Question
The rogue starship Galaxa is being chased by the battle cruiser Millenia. The Millenia is catching up to the Galaxa at a rate of 0.55 $c$ when the captain of the Millenia decides it is time to fire a missile. First the captain shines a laser range finder to determine the distance to the Galaxa and then he fires a missile that is moving at a speed of $0.45 c$ with respect to the Millenia. What speed does the Galaxa measure for (a) the laser beam and(b) the missile as they both approach the starship?
Step 1
Therefore, regardless of the relative motion between the Galaxa and the Millenia, the speed of the laser beam as measured by the Galaxa will be the speed of light, $c$. Show more…
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The rogue starship Galaxa is being chased by the battlecruiser Millenia. The Millenia is catching up to the Galaxa at a rate of $0.55 c$ when the captain of the Millenia decides it is time to fire a missile. First the captain shines a laser range finder to determine the distance to the Galaxa and then he fires a missile that is moving at a speed of $0.45 c$ with respect to the Millenia. What speed does the Galaxa measure for (a) the laser beam and (b) the missile as they both approach the starship?
An enemy spaceship is moving toward your starfighter with a speed, as measured in your frame, of $0.400 c$. The enemy ship fires a missile toward you at a speed of $0.700 c$ relative to the enemy ship (Fig. E37.18). (a) What is the speed of the missile relative to you? Express your answer in terms of the speed of light. (b) If you measure that the enemy ship is $8.00 \times 10^{6} \mathrm{~km}$ away from you when the missile is fired, how much time, measured in your frame, will it take the missile to reach you?
A starship blasts past the earth at $2.0 \times 10^{8} \mathrm{m} / \mathrm{s}$. Just after passing the earth, the starship fires a laser beam out its back. With what speed does the laser beam approach the earth?
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