Finding the Velocity of an Asteroid with a Given Mass and Kinetic Energy

[sklotz]

Homework Statement

An asteroid of mass 2500 kg has a (relativistic) kinetic energy of 1e+20 J. What is the speed of the asteroid?

Homework Equations

KE=(mc^2/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2)-mc^2

The Attempt at a Solution

I tried plugging in my values to this equation and got 216480727.3. the answer is in terms of c. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong or if I am in the wrong units because in all my problems where I am given a velocity its always a small value times c such as .9c and I got a large number. There is another problem like this where I am solving for the velocity I can't figure out either.

 

[Chestermiller]

Homework Statement

An asteroid of mass 2500 kg has a (relativistic) kinetic energy of 1e+20 J. What is the speed of the asteroid?

Homework Equations

KE=(mc^2/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2)-mc^2

The Attempt at a Solution

I tried plugging in my values to this equation and got 216480727.3. the answer is in terms of c. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong or if I am in the wrong units because in all my problems where I am given a velocity its always a small value times c such as .9c and I got a large number. There is another problem like this where I am solving for the velocity I can't figure out either.

Show us the mathematical steps you used to arrive at this result. This seems to be an algebra issue.