- #1
terwilligerjones
- 4
- 0
OK...I'm a certifiable idiot, and an old one at that, but this has nagged at me for decades and perhaps someone here could explain it to me:
If I were to accelerate towards the speed of light, I would perceive other, non-accelerating, frames of reference as foreshortened in the direction of my travel, right?
If I were traveling with a beam of light, then, would I not perceive the universe of my travel as a plane perpendicular to my "direction" of travel? And if I did, could I have any notion of motion, reflection, refraction, direction or any of the myriad other qualities that are observable about a beam of light? Stated another way, would not I perceive the beginning and end of my journey to be simultaneous with every point through which I passed, none of which I could perceive?
That just doesn't sound right...there shouldn't be one frame of reference (mine) where no motion is detectable, and others where it is.
Sorry if that's a dumb one, but...
terwilliger
If I were to accelerate towards the speed of light, I would perceive other, non-accelerating, frames of reference as foreshortened in the direction of my travel, right?
If I were traveling with a beam of light, then, would I not perceive the universe of my travel as a plane perpendicular to my "direction" of travel? And if I did, could I have any notion of motion, reflection, refraction, direction or any of the myriad other qualities that are observable about a beam of light? Stated another way, would not I perceive the beginning and end of my journey to be simultaneous with every point through which I passed, none of which I could perceive?
That just doesn't sound right...there shouldn't be one frame of reference (mine) where no motion is detectable, and others where it is.
Sorry if that's a dumb one, but...
terwilliger