What happens if you're moving at warp speed and fire a laser forward?

I can't come up with an answer for the life of me.

Do you shoot yourself?

It's not like lasers are bullets. They cut wherever they touch.

Edit: No, wait, the laser would just back up on itself, like holding your hand over the end of a vacuum cleaner. Or something. SCIENCE!

edited 12th Oct '11 5:51:49 AM by Nicknacks

Actual, Star Trek(TM) warp speed, or just general >c velocity?

According to the theory of relativity, the only way velocity makes sense is in relation to something else. If your starship is moving, it's only relative to an outside observer. From your own viewpoint, you're not moving at all. So if you fire a laser, it moves in relation to the ship, i.e. straight ahead at the speed of light. To the observer, the laser beam is moving at twice the speed of light, but that's his problem, not yours.

Would the force propelling forward so much also force your laser beam thing forward?

If yes, it might work similarly (I think it might depend on how much you've been accelerating in that case, but that's for the scientists). If not, you'd probably just break your gun/blaster.

Exactly. Or, to put it in more Newtonian terms, the laser beam already has the starting velocity of the vehicle; firing it just adds velocity.

No, to the observer, the light is moving at the speed of light.

But if you're moving at Warp speed, then in a warp bubble around you the light goes forward like normal until it reaches the end of the bubble. Depending on what the artist feels is appealing, the laser may then get trapped within the bubble or bend around the outside of the bubble and go off in a perpendicular direction.

In Star Trek Terms (and the Star Trek Point of View):

The Phaserbeam (or Laserbeam) moves forward until he moves beyond of the edge of the Warpfield created by your Nacelles, at which point he (unlike a torpedo, which - if programmed to do so - can uphold a warp field/take a tiny part of the ships Warp Field with it.) falls back into Normalspace again (and be only as fast as light, or rather nearly as fast with the phaser).

You probably DON'T run into it as the split second it would be between subspace and normal space would probably be enough for the ship (which moves at speeds far faster than light at your average cruising warp factors) to move beyond it (chalk it up to weird subspace/normalspace treshhold geometry)

If another ship (a fighter for example) would close enough you cold probably extend your warp field to hit it with a phaser, in most other cases its just a writer screwup.

Damn you damn teddybear ;P

edited 12th Oct '11 1:01:33 PM by 3of4

The bear waves to mock you.

You might find it...unbearable.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH

More puzzling: If you fire a laser at a cat who just passed you going light speed, from the cat's perspective, he gets hit, but from your perspective, the laser never catches up. This is why cats never accelerate to light speed.

edited 15th Oct '11 4:47:09 PM by Jergling