- #1
Wannabeagenius
- 90
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Hi All,
I'm trying to do a Relativity problem and I'm having trouble.
There is a detector on a balloon at 2000 meters above the Earth that in one hour has detected 650 muons that normally have a half life of 1.5 microseconds. They are traveling at .99c towards the earth. How many are detected at the Earth in one hour.
Now due to time dilation, I get 10.633 microseconds for the half life relative to ground observers. That seems pretty reasonable.
Now I figure that all I need to know is how long it takes for them to travel 2000 meters and that seems to be a classical calculation. Time =2000 meters/.99c but my answer is way off.
Am I approaching this correctly? I am wondering about calculating the time it takes the muons to reach the ground in a classical manner?
The book answer is 420 but I get over 600.
Thank you,
Bob
I'm trying to do a Relativity problem and I'm having trouble.
There is a detector on a balloon at 2000 meters above the Earth that in one hour has detected 650 muons that normally have a half life of 1.5 microseconds. They are traveling at .99c towards the earth. How many are detected at the Earth in one hour.
Now due to time dilation, I get 10.633 microseconds for the half life relative to ground observers. That seems pretty reasonable.
Now I figure that all I need to know is how long it takes for them to travel 2000 meters and that seems to be a classical calculation. Time =2000 meters/.99c but my answer is way off.
Am I approaching this correctly? I am wondering about calculating the time it takes the muons to reach the ground in a classical manner?
The book answer is 420 but I get over 600.
Thank you,
Bob