• Question: If your car was travelling at the speed of light, what happens when you turn the headlights on?

    Asked by charlottebeale123 to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      I think the taxi driver would invent the theory of relativity…

      This is a confusing one to get your ahead around. The short answer is that light always looks the same to the person looking at it no matter how fast you go, even if you are travelling at the speed of light. I realise this doesn’t seem to make sense at first but it’s what led to Einstein’s greatest theories.

    • Photo: Sarah Cook

      Sarah Cook answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      You can see better?!?

    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      A car could not travel at the speed of light because its mass would become infinite. What with petrol costs the way they are, this would be an expensive way to travel. Better to take the sub-lightspeed bus.

    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      This one bends my brain to much (!!) but a clever person I work with says: No solid matter can reach the speed of light however at close to the speed of light your time slows down so if you did turn the lights on they would appear to work just fine.

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