• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
MedVision ad

things of interest (1 Viewer)

MaximusVII

Master Physicist
Joined
Feb 5, 2005
Messages
11
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
Say a vehicle is moving at 50km/h and shoots a cannon out at 50km/h we would expect the cannon to have a velocity of 100km/h.
So what about a vehicel moving at .75c and shooting an object of .75c
well it would equal 1.5c, and that would be faster than light.
But it isnt like that at all, vector quantitys are also affected by the constancy of light to make all velocities less than c.
Hence when adding two velocitys:

Velocity= (v1 +v2) / (1 + v1*v2/c*c)

As v approaches c, 1 + v1*v2/c*c becomes significant enough to impact the new velocity hence:

velocity = .96c

Thus all velocitys are less than c.
At least i read this somewhere
 

serge

Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2004
Messages
635
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
MaximusVII said:
Thus all velocitys are less than c
At least i read this somewhere
A-ha, all evidence points to c being the limiting speed of the universe
 

Captain Gh3y

Rhinorhondothackasaurus
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
4,153
Location
falling from grace with god
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
MaximusVII said:
Say a vehicle is moving at 50km/h and shoots a cannon out at 50km/h we would expect the cannon to have a velocity of 100km/h.
So what about a vehicel moving at .75c and shooting an object of .75c
well it would equal 1.5c, and that would be faster than light.
But it isnt like that at all, vector quantitys are also affected by the constancy of light to make all velocities less than c.
Hence when adding two velocitys:

Velocity= (v1 +v2) / (1 + v1*v2/c*c)

As v approaches c, 1 + v1*v2/c*c becomes significant enough to impact the new velocity hence:

velocity = .96c

Thus all velocitys are less than c.
At least i read this somewhere
So for your example we've got 1.5/(1.5625) = 0.96c.

And if they were both going at .99c, you get .99995c, which implies that, as v --> c, then v + v --> v. This would be due to the object gaining more mass rather than velocity, right?
 
Last edited:

tpc13

New Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Messages
7
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
I suppose the real question you have to ask is: what happens when you're in a car travelling at 0.99c and you turn on the headlights?



EDIT: Note to anyone confused: don't be. Meant as joke, you don't have to worry about this, you won't be asked on it (I hope anyway)...
 

Bokky

Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
112
Location
123 non-fake street
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
what happens if ur travelling at 60km/h in a car and u shine a light torche in front of u, will the light travel the speed of light + the speed ur travelling? or will the speed of light still be the same (ie. 300 000m/s)?
 

Captain Gh3y

Rhinorhondothackasaurus
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
4,153
Location
falling from grace with god
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
tpc13 said:
I suppose the real question you have to ask is: what happens when you're in a car travelling at 0.99c and you turn on the headlights?



EDIT: Note to anyone confused: don't be. Meant as joke, you don't have to worry about this, you won't be asked on it (I hope anyway)...
The light will appear to be travelling away from you at 299792458m/s :p
 

darkwarrior2

Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2005
Messages
52
Location
happy hardcore
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
not to mention that seeing as its v0 / sqrt 1- v2/c2 , if v>c then you'd have negative value and you cant sqrt negative :)
 

Bokky

Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
112
Location
123 non-fake street
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
ohh, so the light still travels at 300 000m/s even tho ur moving? ok, makes more sense, so if ur moving at 100 000m/s in a car and u shine a light, the light moves away from u at 200 000m/s ? GOTCHA :p
 

Captain Gh3y

Rhinorhondothackasaurus
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
4,153
Location
falling from grace with god
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
Bokky said:
ohh, so the light still travels at 300 000m/s even tho ur moving? ok, makes more sense, so if ur moving at 100 000m/s in a car and u shine a light, the light moves away from u at 200 000m/s ? GOTCHA :p
If you're stationary and shine a light, you see the light moving away from you at c relative to yourself.

If you're moving at 100,000m/s in a car and shine a light, you see the light moving away from you at c relative to the car.

If you're moving at (c - 1)m/s and shine a light, you see the light moving away from you at c relative to the car.
 

Abtari

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
604
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
isnt it basically this?:

a light beam travels at c from your frame of reference, regardless of your speed... (principle of relativity)

a light beam travels at c for different frames of reference, regardless of their motion. (einstein's principle of special relativity)

someone verify me.
 

gogogadgetbrain

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
22
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2008
haha.. yes, if your getting confused about the consistency of the speed of light NOW you better get some study done
 

Abtari

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
604
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
can someone help me answer this dotpoint:

'discuss the principle of relativity'

i dont know what to include in an answer if they ask such a question
 

gogogadgetbrain

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
22
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2008
principal of relativity

galilean relativity : the laws of mechanics are the same for a body at rest and a body moving with constant velocity

newtonian relativity : it is impossible to do any mechanical experiment, wholly within an inertial frame of reference that can tell you wether the frame is at rest or moving with constant velocity

Poincare - the principal of relativity- the laws of physics are the same for 'fixed' observer as for an observer who has uniform motion of translation relative to him
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top