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5.4 Exercise 9

Avg difficulty 2.5

Unreasonable Results A spaceship is heading directly toward Earth at a velocity of 0.800c. The astronaut on board claims that he can send a canister toward the Earth at 1.20c relative to Earth. (a) Calculate the velocity the canister must have relative to the spaceship. (b) What is unreasonable about this result? (c) Which assumptions are unreasonable or inconsistent?

OpenStax University Physics Volume 3, 5.4 Length Contraction, exercise 9

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Adapted from University Physics Volume 3 © 2016 Rice University. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Source: University Physics Volume 3. Imported at revision db44eb9.