Question

A student passes Earth flying in a rocket at 0.9c and shines a laser toward the front of the rocket. Another student on Earth watches as the rocket flies by. How fast does the Earth-bound student see the light from the laser moving?

Answer 1

An Earth-bound student would see the light from the laser moving at the constant speed of light (c), regardless of the rocket's speed relative to Earth.

Step-by-step explanation:

The scenario presented where a student passes Earth in a rocket at 0.9c (90% of the speed of light) and shines a laser toward the front of the rocket involves fundamental principles of special relativity. According to Einstein's theory, the speed of light in a vacuum is constant and does not change, regardless of the speed of the source or the observer. Therefore, an Earth-bound student would see the light from the laser moving at the speed of light, c, which is approximately 299,792 kilometers per second or 299,792,458 meters per second. This phenomenon highlights the independence of light speed from the relative motion of the source and the observer.