A man weighing 100kg on the earth is found to weigh 101kg when on the space ship .What is the velocity of the space ship ?

1 Answer
1s2s2p
May 19, 2018

#v=0.14c#

Explanation:

An object moving at a speed #v# relative to an observer will seem to be heavier than normal. This happens all the time but the speeds are always too slow to have any noticeable effect, only being noticeable at relativistic speeds.

Formula for mass increase is #M=M_0/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2)#, where:

  • #M# = new mass (#kg#)
  • #M_0# = original mass (#kg#)
  • #v# = speed of object (#ms^-1#)
  • #c# = speed of light (#~3.00*10^8ms^-1#)

So,
#101=100/sqrt(1-(ac)^2/c^2)#

#1.01=1/sqrt(1-a^2)#

#sqrt(1-a^2)=1/1.01#

#a^1=1-1/1.0201#

#a=sqrt(1-1/1.0201)~~0.14#

#v=0.14c#

Related questions
Impact of this question
1292 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License