From Dmitrybrant · · 1 min
Experiencing special relativity at a walking pace
Explore a virtual park where the speed of light is slowed down to a brisk five kilometers per hour.
In brief
Explore a virtual park where the speed of light is slowed down to a brisk five kilometers per hour. Visualizing physics becomes intuitive when the cosmic speed limit matches human scale. Originally reported by Dmitrybrant.
Light slowed to human speed
Imagine a world where light moves at just five kilometers per hour. In this interactive park, a simple brisk walk brings Einstein's theories straight into view.
“In this park, the speed of light is 5 kilometers per hour”
An unreachable speed limit
Just like in outer space, you can never quite reach the speed of light. As you accelerate, reaching that final threshold becomes harder and harder.
“the speed of light is not attainable, only approachable asymptotically.”
Shrinking space and twisted views
As you speed up, distance contracts ahead of you. Objects also appear to twist and distort around your vision due to optical effects like Terrell rotation.
Time slows down on your watch
Moving close to five kilometers per hour alters the passage of time. Your personal watch ticks slower than the world clock around you.
Extreme shifts in color
Fast motion shifts the frequency of incoming light waves. Objects straight ahead shift toward bright blue, while everything behind you fades into deep red.
“objects in front of you blueshifted, objects behind you redshifted”
At a glance
Visualizing physics becomes intuitive when the cosmic speed limit matches human scale.
