[Physics] Length contraction speed of light

lengthmassspecial-relativityspeed-of-lightvisible-light

The Special Theory of Relativity tells us that a moving object eg spaceship measures shorter in its direction of motion as its velocity increases.

At the speed of light it would have zero length, but infinite mass.

  1. would the spaceship disappear from the perspective of an observer outside the ship at the speed of light, having zero length? where would it go?

  2. at the speed of light, with zero length, what would a person inside the spaceship perceive?

  3. if the object has zero length how can it have infinite mass?

Can the above occur in reality or would it lead to paradoxical results?

Best Answer

Although mathematically allowed, the limiting case where the massive object reaches the speed of light is not practically realizable. This is often the situation with scenarios found in special and general relativity. There are limits that can never be reached in the physical world. A massive object reaching the speed of light is one such case.

Also remember the length contraction and increase in mass are relative observations. For the person inside the space ship, the length and mass remains the same. It's only the external observer that looks at the space ship speeding past it (i.e., a transverse observer as Steve explained) that will observe the length contraction.

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