Natural Sciences Division

Fullerton College
Physics 223 Fall 2017
Instructor: Brian Shotwell

Exam 3 Solutions
Exam worth 80 points (choose any four of the following five problems, 20 points each)
Clearly mark at the top of your exam Dont Grade #
You may set c = 1 for all problems except problem 1
October 17, 2017

1. Rodrigo and Diana off in opposite directions:

(a) Use velocity addition to obtain

3/5 + 3/5 30/25 15

Vrel = 2
c= c= c
1 + (3/5) 34/25 17

(b) Rodrigo measures he proper time between these two events:

 2
L 16 2
(s)2 = (ct)2 (x)2 = L2 = L
3/5 9
16 2 4L
(c )2 = L = =
9 3c

(c) In the ground frame, the relative speed between D and a light pulse traveling towards her is 2c/5, and
the distance separating the two is 2L. Therefore, the light reaches Diana a time 2L/(2c/5) = 5L/c
after the light pulse is sent. In this time, Diana makes it from x = L to x = 4L
(d) Using the Doppler formula for light (keeping in mind the relative speed between R and D is 15c/17,
and taking into account the two are receding from one another):
s s
1 1+
freceived = f0 = received = 0
1+ 1
s
1 + 15/17
received = (450 nm) = received = 1800 nm
1 15/17

This is not in the visible part of the EM spectrum (infrared) .

2. TRUE, FALSE, or DEPENDS:

(a) False. The spacetime interval is null (lightlike) only for two events connected by a single light ray
traveling in one direction (i.e., iff x/t = c). Here though, because the light ray bounces back, the
overall displacement is zero, and the two events have x = 0 (theyre timelike-separated).
(b) False. From velocity addition, the speed of the bullet in the ground frame is (0.5 + 0.5)/(1 + 0.52 ) =
1/1.25 = 0.80. This is not fast enough to reach the robber.

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 (c) True. (s)2 = (ct)2 (x)2 is frame-independent. In the frame where x = 0, |t| is minimized.
(d) False. Label the photon and the massive particle M (with mass m). Then, because the momenta are
equal in magnitude,
2
EM m2 = E2 m2 = EM > E

(e) True. This is easy to see in the rest frame of the particle the total momentum is zero, and its
impossible to have zero momentum (in the final state) with just a single photon.

3. Two rockets passing head on at relative speeds; bullet hit-or-miss:

(a) The bullet misses. There is one sentence that could use some clarification: She fires the gun when
points a and a0 coincide. Its implied that she fires the gun when this event happens in her frame. The
fact that these two events (events A and C) are simultaneous in the frame of o does not mean that they
are simultaneous in the frame of o0 . Thus the last sentence, Therefore, when points a and a0 coincide,
observer o0 should observe a hit, is not true when points a and a0 coincide in the frame of o0 , the
bullet was already fired. Furthermore, the figure on the right is incorrect, since the two events A and
C dont occur at the same time in this frame.
(b) Minkowski Diagram in o:

ct

event B light
2L
(L, 3
)

event A event C
(0, L3 ) (L, L3 )

x
event E0 L
(0,0)

Event E0 (reference event) where/when b0 and a pass.

Event A where/when a and a0 pass.
Event B where/when b and b0 pass.
Event C where/when the bullet is fired from point b.

Events C and B are timelike-separated . This makes sense for timelike-separated events, all inertial
frames will agree on which event happened first (C happens before B). That is, the bullet is definitely fired
before the ships start crossing one another.

2
4. Photon Braking:

(a) We have two unknowns (the mass of the new particle from the decay, m, and the energy of the photon,
Ep ). The two equations we can set up to solve for these two unknowns is from conservation of energy
and conservation of momentum:
 
1
Energy Conservation: M = m + Ep
1 v2
 
1
Momentum Conservation: M v = Ep
1 v2
Note that the momentum conservation equation automatically gives us Ep . Take Ep from the momen-
tum conservation equation and plug into the energy equation to solve for m:
 
v
Ep = M
1 v2

  r
1 v 1v
m = M Ep = M = m = M
1v 2 1 v2 1+v

(b) One way to do this is to use the Lorentz Transformation equation. Call the CM frame S 0 this frame
is moving to the right (in the +x direction) at speed v relative to the lab frame (S). Therefore, for the
mass m:
 0
       r  
Em v m m 0 1 1v 1
0 = = = Em = m = M= M
pm v 0 vm 1 v2 1+v 1+v

In the CM frame, the momentum of m is equal in magnitude to the momentum of the photon (which
equals the energy of the photon). Therefore,
r  
v 1v v
Ep0 = |p0m | = vm = M = Ep0 = M
1 v2 1+v 1+v

The total energy in the CM frame is M , which makes sense.

5. Decay of Au-196 through -decay:

(a) 196
79 Au 196
80 Hg + + e (actually e ) and 196
79 Au 196
78 Pt + + + e
(b) The energy comes from the rest-mass energy of the original Au-196 atom.
(c) I would not expect radiation, as even thin metal will block alpha and beta radiation.
(d) t1/2 = 6.167 days = = (ln 2)/t1/2 = 0.1124/day:

M (t) = M0 exp(t)
M (t = 2 days) = (1.000 kg) exp(0.1124 2)
= 798.7 grams