Clovis wants to lose weight. Clotilde tells him that he will be thin enough for her if he travels past her at 0.600c. If the distance she sees from the front of his stomach to his back is then 24.0 cm, what distance in cm does she see when he is standing still?
A)15.4
B)19.2
C)24.0
D)30.0
E)37.5

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This problem can be solved using length contraction, which is given by the equation:
L' = L/(gamma)
where L is the rest length, L' is the contracted length, and gamma is the Lorentz factor, which is given by:
gamma = 1/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2)
where v is the velocity of the object and c is the speed of light.

In this problem, Clotilde sees Clovis contracted to 24.0 cm when he is traveling at 0.600c. We can use this information to find gamma:
gamma = 1/sqrt(1-(0.600c)^2/c^2) = 1.25

Now we can use the length contraction equation to find the rest length of Clovis:
L = L'*(gamma) = 24.0 cm * 1.25 = 30.0 cm

Therefore, when Clovis is standing still, Clotilde sees his length as 30.0 cm.
The answer is D.

Clovis Wants to Lose Weight