m A particle known as a pion lives for a short time before breaking apart into other particles. Suppose that a pion is moving at a speed of 0.990c, and an observer who is stationary in a laboratory measures the pions lifetime to be 3.5 3 1028 s. (a) What is the lifetime according to a hypothetical person who is riding along with the pion? (b) According to this hypothetical person, how far does the laboratory move before the pion breaks apart?
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Question
Twins who are 19.0 years of age leave the earth and travel to a distant planet 12.0 light-years away. Assume that the planet and earth are at rest with respect to each other. The twins depart at the same time on diff erent spaceships. One twin travels at a speed of 0.900c, and the other twin travels at 0.500c. (a) According to the theory of special relativity, what is the diff erence between their ages when they meet again at the earliest possible time? (b) Which twin is older?
Solution
The first step in solving 28 problem number 49 trying to solve the problem we have to refer to the textbook question: Twins who are 19.0 years of age leave the earth and travel to a distant planet 12.0 light-years away. Assume that the planet and earth are at rest with respect to each other. The twins depart at the same time on diff erent spaceships. One twin travels at a speed of 0.900c, and the other twin travels at 0.500c. (a) According to the theory of special relativity, what is the diff erence between their ages when they meet again at the earliest possible time? (b) Which twin is older?
From the textbook chapter Special Relativity you will find a few key concepts needed to solve this.
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