The starships La Forge and Picard are traveling in the same direction toward the

Question

The starships La Forge and Picard are traveling in the same direction toward the Andromeda galaxy.The Picard moves with a speed of 0.9c relative to La Forge. A person on the La Forge measures the length of the 2 ships and finds the same value.

a.) if a person in Picard also measures the lengths of the 2 ships, which of the following is observed:
i. the Picard is longer
ii. the La Forge is longer
iii. or Both ships have the same length?

Explain.

b. ) Calculate the ratio of the proper lengths of the Picard relative to the proper length of the La Forge.

Explanation / Answer

Using the relativistic length contraction idea, a moving object always appears shorter. Since an obesrver on the La Forge measured the Picard in motion, as the same length as his ship, that means, in reality, the Picard is longer.

A person on the Picard would find that the La Forge would be even shorter than it appears, so overall the Picard would measure to be longer.

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