A famous thought problem in special relativity is the rocket paradox: Two rockets
each of 300m rest length are passing head-on each with a speed of 0.866c. Observer O
(see diagram) has a gun in the tail of his rocket pointing perpendicular to the direction
of relative motion. You may assume there is basically no gap between the rockets as
they pass each other.
He fires the gun when points a and a' coincide. In O's frame,
the other rocket is Lorentz contracted, so O expects his
bullet to miss.
But in the frame of the other rocket's observer O^('), it is O^(')s
rocket that is Lorentz-contracted and so expects that her ship
will be hit by O's bullet.
I NEED HELP WITH THE EXPLANATION OF B.
b. Does the bullet actually hit or miss the ship of O^(') ? Explain
your answer, including what the problem with the language
of the problem setup is.
2. A famous thought problem in special relativity is the rocket paradox: Two rockets each of 300 m rest length are passing head-on each with a speed of 0.866c. Observer O (see diagram) has a gun in the tail of his rocket pointing perpendicular to the direction of relative motion. You may assume there is basically no gap between the rockets as they pass each other.
He fires the gun when points a and a' coincide. In O's frame, the other rocket is Lorentz contracted, so O expects his bullet to miss.
But in the frame of the other rocket's observer O,it is O's rocket that is Lorentz-contracted and so expects that her ship will be hit by O's bullet.
a. What is the relative speed of each ship to the other? (Hint: it is not 0.866c - (0.866c) = 1.732c)
b. Does the bullet actually hit or miss the ship of O'? Explain
of the problem setup is.