Question
Jan Villaroel
Topic: Physics Posted 1 year ago
A spaceship is traveling through interstellar space at 0.99 times the speed of light for 10 years, according to Earth time. Calculate the time experienced by the astronauts on the ship and the distance they have traveled.

A spaceship is traveling through interstellar space at 0.99 times the speed of light for 10 years, according to Earth time. Calculate the time experienced by the astronauts on the ship and the distance they have traveled.


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Koala Tutor
Oct 5, 2023
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To calculate the time experienced by the astronauts on the ship, we can use the time dilation formula:

t' = t / √(1 - (v^2/c^2))

Where:
t' is the time experienced by the astronauts on the ship
t is the time measured on Earth
v is the velocity of the spaceship relative to the speed of light (0.99c)
c is the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s)

Plugging in the given values, we have:

t' = 10 / √(1 - (0.99^2))
= 10 / √(1 - 0.9801)
= 10 / √(0.0199)
≈ 10 / 0.141
≈ 70.92 years

Therefore, the astronauts on the ship would experience approximately 70.92 years.

To calculate the distance traveled by the spaceship, we can use the equation:

d = v * t'

where:
d is the distance traveled by the spaceship
v is the velocity of the spaceship relative to the speed of light (0.99c)
t' is the time experienced by the astronauts on the ship (70.92 years)

Plugging in the given values, we have:

d = 0.99c * 70.92 years
= 0.99 * 299,792,458 m/s * 70.92 * 365.25 * 24 * 60 * 60 seconds
≈ 2.089 * 10^16 meters

Therefore, the spaceship would have traveled approximately 2.089 * 10^16 meters.

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