Q37.1 You are standing on a train platform watching a high-speed train pass by. A light inside one of the train cars is turned on and then a little later it is turned off. (a) Who can measure the proper time interval for the duration of the light: you or a passen- ger on the train? (b) Who can measure the proper length of the train car: you or a passenger on the train? (c) Who can measure the proper length of a sign attached to a post on the train platform: you or a passenger on the train? In each case explain your answer.

Q37.1 You are standing on a train platform watching a high-speed train pass by. A light inside one of the train cars is turned on and then a little later it is turned off. (a) Who can measure the proper time interval for the duration of the light: you or a passen- ger on the train? (b) Who can measure the proper length of the train car: you or a passenger on the train? (c) Who can measure the proper length of a sign attached to a post on the train platform: you or a passenger on the train? In each case explain your answer.

Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based Text

5th Edition

ISBN:9781133104261

Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett

Publisher:Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett

Chapter9: Relativity

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 51P

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Suppose an astronaut is moving relative to the Earth at a significant fraction of the speed of light. (a) Does he observe the rate of his clocks to have slowed? (b) What change in the rate of Earth-bound clocks does he see? (c) Does his ship seem to him to shorten? (d) What about the distance between stars that lie on lines parallel to his motion? (e) Do he and an Earth-bound observer agree on his velocity relative to the Earth?
Describe the following physical occurrences as events, that is, in the form (x, y, z, t): (a) A postman rings a doorbell of a house precisely at noon. (b) At the same lime as the doorbell is lung, a slice of bread pops out of a toaster that is located 10 1T1 from the door in the east direction from the door. (c) Tell seconds later, an airplane arrives at the airport, which is 10 km from the door in the east direction and 2 km to the south.
An observer in a coasting spacecraft moves toward a mirror at speed v relative to the reference frame labeled by S in Figure P26.46. The mirror is stationary with respect to S. A light pulse emitted by the spacecraft travels toward the mirror and is reflected back to the spacecraft. The spacecraft is a distance d from the mirror (as measured by observers in S) at the moment the light pulse leaves the spacecraft. What is the total travel time of the pulse as measured by observers in (a) the S frame and (b) the spacecraft? Figure P26.46
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An observer in a coasting spacecraft moves toward a mirror at speed v relative to the reference frame labeled by S in Figure P26.46. The mirror is stationary with respect to S. A light pulse emitted by the spacecraft travels toward the mirror and is reflected back to the spacecraft. The spacecraft is a distance d from the mirror (as measured by observers in S) at the moment the light pulse leaves the spacecraft. What is the total travel time of the pulse as measured by observers in (a) the S frame and (b) the spacecraft? Figure P26.46
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(a) What is the effective accelerating potential for electrons at the Stanford Linear Accelerator, if =1.00105 for them? (b) What is their total energy (nearly the same as kinetic in this case) in GeV?
(a) What is if v=0.250c ? (b) If v=0.500c ?
(a) All but the closest galaxies are receding from our own Milky Way Galaxy. If a galaxy 12.0109ly ly away is receding from us at 0. 0.900c, at what velocity relative to us must we send an exploratory probe to approach the other galaxy at 0.990c, as measured from that galaxy? (b) How long will it take the probe to reach the other galaxy as measured from the Earth? You may assume that the velocity of the other galaxy remains constant. (c) How long will it then take for a radio signal to be beamed back? (All of this is possible in principle, but not practical.)
In the Check Your Learning section of Example 27.1, the author commented that even at z=0.2 , there is already an 11% deviation between the relativistic and the classical solution. What is the percentage difference between the classical and relativistic results at z=0.1 ? What is it for z=0.5 ? What is it for z=1 ?
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