Practice
Problems
Time
Dilation:
Question
1:
Consider
two twins 25 years old. One twin steps on a space ship (after studying
physics in college) and travels through space at 0.95 c
for 4 years according to her. How old is each twin when she returns?
Consider
the muon described below for questions 2 through 4:
A
muon is created in our upper atmosphere and travels toward the ground at
0.998 c.
If it's lifetime is 2.2 x 10-6 seconds.
Question
2:
What
is the lifetime of the muon as observed by the earth's frame of reference?
Question
3:
How
much distance would be covered by the earth as it sped toward the muon
according to its own reference frame?
Question
4:
How
much distance would the muon cover in our reference frame?
Consider
Proxima Centuri for questions 5 - 8:
The
nearest galaxy is Proxima Centuri and it is about 2 million light
years from earth.
Question
5:
Without
relativistic effects, how long would it take us to reach Proxima Centuri
if we could travel at half the speed of light?
Question
6:
Without
relativistic effects, how long would it take us to reach Proxima Centuri
if we could travel the speed of light?
Question
7:
Considering
relativistic effects, how long would it take us to reach Proxima Centuri
if we traveled at 0.99 c?
Question
8:
How
fast would we need to travel if we were to reach Proxima Centuri in 28
years?
Question
9:
Comedian
Stephen Wright has a joke in one of his routines in which he is
interviewing his boss to see if he would consider taking a job. He asks,
"If you were in a car traveling at 99.999% the speed of light and you
turned on your headlights, would you see anything?" Would you?