Special Relativity-Assignment
An RV is traveling 60 km/h along a highway. A boy sitting near the driver of the RV throws a ball to another boy at the back end of the RV with a speed of 25 km/h. What is the speed of the ball relative to the boys? What is the speed of the ball relative to a stationary observer on the side of the road?
25 km/h 35 km/h
An RV is traveling 60 km/h along a highway at night. A boy sitting near the driver of the RV turns a flashlight on and shines it at another boy at the back end of the RV. What is the speed of the light relative to the boys? What is the speed of light relative to a stationary observer on the side of the road?
300,000,000 m/s 300,000,000 m/s
A boy on a bus traveling 120 km/h has a foot-long sandwich in his backpack. When the boy gets off at the bus stop, which describes the length of the uneaten sandwich?
A. The length of the sandwich is 1 foot.
Which changes to observed time and length occur when objects approach the speed of light?
B. Time moves slower and length decreases.
How did Einstein reconcile the ideas that motion is relative and the speed of light is a constant?
Einstein reconciled these ideas by describing space and time as parts of a whole called space-time. He explained that space and time, the factors that determine motion or speed, are relative because the speed of light is constant.
Suppose there are two twins, Greg and Sam. Greg stays on Earth and Sam travels to the stars as a scientist. Space travel has advanced to the point where spaceships can travel through the universe at speeds close to the speed of light. When Sam returns to Earth, how would the twins' ages compare?
Sam would be younger.
Why is speed relative?
Speed is relative because the measurement of motion is dependent on the observer's position or reference frame. Speed values can be added and subtracted based on the direction of the movement of objects.
When riding on a plane, passengers not only move through space but they move through as well.
time
