PROBLEMS ON SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

1 Relativity of time intervals

1. A spaceship flies past Mars with a speed of 0.964c relative to the surface of the planet. When
the spaceship is directly overhead at an altitude of 1500 km, a very bright signal light on the
Martian surface blinks on and then off. An observer on the Mars measures the signal was on
for 82.4 µ s. What is the duration of the light pulse measured by the pilot of the spaceship?

2. Astronauts in a spaceship traveling at speed v=0.8 c relative to earth sign off from the space
control, saying that they are going to have a nap for 1 hour and then call back. How long does
their nap last as measured on earth?

3. The positive muon (µ +) is an unstable particle with and average lifetime of 2.2 µ s (measured
in the rest frame of the muon). If the muon is made to travel at a very high speed relative to a
laboratory, its average lifetime is measured in the laboratory to be 19 µ s. (i) Calculate the
speed of the muon. (ii) What distance, measured in the laboratory, does the particle travel
during its lifetime?

2 Relativity of lengths
1. As measured by an observer on earth, a spacecraft runway on earth has a length of 1200 m.
a) What is the length of the runway as measured by a pilot of a spacecraft flying past at a
speed of 8.0 × 107 m/s relative to the earth? b) An observer on the earth measured the time
interval from when the spacecraft is directly over one end of the runway until it is directly over
the other end. What result does she get? c) The pilot of the spacecraft measures the time it
takes him to travel from one end of the runway to the other end. What value does he get?

2. Two spaceships, each 50 m long when measured at rest, travel towards each other with
speeds of 0.85 c relative to the earth. (a) How long is each ship as measured by someone on
earth? (b) At time t=0 on earth, the fronts of the ships are together as they just begin to pass
each other. At what time on earth are their ends together?

3. An unstable particle is created in the upper atmosphere from a cosmic ray and travels straight
down toward the surface of the earth with a speed of 0.99860c relative to earth. A scientist in
a laboratory on the earth’s surface measures that the particle is created at an altitude of 95
km. (i) As measured by the scientist , how much time does it take the particle to travel the 95
km to the surface of the earth? (ii) Use the length contraction formula to calculate the distance
from where the particle is created to the surface of the earth as measured in the particle’s
frame. (iii) In the particle’s frame, how much time does it take the particle to travel the 95 km to
the surface of the earth? Calculate this by both the time dilation formula and from the distance
calculated in part (ii). Do these two results agree?

3. Relativistic Momentum and Energy

1. a) At what speed is the momentum of a particle twice as great as the result obtained from the
non-relativistic expression mou? b) At what speed is the momentum of a particle differs by 1%
from the value obtained from the non-relativistic expression mou? Is it greater than that
obtained from non-relativistic expression?

2. How much work must be done on a particle with mass mo to accelerate it a) from rest to a
speed of 0.08c? b) from a speed of 0.9c to 0.98c? [Express your answers in terms of moc2 ].
C) How do your answers in part (a) and (b) compare?

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3. What is the speed of a particle if its kinetic energy is 1% larger than mo u 2 ?
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4 Relativistic Doppler effect

1. A professor of physics claims in court that the reason he went through the red light (λ = 650
nm) was that, due to his motion, the red colour was Doppler shifted to green (λ = 550 nm).
How fast was he going?
2. Certain wavelengths in the light from a galaxy in the Constellation Virgo are observed to be
0.4% longer than the corresponding light from earth sources. What is the radial speed of this
galaxy with respect to earth? Is it approaching or receding?
3. A spaceship, moving away from earth at a speed of 0.90 c, reports back by transmitting a
frequency (measured in the spaceship frame) of 100 MHz. To what frequency must earth
receivers be tuned to receive the report?

5. Velocity transformation
1. Consider the case of two spaceships approaching each other in the vicinity of a star. Relative
to the star, the spaceship A is approaching at 0.95c, while spaceship B is approaching from
the opposite direction at a velocity of 0.85c with respect to the star. What is the velocity of A
relative to B?
2. Suppose a spaceship moves away from you along the x-direction with speed v= 0.80c relative
to you. A second spaceship moves away from you and away from the first ship with the same
speed 0.80c relative to the first ship along the x-direction. How fast is the second ship moving
relative to you?
3. Two twins of rest mass 60.00 kg are headed towards each other in spacecraft whose speeds
relative to the earth are 0.800c. What mass does each twin find for the other?