A pursuit spacecraft from the planet Tatooine is attempting to catch up with a Trade Federation cruiser. As measured by an observer on Tatooine, the cruiser is traveling away from the planet with a speed of 0.600c. The pursuit ship is traveling at a speed of 0.800c relative to Tatooine, in the same direction as the cruiser. (a) For the pursuit ship to catch the cruiser, should the velocity of the cruiser relative to the pursuit ship be directed toward or away from the pursuit ship? (b) What is the speed of the cruiser relative to the pursuit ship?

Respuesta :

Answer:

a) toward the pursuit

b) 0.384c

Explanation:

a) The velocity of the cruiser relative to the pursuit should be toward the pursuit.

b) To find the speed of the cruiser relative to the pursuit ship you use the following formula:

[tex]u'=\frac{u-v}{1-\frac{uv}{c^2}}[/tex]

v: velocity of the cruiser as seen by Tatooine

u: velocity of the pursuit ship as seen by Tatooine

c: speed of light

By replacing the values of the parameters you obtain:

[tex]u'=\frac{0.800c-0.600c}{1-\frac{(0.800)(0.600)c^2}{c^2}}=0.384c[/tex]