Physics 2D : Relativity and Quantum Mechanics Summer Session II, 2013 HOMEWORK #1 SOLUTIONS

All problems can be found in Modern Physics by Randy Harris, Second Edition. Complete all assigned problems; the assignment will be graded based upon completeness and also the correctness of one selected problem.

(2.17) Appearing in the time-dilation and length-contraction formulae, v is a reasonable

measure of the size of relativistic effects. Roughly speaking, at what speed would observations deviate from classical expectations by 1%? Solution: Deviations occur because of a 1% deviation of from 1, where is the relativistic factor = 1 v 2 /c2 . Then we set 1.01 =
1 1 v2 c2

v = 0.14c.

(2.27) Bob and Bob Jr. stand at open doorways at opposite ends of an airplane hangar
25 m long. Annie owns a spaceship, 40 m long as it sits on the runway. Annie takes off in her spaceship, then swoops through the hangar at constant velocity. At precisely time zero on both Bobs clock and Annies, Bob sees Annie at the front of her spaceship reach his doorway. At time zero on his clock, Bob Jr. sees the tail of Annies spaceship at his doorway. (a) How fast is Annies spaceship moving? (b) What will Annies clock read when she sees the tail of her spaceship at the doorway where Bob Jr. is standing? (c) How far will Annie say the front of her spaceship is from Bob at this time? Solution: (a) Bob Jr notices the end of Annies plane at the coordinates (t = 0, x = -25 m) while Bob measures the front of the plane at the same time (in his intertial frame) at (t = 0, x = 0 m). Hence they see Annies plane length contracted to the 25 m length of the hangar, and from the contraction formula 25m =
40m

25 40

1 v 2 /c2 v = 0.781c.

(b) What this question really means to ask is what the time reads on the lock at the rear of Annies ship as the rear of the ship passes Bob Jr in Annies frame. In this case we just have to apply the Lorentz transformation to Bob Jrs points at (t=0, x = -25 m). The time Annie reads at the back of her ship at this instant is then t = ( cv2 x + t) =
1 10.7812 .781 30 (25m) + 0 = 1.04 107 s = 104ns. 108 m/s

This is a sensible result because it occurs at a time t = 104 ns, which is after t =0 s, which is when the front of Annies ship passes the front of the hangar. In her frame, the rear of her plane should pass by the back of the hangar after the front of her plane passes the front of the hangar, since she will not see the two events as simultaneous in her frame. (c) In Annies frame, the hangar is length-contracted to 25 m/ and passes her at -0.781c to the left. Then when the back of the hangar passes her tail, the front of the hangar is 25 m/ in front of the back of her plane, which is 40 m long in her frame. Then she is 40 m 25 m/ = 24.375 m in front of Bob at this point (in her frame, of course).

(2.41) A muon has a mean lifetime of 2.2 s in its rest frame. Suppose muons are traveling
at 0.92c relative to Earth. What is the mean distance a muon will travel as measured by an observer on Earth? Solution: In the Earths rest frame the muon decay time is dilated from the value in the muon rest frame to t = t0 = 11 (2.2 106 s) = 5.61s. 0.922 The distance traveled is then d = v t = (0.92)(3 108 m/s)(5.61 106 s) = 1549m.

(2.61) Prove that if v and u are less than c, it is impossible for a speed u greater than c to
result from equation (2-19b), the velocity addition formula from special relativity: u=
1+ u +v uv c2

[Hint: The product (c u )(c v ) is positive.] Solution: Begin with the hint and massage it into the velocity sum rule: (c v )(c u ) > 0 c2 (u + v )c + u v > 0 c2 + u v > (u + v )c 1 > or c>
1+ u +v uv c2 (u +v )/c uv 1+ 2 c

In the rst step we have expanded the product (c v )(c u ) and in the penulatimate step we have divided both sides by c2 (1 + u v/c2 ) to get the equation into the form of the velocity sum rule.

(2.78) Show that the relativistic expression for kinetic energy (u 1)mc2 is equivalent to
1 the classical 2 mu2 when u

c.

Solution: Recall the expansion of for v c,

1 1v 2 /c2 1 1 + 2

= Then

v . c2
2 1 v2 2 c2 mc 2 =1 2 mv .

( 1)mc2 1 +

1 v2 2 c2

1 mc2 =

(2.94) A kaon (denoted K 0 is an unstable particle of mass 8.87 1028 kg. One of the
means by which it decays is spontaneous creation of two pions, a + and a . The decay process may be represented as K 0 + + Both the + and the have mass 2.49 1028 kg. Suppose that a kaon moving in the +x direction decays by this process, with the + moving off at speed 0.9c and the at 0.8c. (a) What was the speed of the kaon before decay? (b) In what directions do the pions move after the decay? Solution: (a) Use energy conservation: uK mK c2 = 0.9c m c2 + 0.8c m c2
1 u2 1 K c2

