Physics 212

Fall 2008
The Very Last Problem Set

Read: 28.1 – 28.4, 28.6, 28.7 and do the following. Due Wednesday, December 10th.
1) An Unidentified Flying Object has a red flashing light
mounted at the bottom of its fuselage. The light flashes
every 1.5 s. You are out in the desert drinking heavily with
your posse. You see the flying saucer and observe that the
light flashes every 2.5 s. Assuming that your inebriated
state is not the cause of the time difference, calculate the
velocity of the UFO.
2) Skid purchases a new Mustang that can achieve velocities
approaching the speed of light. Skid drives by you in the
Mustang at 0.9c relative to the Earth. As it passes, you
determine that the length of the car is 1.4 m. When Skid
eventually comes back and stops to chat with you what
length do you measure the car?
3) If astronauts could travel at 0.95c, we on Earth would say it
takes 4.42 years to reach Alpha Centauri, which is 4.2
lighters away. The astronauts disagree. (a) How much
time passes relative to the astronauts? (b) What is the
distance relative to Alpha Centauri relative to the
astronauts?
7) Calculate the velocity of a proton when its total energy is
equal to four times its rest energy.
8) A spacecraft from Barnard’s Star approaches Earth and
launches an exploration vehicle. After the launch, an
observer on Earth sees the spacecraft approaching at a
speed of 0.5c and the exploration vehicle approaching at a
speed of 0.7c. What is the velocity of the exploration
vehicle relative to the spacecraft?
9) Greezy-X is walking down Lincoln Ave. in Chicago after a
late night at The Metro. He notices Small Spaceship #1
approaching from the right at 0.75c and Small Spaceship
#2 approaching from the left at 0.65c. What is the relative
velocity between the two spaceships as measured by an
alien on one of them?
10) An electron moves to the right with a speed of 0.9c relative
to the laboratory frame of reference. A proton moves to the
left with a speed of 0.7c relative to the electron. Calculate
the speed of the proton relative to the lab frame.

4) A friend in a starship travels past you at a high speed. He

tells you that his ship is 20 m long and that the identical
ship you are in is 19 m long. Relative to you, (a) how long is
your ship, (b) how long is his ship, and (c) what is the speed
of his ship?

5) An electron is accelerated from rest to speed of 0.99c.

What amount of work is done on the electron?

ANSWERS:
1) 0.8c 7) 0.968c
2) 3.21 m 8) 0.31c
3) a) 1.38 years 9) 0.94c
b) 1.31 light-years 10) 0.54c
4) c) 0.31c

5)5.0 x 10 -13
J
6) a) 939 MeV
b) 3.0 GeV
c) 2.06 GeV

6) A proton moves with a speed of 0.95c. Calculate its (a) rest

energy, (b) total energy, and (c) kinetic energy.