George Gamow imagined a world in which the speed of light is only c = 10 mph (4.5 m/s), so that relativistic effects become evident in everyday life. (In Mr Tompkins in Wonderland.) a) Calculate the factor gamma for a speed of 9.95 mph. A cyclist approaches you at this speed. Describe and/or sketch what you would see. b) The cyclist realises she is running late, going to the station that you can see is almost a mile away down the straight road. What distance to the station does she see? She stands on the pedals to speed up, to 9.9875 mph. Calculate the new value of gamma. What effect does this have, on the distances that you see and that she sees? c) Before she accelerated, you estimated that she would take about six minutes to arrive at the station. What would she have estimated? What effect does her acceleration have on these two times?

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Chapter28: Special Relativity
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George Gamow imagined a world in which the speed of light is only c = 10 mph (4.5 m/s), so
that relativistic effects become evident in everyday life. (In Mr Tompkins in Wonderland.)
a)
Calculate the factor gamma for a speed of 9.95 mph. A cyclist approaches you at this
speed. Describe and/or sketch what you would see.
b) The cyclist realises she is running late, going to the station that you can see is almost a
mile away down the straight road. What distance to the station does she see? She stands
on the pedals to speed up, to 9.9875 mph. Calculate the new value of gamma. What effect
does this have, on the distances that you see and that she sees?
c) Before she accelerated, you estimated that she would take about six minutes to arrive at
the station. What would she have estimated? What effect does her acceleration have on
these two times?
Transcribed Image Text:George Gamow imagined a world in which the speed of light is only c = 10 mph (4.5 m/s), so that relativistic effects become evident in everyday life. (In Mr Tompkins in Wonderland.) a) Calculate the factor gamma for a speed of 9.95 mph. A cyclist approaches you at this speed. Describe and/or sketch what you would see. b) The cyclist realises she is running late, going to the station that you can see is almost a mile away down the straight road. What distance to the station does she see? She stands on the pedals to speed up, to 9.9875 mph. Calculate the new value of gamma. What effect does this have, on the distances that you see and that she sees? c) Before she accelerated, you estimated that she would take about six minutes to arrive at the station. What would she have estimated? What effect does her acceleration have on these two times?
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