re: Light speed Questions

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1. If you are traveling at light speed, can you see colors?

2. If you are traveling at light speed, could you see your reflection?

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So, there is no short answer to this.

First, you can't travel at the speed of light due to Einstein's Relativity equations. You can travel slower than it, or surpass it, but not at exactly the same speed. Just like you can't be exactly 6 feet tall. Even if you are 5 feet and 11.99999999 inches, you're still not exactly 6 feet. So when this happens with the speed of light, due to relativity, even if you are infinitely approaching the speed of light, it is still moving at the speed of light away from you just as if you were sitting still.

For your son's question, you can't travel at the speed of light. Any speed below it, no matter how fast, you would still see color and reflections just as you do now. If you are moving faster than the speed of light, you would actually see light that had refracted prior to the time that you are there. Essentially you would be able to look back in time, in theory.

The interesting part is the mirror. Moving faster than the speed of light, you would see light that has already been projected. However, to the reflective nature of the mirror, you could only see reflection for as long back as the mirror had been there. So if you put the mirror there yourself and it entered the space with you, I guess it would just be black, reflecting absolutely nothing. It's an interesting conversation, I'll have to think on it a little more.