College Physics (4th Edition)

Published by McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN 10: 0073512141
ISBN 13: 978-0-07351-214-3

Chapter 26 - Problems - Page 1012: 64

Answer

(a) The speed of the laser beam is $~~c~~$ according to the Galaxa's measurement. (b) The speed of the missile relative to the Galaxa is $0.80~c$

Work Step by Step

(a) Since the laser beam is an electromagnetic wave, the speed in a vacuum measured by all observers in all reference frames will be $c$. The speed of the laser beam is $c$ according to the Galaxa's measurement. (b) Let $v_{MG}$ be the velocity of the Millenia relative to the Galaxa. Then $v_{MG} = 0.55~c$ Let $v_{XM}$ be the velocity of the missile relative to the Millenia. Then $v_{XM} = 0.45~c$. We can find $v_{XG}$: $v_{XG} = \frac{V_{XM}~+~v_{MG}}{1+\frac{(v_{XM})~(v_{MG})}{c^2}}$ $v_{XG} = \frac{(0.45~c)~+~(0.55~c)}{1+\frac{(0.45~c)~(0.55~c)}{c^2}}$ $v_{BA} = \frac{1.0~c}{1.2475}$ $v_{BA} = 0.80~c$ The velocity of the missile relative to the Galaxa is $0.80~c$ Therefore, the speed of the missile relative to the Galaxa is $0.80~c$.
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