Chapter 37, Problem 37.60P

Albert in Wonderland. Einstein and Lorentz, being avid tennis players, play a fast-paced game on a court where they stand 20.0 m from each other. Being very skilled players, they play without a net. The tennis ball has mass 0.0580 kg. You can ignore gravity and assume that the ball travels parallel to the ground as it travels between the two players. Unless otherwise specified, all measurements are made by the two men. (a) Lorentz serves the ball at 80.0 m/s. What is the ball’s kinetic energy? (b) Einstein slams a return at 1.80 × 10⁸ m/s. What is the ball’s kinetic energy? (c) During Einstein’s return of the ball in part (a), a white rabbit runs beside the court in the direction from Einstein to Lorentz. The rabbit has a speed of 2.20 × 10⁸ m/s relative to the two men. What is the speed of the rabbit relative to the ball? (d) What does the rabbit measure as the distance from Einstein to Lorentz? (e) How much time does it take for the rabbit to run 20.0 m. according to the players? (f) The white rabbit carries a pocket watch. He uses this watch to measure the time (as he sees it) for the distance from Einstein to Lorentz to pass by under him. What time does he measure?