Question

You're caught running a red light on Hwy 316. Attempting to impress the skeptical patrol officer with your physics knowledge, you claim that you were traveling so fast that the red light (685 nm) appeared yellow (590 nm) to you. How fast would you have been traveling (in mi/hr) if that had been the case?

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

We shall apply here Doppler's effect in optics . The formula is as follows

$\frac{\triangle\lambda }{\lambda } = \frac{v}{c}$

Δλ is change in wavelength , λ is original wavelength , v is velocity and c is velocity of light

Δλ = 685 - 590 = 95 nm

λ = 685

95 / 685 = v / 3 x 10⁸

v = .416 x 10⁸ m / s

= 4.16 x 10⁷ m /s