The Question

(Submitted January 02, 1997)

I looked all over but, this is the only place I found that may answer two questions of mine.

1. If I were traveling at the speed of light (out in space), and turned on a flashlight (facing
forward), would it illuminate my console or will the light "stall"? Also, could I illuminate a target
outside, if I turned on my headlights?
2. I believe this is the same question, just in a different setting. If I shot a bullet that travels at
600 ft/sec, and my car is speeding at the 600 ft/sec, would the bullet fly out of the barrel? Can the
bullet actually accelerate to 1200 ft/sec?

Not only would I greatly appreciate the answers, I would really like to know a good place to learn
this type of physics (like books, WEB, etc..)

Thanx!!!

The Answer
These are very good questions, and thinking about questions like these motivated Einstein to
develop his Theory of Relativity. It will be easier to answer the second question first. In that case,
the bullet would accelerate to 1200 ft/s relative to the ground. The reason is that the force of the
gunpowder explosion increases the velocity of the bullet by 600 ft/s relative to the gun. If the gun
happens to be traveling at 600 ft/s relative to the ground, then the final speed of the bullet relative
to the ground will be 1200 ft/s. Keep in mind that essentially all speeds are relative to something
else. For example, the Earth is rotating and moving around the Sun, so you are moving through
space even when you are "at rest" relative to the ground.

I said "essentially" because there is one exception... the speed of light is always the same
(specifically, 300000 km/s) to all observers , regardless of the speed of the observer or the light
emitter (in this case, the flashlight). This is not very intuitive, as I hope the bullet explanation was.
So even if you are traveling at 150000 km/s, a beam of light would still pass you going 300000
km/s or approach you going 300000 km/s. What happens is that as you travel faster and
approach the speed of light, distances shorten and time slows down so that light still travels at
300000 km/s relative to you. This is not just a theory... these effects have been observed in
experiments. According to Einstein's equations, it is impossible for anything with mass to reach
the speed of light. So the answer to the first question is that you couldn't be traveling at the speed
of light, but even if you were traveling at close to the speed of light, you would still be able to
illuminate your console and shine a light on a target outside. The speed of a bullet is negligible
compared to the speed of light, so in that case we don't have to worry about these effects.

A good general-level book on these topics is Einstein's Universe by Nigel Calder.