Tuesday, February 17, 2015

special relativity - What is c+(c)?


If object A is moving at velocity v (normalized so that c=1) relative to a ground observer emits object B at velocity w relative to A, the velocity of B relative to the ground observer is vw=v+w1+vw


As expected, v1=1, as "nothing can go faster than light".
Similarly, v1=1. (same thing in the other direction)


But what if object A is moving at the speed of light and emits object B at the speed of light in the exact opposite direction? In other words, what is the value of 11? Putting the values in the formula yields the indeterminate form 00. This invites making sense of things by taking a limit, but lim is not well-defined, because the limit depends on the path taken.


So what would the ground observer see? Is this even a meaningful question?


Edit: I understand 1 \oplus -1 doesn't make sense mathematically (thought I made it clear above!), I'm asking what would happen physically. I'm getting the sense that my fears were correct, it's physically a nonsensical situation.





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