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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5666629" data-attributes="member: 177">The basic problem is very simple."You're on a train moving at the speed of light..."No, you aren't.  Period.  Only massless particles actually move at the speed of light.  Trains are big, heavy things, and cannot move at the speed of light.  They can move close to the speed of light, but not actually at it.So, you're on a train moving very close to the speed of light.  Or, more correctly, someone standing on the side of the track says it is moving close to the speed of light.  From the race car's point of view, the train's motionless.  You stomp on the race car gas pedal.  The race car takes off, moving say 30 MPH faster than the train. That's fine.  From the point of view of someone standing on the side of the train track, the train is moving near the speed of light.  The car is moving slightly faster than the train, but still not at the speed of light.  From the point of view of the bystander, the speed of the car and the train do *not* simply add linearly.  That's relativity - distances and times (and thus speeds) change relative to who is doing the measuring.</blockquote>