RELATIVITY

3rd year (semester II) - Department of Physics, USJP.

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1. Describe the Michelson–Morley experiment. With what aim in view

was the experiment performed? Discuss the results obtained.

2.

Figure 1 shows a distant star and two rocket ships, my ship at rest with
respect to the star and your ship moving towards it at a of 0.3c Do you
and I measure the same speed for the light from the star?

3. Charlie has just caught a lake trout 20 inches long. Zipping by in her
motor bike, the game warden sees the fish as 12 inches long. Uh-oh!
the minimum length legal length is 16inches. How fast the game
warden going?

4. What will be the distance a pion travels before decaying, If its speed is
v = 0.99c and its average life time is 2.6 x 10-8s ? How much will be
the distance traveled classically?

5. Obtain following time equation, from starting Einstein‟s Postulates.

1
t T (Symbols have their usual meanings)
2
1 v
c2

Particle X, which is created in a particle accelerator, travels a total

distance of 100.0 m between two detectors in 410 ns as measured in
the laboratory frame before decaying into other particles. What is the
lifetime of the particle X as measured in its own frame.

6. A particle has a velocity of 0.998 c and it travels a distance of 300 km

before decaying. Find the average life time of the particle.

7. A rod of length 2l is held at an angle of 45o to the horizontal. It s now

projected with a velocity of 0.9c along the horizontal such that the rod
always keeps the same angle of 45o during the motion. What will be
the length of the rod as seen by,
(a) An observer stationary on the ground.
(b) An observer moving with the rod.
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8. (I) Consider an isosceles triangle ABC, with BC as the base, and each
side of length a. The triangle is now projected with velocity 0.5c
along the BC direction such that its plane always remains vertical.
Find the area of the triangle seen by
(a) A stationary observer.
(b) An observer moving with the triangle.

(II) With what speed an ellipse whose area is  ab be projected

along the direction of the major axis such that it is seen as an
article of radius  b2 ?

9. Write down the mathematical relationship between proper time and

improper time.

Drive an expression for “Length Contraction” starting above

relationship.

b
a
x

An ellipse having an area ab is project with a certain velocity. It

was observed that the ellipse appears as a circle of area b2.
Determine the velocity of projection of the ellipse.(Where ,a > b ).

10. A cube of each side a is projected with a velocity v along one of its
sides. What will be its volume its volume seen by a stationary
observer?

11. A star known as Alfa Centauri is about 4.0 light years (1ly =
9.46x1015m) distant from us. If suppose a rocket from earth is to
reach it in one day how fast would it have to go?

12. A beam of pions travels with a speed of 90% of light. What is the
half life of these particles in
(a) Frame in which pions are stationary.
(b) In a laboratory frame?

13. The first human trip to the moon took about three days
(approximately 3х105 seconds) each way. The distance from the
earth to the moon is roughly 4 х108 m. When they returned, how
much younger were the astronauts than their twin brother who
remained on earth?

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14. A certain spectral line in the spectrum of a double star ordinary has a
frequency of 0.5х1015 cycles/sec. If the star is approaching the earth
at 200km/sec, approximately by what fraction f / f will the
frequency be changed?

15. What is meant by the Doppler effect in relativity for a moving light
source?

You are giving the following mathematical equation for the Doppler
effect,
fs
f0 
 1   cos  

v
Where   1 ,  and other symbols have their usual
1  2
c
meanings.

A yellow coloured vehicle appears as a green coloured vehicle to a

stationary observer due to its speed. Find the velocity of a vehicle.
(Wavelengths of yellow and green light are 550 nm and 500nm
respectively).
Is the above incident practically possible? Briefly explain your
answer.

16. Derive an expression for length contraction starting,

1
(t  T 2
) time relationship.
1 v
c2

Length of a vehicle is L. When the vehicle is moving with a certain

velocity, it was observed that the length of the vehicle is l (L > l).
Determine the velocity of the vehicle.

Now, this vehicle is taken into a garage of length l, and its door was
closed.
Explain whether this can be done practically.

17. (a) Derive an expression for variation of mass according to

relativistic mechanics.
(b) The rest mass of the electron is 9х10-31kg. What will be its mass
if it were moving with velocity 0.8c ?

18. (a) Derive the relativistic expression for kinetic energy of a

moving body.
(b) Show that for small speeds it reduces to the classical form.
(c) Calculate the energy in electron volts released when 10-3kg of
matter is converted into energy. Given c= 3х108 m/sec.
19. Write short notes on,
(a) Michelson Morley Experiment and
(b) Twin Paradox
in relativity.

