Question

Max observes a spaceship traveling toward him at 0.75c. He measures its length and finds that the spaceship is 250 m long. The ship brakes hard and skids to a stop on a nearby airstrip. Max remeasures the spaceship. What length does he find

Answer 1

380m

Step-by-step explanation:

We have the speed of the spaceship v = 0.75c

Max measures contracted length L of the spaceship as it travels

We have been given L = 250m

As this ship stops he is going to get exact length of the ship = Lol

We solve using this formula

L = Lo√ 1-v²/c²

From the formula above we make Lo subject of the formula

When we input values

Lo = 250/√1-(0.75c/c)²

= 250/√1-(0.75)²

= 250/√0.4375

= 250/0.6614

= 377.98

This is approximately 380