Question

Suppose that you measure the length of a spaceship, at rest relative to you, to be 400 m. How long will you measure it to be if it flies past you at a speed of v

Answer 1

264 m

Step-by-step explanation:

The complete question is

Suppose that you measure the length of a spaceship, at rest relative to you, to be 400 m. How long will you measure it to be if it flies past you at a speed of v = 0.75c

using the length contraction relationship,

`l = l_(0) \sqrt{1 - \beta ^(2) }`

where
`\beta = (v)/(c)`

`l` is the relativistic length

`l_(0)` is the actual length = 400 m

v is the velocity of the spaceship

c is the speed of light

since v = 0.75c

v/c = 0.75

substituting, we have

`l = 400 * \sqrt{1 - 0.75 ^(2) }` = 400 x 0.66 = 264 m