(2.294)(2.49)+(1.67)(2.49) 8.87

uK = 0.437c

where in the second line we cancelled the common factors of c2 from each energy and the factor of 1028 from expressing the mass in kilograms, and 0.9c = 2.294 and 0.8c = 1.67. (b) We use two equation for momentum conservation (canceling all common factors of 1028 from expressing answers in kg): pi,x = 0.437c (8.87)(0.437c) = 0.9c (2.49)(0.9c cos 1 )+0.8c (2.39)(0.8c cos 2 ) 3.32 cos 2 = 4.3125.141 cos 1 . and pi,y = 0 = 0.9c (2.49)(0.9c sin 1 ) 0.8c (2.39)(0.8c sin 2 ) 3.32 sin 2 = 5.141 sin 1 .

where the initial momentum in the y -direction is zero and we have written the x- and y components of the momenta of each pion as the sines and cosines of the angle at which each pion shoots out (v = (v cos , v sin )). Now we can square both equations and add them so that we may use the trig identity sin2 x + cos2 x = 1. Squaring both: 18.591 44.335 cos 1 + 26.432 cos2 1 = 11.022 cos2 2 and 26.432 sin2 1 = 11.022 sin2 2 and summing (using 11.022(cos2 2 + sin2 2 ) = 11.022 and similar for 26.432(sin2 1 + cos2 1 )): 18.591 44.335 cos 1 + 26.432 = 11.022 1 = 39.9 . This angle (small due to the particle moving very fast) is associated to the + moving at 0.9c. Plugging back in to 5.141 sin 1 = 3.32 sin 2 , we get 2 = 83.6 , associated to the 0.8c .

(2.117) Both clasically and relativistically, the force on an object is what cause a time rate
of change of its momentum: F = dp/dt. (a) Using the relativistically correct expression for momentum, show that
3 du F = u m dt

(b) Under what condition does the classical equation F = ma hold? (c) Assuming a constant force and that the speed is zero at t = 0, separate t and u, then integrate to show that 1 F u= t 2 m
1+(F t/mc)

[Hint: The following integral may be useful:

dx (1x2 )3/2

x .] 1x2

(d) Plot u versus t. What happens to the velocity of an object when a constant force is applied for an indenite length of time? Solution: (a) We must rst use the chain rule to write
d dt

du d dt du

so that F =
du d dt du

mu 1u2 /c2

du dt

m 1u2 /c2

+ 1 2

2 2 3/2 u 2 c mu 2 (1 u /c )

du m dt (1u2 /c2 )3/2

3 du (1 u2 /c2 ) + u2 /c2 = u m dt .

In the rst line we used the product rule to differentiate the factor separately from the u in the numerator. (b) In the non-relativistic limit, 1, so 3 1 as well. In this limit, then, F = (1)m du dt = ma, precisely Newtons second law. (c) Multiplying both sides of the full expression from (a) by dt/m we can arrive an equation to integrate:
t F m dt u F m dt

The left hand side is simply F/m is constant. The right hand side takes more work. It calls for a trig substitution. Let u/c = sin , so that du = c cos d. Then we can write 1 1
u sin (u/c) sin (u/c) 0 du u 2 3/2 (1 2 ) c

du u2 3/2 (1 2 ) c Ft m , since

=
0

du . u 2 3/2 (1 2 ) c

=c
0

d cos (1sin2 )3/2 sin1 (u/c)

=c
0

d cos cos3 sin1 (u/c)

sin1 (u/c)

=c
0

d sec2 = c tan |0

= c sin 2 |0
1sin

u . 1u2 /c2

In the second line we have used 1 sin2 = cos2 . Now we do the algebra to nd u as a function of t: 2 2 t Ft 2 u2 2 = F 1 u m u = m c2
1u /c

so u2 1 +

Ft 2 mc

Ft 2 m

u=

1 Ft . 1+(F t/mc)2 m

(d) Turn the relation above between u and t into a dimensionless one by dividing by c so
u c

1 Ft 1+(F t/mc)2 mc

= y

1+y 2

where y is the dimensionless time coordinate y = F t/mc (we can think of u/c x as the dimensionless speed coordinate). We can then plot u/c versus y in Figure 1.

(2.118) A rocket maintains a constant thrust F , giving it an acceleration of g (i.e., 9.8 m/s2 ).
(a) If classical physics were valid, how long would it take for the rockets speed to reach 0.99c? (b) Using the result of Problem 117(c), how long will it really take to reach 0.99c? Solution: (a) Classically, we have u = at = gt t = u/g =
0.993108 m/s 9.8m/s2

= 3.03 107 s = 0.96 yr.

(b) In the full relativistic result, we must solve the previous equation for t in terms of u = 0.99c. We put in a = F/m = g and solve 0.99c/c =
gt/c 1+(gt/c)2

(gt/c)2 (1 0.992 ) = 0.992 t =

c 0.99 g 10.992

= 2.15 108 s = 6.8yr.

Relativistic effects require a greater input of energy to approach the speed of light.

uc

Classical result
1.0

Full relativistic result

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

Ft 1 2 3 4 y mc

Figure 1: Plot of u/c versus F t/mc for constant applied force F in special relavity and in the classical case.