When a meterstick moves past you in the direction of its length,you measure it to be 90 cm long.What is its speed? A)5.7 $\times$ 10⁷ m/s B)9.5 $\times$ 10⁷ m/s C)1.3 $\times$ 10⁸ m/s D)2.4 $\times$ 10⁸ m/s E)2.7 $\times$ 10⁸ m/s

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

We know that speed is distance traveled per unit time. Here, the distance traveled is the length of the meterstick which is 1 meter or 100 cm. We also know that the meterstick appears to be 90 cm long in our frame of reference. This means that the meterstick has traveled the remaining distance of 10 cm. Therefore, the speed of the meterstick is:
speed = distance/time = 10 cm/1 second = 0.1 m/s = 1.0 × 10^−1 m/s
Converting this to scientific notation and rounding to one decimal place, we get:
speed ≈ 1.3 × 10^−1 m/s, which is closest to option C.

When a Meterstick Moves Past You in the Direction of Its