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20. Prove that the velocity of a partical having the rest energy E0 and
c K ( K  2 E0 )
kinetic energy K is given by, v 
K  E0

21. For a particle of the rest mass m0 , relativistic mass m , rest energy E0
and total relativistic energy E prove the following relations
c (m  m0 )(m  m0 )
(a) v
m
c ( E  E0 )( E  E0 )
(b) v
E

22. For what value of v c will the relativistic mass of a particle exceed its
rest mass by a given fraction f ?

23. If 1.0 grm of matter could be converted entirely into energy, what
would be the energy in kWh (kilo-watt-hour).

24. Figure 2 shows two reference frames in relative motion. Alice‟s

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frame moves with speed v  c relative to Bob‟s frame. When the
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origin of Alice‟s frame passes the origin of Bob‟s frame, clocks at
both origins read zero. In this frame, Bob notes the following
coordinates for events 1 and 2.
Event 1 : x1 =5 meters; t1 =2х10-8 seconds.
Event 2 : x2 =10 meters; t 2 =3х10-8 seconds.

Use the Lorentz transformations (where appropriate) to answer the

following questions.
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(a) Do you find that 1 / 1  (v 2 / c 2 ) equals ?
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(b)What are the coordinates of event 1 as measured in Alice‟s frame?
(c) Similarly, what are coordinates of event 2?
(d) I find x2  x2  4 meters. Do you concur?
(e) Does Alice note the two events to be simultaneous?
(f) If Alice were moving (relative to Bob) 10% faster than specified
here, would she perceive the two events to be simultaneous? What if
she were moving 10% slower?

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25. Identify the symbols E, p and m0 in the equation ,
E 2  p 2 c 2  mo2 c 4

Derive the equation for mass variation in relativistic dynamics.

Rest mass of an electron is accelerated to a velocity 0.8 c by using a

particle accelerator. Calculate the mass of the moving electron.

Briefly explain reasons for changing the moving plane of planets,

which are revolving about the sun. (Mathematical explanations
not needed).

26. (a) State the basic postulates of the special theory of relativity.
(b) Show that the transformation equations
1 / 2
 v2 
x   1  2  ( x  vt )
 c 

y y
z  z
1 / 2
 v2   vx 
t   1   t  2 
 c   c 
may be obtained from the above postulates.
(c) Discuss simultaneity of events in two interval frames of
reference.

27. A muon decays with a mean life-time Ta when it is at rest. Muons in

motion are observed to decay with a mean life-time 6Ta . Determine
their velocity.

28. A train 200m long passes through a tunnel 100m long. (a) How fast
the train should move in order that it is just contained in the tunnel
according to an observer on the ground? (b) What is the length of
the tunnel according to an observer in the train?
[Hint: Use the equation L  L0 1  v 2 / c 2 from which
c
v ( L0  L)( L0  L) ]
L0

 
29. A vector in the primed frame is represented by 12i   6 j  . Find its
representation in

the unprimed frame if the primed frame moves

with v  0.75 c i with respect to the unprimed frame.

x    ( x  vt ) x   ( x   vt )
y  y y  y
30. If z  z Show that   .
vx vx 
t    [t  ] t   [t   ]
c2 c2

31. State the postulates of the special theory of relativity. Derive the
Lorentz transformation equations.
vx
t
x  vt c
x'  , y'  y , z '  z and t'  .
1  (v / c ) 2 1  (v / c ) 2

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Where the symbols have their usual meanings.
Hence deduce the Lorentz relativistic length contraction formula.

A spacecraft is moving directly away from the earth with a uniform

velocity of 0.8c relative to the earth. An observer on the earth
measures the time taken by the spacecraft to travel from the earth to
the moon and finds it to be 1.6 s. According to the astronauts in the
space craft
(a) How much time is required for this trip?
(b) What is the distance from the earth to the moon?

32. What is meant by “Twin Paradox” in relativity?

Let A be the twin on the earth and B be the twin in the ship in the
twin paradox episode. Comment on the following statement using
your Knowledge of special of relativity.

“The twin B can go to the future, but can not go to the past”

33. Consistency of Special Theory of Relativity with the concept of

„Causality” lead to its acceptance at the initial stages. The two
different from of Causality as follows,

(a) Causality in Eastern Philosophy

(b) Causality in Western Philosophy

What is idea of causality in Eastern Philosophy?

How it differs from causality in Western Philosophy?

Explain how the Special Theory of Relativity was strengthened by

the concept of Causality.

Note bane:

You may use following formula.

x  vt x1  vt 1
x1  x
v2 v2
1 1
c2 c2
y1  y y  y1
z  z1
z1  z

vx vx1
t 2 1
t  2
t1  c t c
v2 v2
1 2 1 2
c c

   vu 
 u 1   u  v 1  2x  ,
 c 

w2
Where  w  1  (Above symbols have their usual meanings)
c2

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