Suppose instead that the person riding on top of the freight car shines a searchlight beam in the direction in which the train is traveling. Compare the speed of the light beam relative to the ground when the train is at rest and when it is in motion. How does the behavior of the light beam differ from the behavior of the ball in Exercise 1? Exercise 1 A person riding on the roof of a freight train throws a ball forward. (a) Neglecting air drag and relative to the ground, is the ball moving faster or slower when the train is moving than when it is standing still? (b) Relative to the freight car, is the ball moving faster or slower when the train is moving than when the train is standing still?
Step 1 of 2
In the case of a light beam shining from atop a moving freight car, the light beam has the same speed relative to the ground as it has relative to the train while in the case of the behavior of the ball in problem 50, the ball's speed varies in relation to the ground and the moving train.
