- #1
Taylor_1989
- 402
- 14
Homework Statement
You are on Earth as a spaceship flies past at a speed of 0.99c relative to the earth. A high-intensity signal light on the ship blinks on and off, each pulse lasting 2.2 × 10^(−6) s, as measured on the spacecraft .
Your laboratory on Earth has a length of 56.4m. How long does the spaceship crew measure it to be?
Homework Equations
length contraction
The Attempt at a Solution
So I am viewing the question like this. If I am standing on the spaceship as this is my frame of ref; right? The the proper length would be unknown as proper length is only measure when me for example is at rest, so I the thought that if I am at rest on the ship the Earth is moving 0.99c relative to me, therefore I transposed the length contraction formula to get my ans.
L_0= proper length
L= length on Earth
so If I use the length contraction formula to solve for L_0 I would get what the i view it on the space ship, is this correct?
my ans was 59.8m from space ship.
Very new to special relativity so still getting my head round it.