A rocket cruising past Earth at 0.78c shoots two bullets at 0.91c relative to th

Question

A rocket cruising past Earth at 0.78c shoots two bullets at 0.91c relative to the rocket with one of the bullets fired along the direction of the rocket's motion and the other fired opposite the rocket's motion.

What velocity does an Earth-based experimenter measure for the bullet fired in the direction of motion of the rocket? Give your answer as a fraction of c (e.g. enter 0.5 if your velocity is half the speed of light), where positive values are used if the velocity is in the same direction of the ship.

What velocity does an Earth-based experimenter measure for the bullet fired opposite the direction of motion of the rocket? Give your answer as a fraction of c, where positive values are used if the velocity is in the same direction of the ship.

Explanation / Answer

a) s=(u+v)/(1+uv/c^2) s= (0.78+0.91)/(1+0.78*0.91)=0.988 c b) s=(u+v)/(1+uv/c^2) s= (0.78-0.91)/(1-0.78*0.91)=-0.448 c - means its going away from earth

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