conclude, in 3.3x10^-7 seconds (100 meters/the speed of light C) whether the jet begins moving or not, as the light will always travel at C and the jet can therefore always be treated as stationary to the light, only giving it 100 meters of displacement to travel.
What I don't understand is that surely the photon will not reach the jet instantaneously, which would imply that the jet has time to travel some distance with respect to the initial reference from as measured by Person C before being "caught" by the photon, just as if some Car A were traveling at 15 m/s and some Car B were traveling at 10 m/s, Car B would be able to travel some distance with respect to the road before being caught by Car A.
Due to light's non-relativitic speed, however, I'm confused as to how far, or perhaps how long it would take for the photon to reach Person B with respect to the initial reference frame of Person C. Will the time it takes for the photon to reach Person B with respect to Person C (denoted by Tc) differ from the time it takes for the photon to reach Person B with respect to Person B's reference far (Tb) by the relativistic constant for time dilation? As in Tc=γTb? And subsequently distance traveled can be calculated by velocity*time=distance travelled=γ(100m/C)(.99C)? or Would that then, to observer C, look as if light is not traveling at the speed of light?
(This question came from the research I've been conducting to discover the various escape velocities needed to outrun a nuclear blast if the "runner" begins accelerating as soon as he sees the bomb, not when the light from the explosion is seen, but the gamma and x rays produced will be so potent and intense at small distances away and will be virtually impossible to outrun at lower than relativistically relevant speeds that anyone within a certain range will receive lethal radiation doses. If, however, the "runner" could simply "stay ahead" of light for a few hundred or preferably over a thousand meters, you would, obviously, eventually lose to pursuant gamma rays, but would be past the lethal intensity zone as photons that had not been angled directly at you would have gone wildly off course from your trajectory by then)
Thank you all in advance, this is my first official thread but certainly not my first time eyeing the discussions of these forums. Hopefully this enlightens us all.
Person A holds a flashlight
Person B rides a jet capable of near light speeds with instantaneous acceleration (or is alternatively flying by already at near light speed if you prefer not to swallow instantaneous acceleration) and is 100 meters from Person A.
Person C stands in what we will consider the "initial" reference frame as an observer to measure distances.
If person A holds a flashlight which will emit a single photon the moment an electric current from a circuit is received, and Person B will accelerate instantaneously to .99c the moment it receives an electric current from the same circuit with an origin current provider point equidistant (at the 50 meter point) from Person A and Person B, how far can Person B travel before the photon makes contact with him?
Understanding the relativistic effects of time dilation and velocities, from Person B's perspective, the photon will reach him, I conclude, in 3.3x10^-7 seconds (100 meters/the speed of light C) whether the jet begins moving or not, as the light will always travel at C and the jet can therefore always be treated as stationary to the light, only giving it 100 meters of displacement to travel.
What I don't understand is that surely the photon will not reach the jet instantaneously, which would imply that the jet has time to travel some distance with respect to the initial reference from as measured by Person C before being "caught" by the photon, just as if some Car A were traveling at 15 m/s and some Car B were traveling at 10 m/s, Car B would be able to travel some distance with respect to the road before being caught by Car A.
Due to light's non-relativitic speed, however, I'm confused as to how far, or perhaps how long it would take for the photon to reach Person B with respect to the initial reference frame of Person C. Will the time it takes for the photon to reach Person B with respect to Person C (denoted by Tc) differ from the time it takes for the photon to reach Person B with respect to Person B's reference far (Tb) by the relativistic constant for time dilation? As in Tc=γTb? And subsequently distance traveled can be calculated by velocity*time=distance travelled=γ(100m/C)(.99C)? or Would that then, to observer C, look as if light is not traveling at the speed of light?
(This question came from the research I've been conducting to discover the various escape velocities needed to outrun a nuclear blast if the "runner" begins accelerating as soon as he sees the bomb, not when the light from the explosion is seen, but the gamma and x rays produced will be so potent and intense at small distances away and will be virtually impossible to outrun at lower than relativistically relevant speeds that anyone within a certain range will receive lethal radiation doses. If, however, the "runner" could simply "stay ahead" of light for a few hundred or preferably over a thousand meters, you would, obviously, eventually lose to pursuant gamma rays, but would be past the lethal intensity zone as photons that had not been angled directly at you would have gone wildly off course from your trajectory by then)