QUOTE(Stellar @ May 23 2006, 07:54 PM) [snapback]1202754[/snapback]
Which brings me to my next point. So... say the person is travelling at the speed of light, 300 000 000 m/s, meaning for every second passed, the person travels a distance of 300 000 000 m. Relative to who though? If time goes by slower for him, then what external observers percieve to be 1 second would be for him, say, 0.1 s... meaning that in reference to him, he traveled 300 000 000 m in 0.1s, so 3 000 000 000 m/s which effectively puts him at a speed faster than light.
lol i had this long drug out blah blah blah post and then realised what you were ACTUALLY saying.
so you are saying , let me clarify so that i understand this, that since the dilation of time for the person traveling at the speed of light is greater than that of the person observing him, that that would put him over the speed of light?
once again, for clarification,
the time traveled by the person A(speed of light) with reference to person B(stationary) would be 1 second, and he would have traveled 300 000 m. from the view of A , it would have taken less than a second, because of the dilation of time, therefore he would be traveling faster than the speed of light?
time dilation is a result of traveling at enourmous speeds. if one were traveling near the speed of light, ones time dilation would be much , much greater than that of an observer. this does not mean , however, that they are traveling faster than the speed of light, because how could they be? if they ARE traveling at the speed of light, then A = A. time dilation occurs because of the relativity between stationary and moving objects. person A is traveling at enormous speeds, so inside(key) of this frame of reference , he would appear to age more slowly than B. so when he comes to a stop, he would have aged slower than person B.
these are all technical issues when one takes the limit to c in certain physics equations. concerning the kinemetics equations, and the conservation of energy......
from "Relativity The Special and General Theory" by Albert Einstein:
"by the expression mc^2/(sqrt(1-(v^2/c^2))) : This expression approaches infinity as the velocity v approaches the velocity of light c. The velocity must therefore always remain less than c*, however great may be the energies used to produce the acceleration. If we develop the expression for the kinetic engergy in the form of a series, we obtain...."
*take the limit of the equation as v approaches c. it then becomes mc^2/(sqrt(1-c^2/c^2) = mc^2/(sqrt(1-1)). which then equals mc^2/sqrt(0). a/o =undefined.
"the first and fourth equations of the loretz transformation give these two ticks(clock): t = 0
and t = 1/sqrt(1-(v^2/c^2)). As judged from K the clock is moving with the velocity v;as judged from this reference body, the time with elapses between two strokes of the clock is not one second, but 1/sqrt(1-(v^2/c^2)) seconds, i.e. a somewhat larger time. AS is a consequence of its motion the closck goes more slowly than when at rest. Here also velocity c plays the part of an unattainable limiting velocity."
so in conclusion, that that is within the reference frame experiences the dilation of time, while that out of it does not(or much less). C remains a constant in all reference frames, thereby making it a sort of "speed limit" as described by the transformation of equations above. even when time dilation occurs within a reference frame, one is still traveling at the limit of C, the speed of light*. C is the same in all reference frames.
*even if you turned on the headlights in your box that is already traveling at the speed of light, the light emitted will also travel at the speed of light, and not the intuitive speed of twice that much.