An astronaut on the space shuttle traveling at a speed of 0.70 c is holding a meter stick parallel to the direction of motion.If an observer on Earth could observe the meter stick,what length of the meter stick would he measure?
A)0.71 m
B)1.0 m
C)1.2 m
D)1.8 m
E)2.1 m

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The length of the meter stick would appear contracted to an observer on Earth due to the phenomenon of length contraction in special relativity. The formula for length contraction is L = L0 * sqrt(1 - v^2/c^2), where L0 is the rest length (1 meter in this case), v is the velocity of the object (0.70c), and c is the speed of light. Plugging in the values, we find that the observed length L is less than the rest length, which matches closest to option A, 0.71 m.

An Astronaut on the Space Shuttle Traveling at a Speed