Check your understanding of the postulates of special
relativity.
Give your answers in this question as a fraction of speed of
light c (i.e. enter a numerical factor in the blank, 1
for speed equal to speed of light c, or smaller than 1 or
greater than 1 as appropriate).
Suppose that you are on a spaceship moving at half the speed of
light (0.5c). If someone fires a laser beam within the spaceship,
what is the speed of this light?
Speed of the light originating from within the spaceship is____
c.
Suppose that someone else on Earth (not moving with spaceship)
is able to observe the same laser beam. What range of speeds of the
light does the Earth observer observe?
The speed of the light wave propagating forward (to the front of
the spaceship) is ____c, and the speed of the light wave
propagating backward (to the back of the spaceship) is _____c.