Question

A spaceship moves at a speed of 0.95 c away from the Earth. It shoots a star wars torpedo toward the Earthat a speed of 0.90 c relative to the ship. What is the velocity of the torpedo relative to the Earth? (The direction in which the spaceship move

Answer 1

Answer:

0.345 c

Explanation:

$v_{se}$ = velocity of spaceship relative to earth = 0.95 c

$v_{ts}$ = velocity of torpedo relative to spaceship = - 0.90 c

$v_{te}$ = velocity of torpedo relative to earth

Velocity of torpedo relative to earth is given as

$v_{te}=\frac{v_{se} + v_{ts}}{1 + \frac{v_{se}v_{ts}}{c^{2}}}$

$v_{te}=\frac{0.95c + (- 0.90 c)}{1 + \frac{(0.95 c)(- 0.90 c))}{c^{2}}}$

$v_{te}$ = 0.345 c