How Do Velocities Combine in Relativistic Physics?

Yukz23
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Homework Statement
Spacecraft 1 is launched from the surface of the Earth with a velocity of 0:6c (Earth
RF) at an angle of 50

above the horizontal +x axis. Spacecraft 2 is moving with a
velocity of 0:7c (Earth RF) in the x direction towards Spacecraft 1. Determine the
velocity and speed of Spacecraft 1 as measured by the pilot of Spacecraft 2.

The attempt at a solution
I'm trying to solve this and I'm stuck a bit so far all I've got is that
Vs1e (velocity of spacecraft 1 respect to earth) = 0.6cos50(c)
Vs2e = -0.7c

they want Vs1s2 = Vs1e + Ves2/ 1 + Vs1e (Ves2)/c^2

I'm stuck because I don't know what "Ves2" would be...

Thanks in advance
 
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Welcome to PF;
I can't tell either ... I hate subscripts.

In the E frame:
Craft 1 has an x and a y component.
Craft 2 only has an x component.

Use the formula on each component to find the relative velocity of frames 1 and 2.
 
Lol Thanks,

So should I first do the formulas for the x components and the y components and then combine it..and the hypotenuse would be the answer?
 
Well... one of the directions does not matter.
Remember the derivation of time dilation you did a while ago - only one of the directions counted for that too.
 
To solve this, I first used the units to work out that a= m* a/m, i.e. t=z/λ. This would allow you to determine the time duration within an interval section by section and then add this to the previous ones to obtain the age of the respective layer. However, this would require a constant thickness per year for each interval. However, since this is most likely not the case, my next consideration was that the age must be the integral of a 1/λ(z) function, which I cannot model.
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