re: Light speed Questions

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From my 15 yr old:


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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This is subjective based on what type of science you're using. In the fiction of Star Wars and Star Trek, the answer to both questions is "YES."

The way we understand science and light speed today, the answer is "we can't physically travel at the speed of light, so we don't know."

However in physics, if there was a giant mirror you were traveling towards, your image would be blue shifted and if you were traveling away from it it would be red shifted (as it pertains to your question about colors, so yeah, you could see colors.) That has to do with the way we perceive the light's frequency/wave length with our eyes.

If an object (like a star) is moving away from us, it creates a longer wavelength and a more "red" color. If an object (like a star) is moving towards us, it creates a shorter wavelength and a more "blue" color.