If a bullet is traveling at the speed of light hits a glass surface?
Would it pass thru without shattering the glass? or would the glass break?
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KoolKermit
on February 8th, 2012
Well, lets estimate, for the moment, that the bullet has a mass of 0.05 kg (50 grams).
And since it is *impossible* for any object with mass to be accelerated to the speed of light, (it’s apparent mass, and hence inertia becomes infinite.) let say that the bullet is only traveling *nearly* the speed of light, say 0.995 c.
At “relativistic” velocities, the kinetic energy of an object in motion is:
Ek = m’c² / ?(1 – v²/c²) – m’c²,
where m’ is the object’s “rest mass”, and v is velocity, usually written in terms of c for ease of calculation.
(Note: by inspection, as v approaches c, the denominator in the first term becomes very small, and hence the first term becomes very large, eventually increasing without bounds. Therefore, in order to accelerate any object with mass to the speed of light, it would take an amount of energy which was *greater than infinity*)
Now, the speed of light in vacuum is around 3.0*10^8 m/s. After a few calculations, a bullet with a speed of 0.995c and a mass of 0.05 kg would have a kinetic energy of……
*dramatic pause*
around 4.06 * 10^16 Joules.
OK, so a number that big probably doesn’t mean much to you. This roughly compares to the energy produced by a 10 megaton hydrogen bomb.
Needless to say, both the glass and the bullet would be instantly vaporized, in a burst of light, x-rays, and ultra-high temperature plasma.
Hope that makes sense,
~W.O.M.B.A.T.
PoPCorn
on February 8th, 2012
What kind of gun are you using?
Orchid
on February 8th, 2012
A bullet can’t travel the speed of light, and if it was able to do so it would have to have 0 mass. If this “bullet” has no mass, it would pass through the glass without shattering it. But then, it really wouldn’t be a bullet.
oddperson
on February 8th, 2012
Depends on if you mean if it would shatter and fall or crack or would it just make a hole? I say that it would crack in half and then fall.
Hippie
on February 8th, 2012
Relativity says that nothing that has mass can travel at the speed of light because it will take an infinite amount of energy for it to accelerate to that. To answer your question you have to throw relativity out of the window and assume that you can accelerate something with mass to c. In that case, it would have mass and would, therefore, break the glass.
SlightlyBitter
on February 8th, 2012
Ignoring, for the sake of argument, the impossibility of such a bullet, why would the glass NOT shatter?
The only possibility would be in the technical difference between shattering, or the bullet passing through, fusing the edges of the hole left behind because of the tremendous heat generated by the friction of the bullet pasing the glass.
Still, how does a bullet survive the heat of such friction?
No, the bullet, glass and everything for hundreds of feet around would be destroyed by the shock wave of the passing bullet. (which wouldn’t survive it’s own shock wave, so, wouldn’t reach the glass, in the first place.)
Which brings us back to the question of the gun.
Ouch. Now, consider relativity, itself. The bullet, AND the glass could be said to be approaching each other at the speed of light. Which shatters which?
CrispApple
on February 8th, 2012
Case 1 – There is air around both surfaces of glass surface ie glass is held in air
in this case glass wont break !! there will be a hole of diameter exactly same as bullet diameter….. and the surface finish of the hole surface will be d best possible !!!
Case 2 – Glass surface is put on ground.
This case will be much more complex… breaking of glass will depend upon resistance offered by ground to bullet……. but there are full chances that glass will break !!!
!!!! Please let me know if i m correct !!!!!
Sunflower
on February 8th, 2012
In our universe, only one object can travel at speed of light, the first such object, at which point it eats 100% of the mass of the universe, and the universe ceases to exist, so it will never reach the glass.
Seashells
on February 8th, 2012
i think it could be possible only in space . any way if a moving bullet hit a glass it will only make a hole of his shape because of its high velocity and very little time to come contact with the glass surface. it wont break it totally
FunnyFish
on February 8th, 2012
It would disappear before reaching the glass.
Ryback
on January 14th, 2012
This is an interesting question, unfortunately all the answers provided are incorrect, because they fail to examine the problem from the proper perspective: a quantum mechanical viewpoint. For arguments sake lets slightly modify the scenario to have the bullet traveling at “nearly the speed of light”. First of all, it is impossible to predict with absolute certainty what would happen to the glass as its atoms come into contact with the atoms of the bullet. Many factors are at play including the thickness of the glass, and the speed of a bullet. For a sufficiently thin piece of glass, and a fast enough moving bullet, it is likely that most of the atoms of the bullet would pass through the glass without interacting with the atoms of the glass.