this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2026
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Okay, but what if I go the speed of light minus 1m/s and shine a flashlight, can I catch the photons?
No
That's not a physics statement btw. I just think that you, personally, are too slow to be able to do that. Offense intended.
That may seem harsh to the casual reader, but it's 100% true in this case.
It's a 100% in all cases. The light doesn't like you and is trying to get away.
One day we will all be shrouded in the darkness we've created for ourselves.
You can catch the photons just fine without needing to go absurdly fast. Just put your hand in front of the flashlight beam, and you'll catch lots of them.
Physicists hate this one weird trick
... I would actually argue that for a human catching anything at c-1m/s is impossible. Except catching death perhaps.
Not going "absurdity" fast is more of a requirement.
You're already going c-1m/s if compared to the right reference frame.
You are correct, can't argue with that.
Light ALWAYS travels away from you at the speed of light no matter how fast you and your flashlight are going. Something has to give and that is time. It may look to outside observers, not traveling that fast along with you, that light is going 1 m/s faster than you... but you would also appear to be moving in super slow motion trying to reach out for the beam. The faster you go the slower time moves for you.
no i think the light would indeed just travel 1m/s away for them, they could never catch it as in catching up to it because they can't reach the speed of light instead their mass gets more and more
Nope. In your frame of reference, they will still be moving at the speed of light.
I think the answer is that you are only traveling at almost light speed from reference frame of your start position.
The light of the lamp travels at light speed from your own reference speed which to you in a vacuum is 0.
Anyone correct if wrong please?
Correct. Physics gets really, really weird at relativistic speeds. Something to keep in mind is that the speed of light isn’t actually the speed of light itself, but rather the speed of causality - the universe’s hard limit at which any interactions can occur. Even if you are traveling at .99c from a certain reference frame, space time itself warps in such a way that light traveling away from you is still measured at 1c
Any observations wouldn't see anything but the whole light
I believe this is explained by Einstein in his example of the train in the Theory of Relativity
No. Ever heard of the doppler effect?
Light behaves like a wave. But instead of hearing sound in a higher/slower pitch relative to the source, you'd be seeing a different color.
You're already traveling at the speed of light minus 1m/s relative to a reference frame that's traveling away from you at that speed.
Wow, and I’m in my pyjamas while doing it
If you're going at the speed of light minus 1 m/s and you turn on a flashlight, the beam emitted by the flashlight will be travelling at the speed of light, according to your measurements. Time passes slower the faster you travel.