Bangabasi College Kolkata Department of Physics Assignment-1 Special Theory of Relativity

1. In a frame S, the following two events occur at space time coordinates (ct, x, y, z) as (x0, x0, 0, 0) & (x0/2, 2x0, 0, 0).
Find the velocity of the frame S’, w.r.t S, where the two events are found to occur simultaneously. At what time in S’ are
they simultaneous? Given, x0 is a constant & c is the velocity of light in free space.

2. A space traveler with speed v, synchronized his clock (t’=0) with his earth friend (t=0). The earth person then observes
both the clocks simultaneously, t directly and t’ through a telescope. What does t read when t’ reads an hour?

3. A light beam is propagating through a block of glass with r.i ‘n’. If the block is moving at a constant velocity v in the
same direction as the beam, what is the speed of light in the block as measured by an observer in the laboratory?

4. Show that Lorentz transformation can be regarded as a rotation of space time coordinates through an imaginary angle
given by  = tan −1 i .

5. Show that the ordering of events will remain unaltered in the two inertial frames moving with uniform velocity relative
to each other, provided that it is not possible to send any signal with speed greater than light.

6. Two lumps of clay, each of rest mass m0, move towards each other with equal speed 3c/5 and stick together. What is
the mass of the composite lump?

7. Establish that E2-p2c2 is a Lorentz invariant quantity, which is equal to m02c4.

8. State the postulates of special theory of relativity.

9. A frame S’ moves with a velocity v1 with respect to frame S along X-axis. Another frame S” moves with a velocity v2
with respect to S’ along the same direction. Find out the relative velocity of S” with respect to S.

10. A kaon decays from rest via the equation K → e +  +  e . Find the maximum energy of the positron emitted,
+ + 0

assuming the neutrino to be mass-less, mass of kaon to be 494 MeV/c2, mass of pion to be 135 MeV/c2 and mass of
electron to be 0.5 MeV/c2.

11. In water, can a electron travel faster than light? Explain.

12. Prove that if v/c << 1, the K.E of a particle will be much less than rest mass energy.

13. What is the speed of a particle whose K.E equals it’s rest mass energy?

14. Does the density of an object change as it’s speed increases? If so, by what factor?

15. Calculate the rest mass, relativistic mass & momentum of a photon having energy 5 eV.

16. A stick at rest in a frame S has a length ‘l’ and is inclined at an angle θ with respect to the X-axis. Find its length and
angle of inclination with the X’-axis as measured by an observer in frame S’, moving at a speed v relative to S, along
common X-X’ axis.

17. Show that the circle x2 + y2 = a2 in the frame S appears to be an ellipse with eccentricity v/c in the frame S’ which
moves with a velocity v with respect to S.

18. At the time a spaceship moving with a speed v = 0.5c passes a space station located near Mars, a radio signal is send
from the station to the earth. This signal is received on earth 112s later. How long would the spaceship take to reach earth
according to an earth observer? What is that time duration according to the spaceship crew?
 
19. Starting from the relativistic form of the relation F = dp dt , show that, acceleration is not in general parallel to the
force as in relativistic considerations. Hence define longitudinal & transverse mass.

20. Consider an inertial system S moving with velocity 0.8c in the horizontal direction relative to the laboratory frame S0.
What is the length of a horizontal meter stick in S is as measured from S0? Also, what would be the length of a horizontal
meter stick in S0 as measured from S?
21. In an inertial frame, two events occur simultaneously at different positions. Prove that they are not in general
simultaneous in another reference frame.

22. A muon at rest has a lifetime 2×10-6s. What is the lifetime when it travels with a velocity 3c/5?

23. A pion (of rest mass mπ) at rest decays into a mass-less neutrino & a muon (of rest mass mμ). Find the energy of the
outgoing muon.

dT dp 
24. Starting from the relation = .u , find an expression for relativistic kinetic energy T of a particle of rest mass m0
dt dt
moving with a velocity u. Hence find an expression for T when u << c.

25. How fast should a 2m stick move so as its length is measured to be 1m from laboratory frame?

26. A particle moving at a speed of 0.8c collides with another particle of same rest mass and stick together. What are the
rest mass and speed of the composite particle?

27. Consider a Lorentz transformation in a 2D space time given by ct ' = (ct − x), x' = (− ct + x) . Write down the
matrix Λ(β) of the above transformation. Find Λ(0) & the Det Λ(β). Show that Λ(β1)Λ(β2) = Λ((β1+β2)/(1+β1β2)).

28. What is the speed of an electron whose kinetic energy is equal to its rest mass energy? Does the result depend upon
the mass of the electron?

29. Show that the four dimensional volume element cdtdzdydz remain invariant under Lorentz transformation?

30. A body of mass m at rest breaks up spontaneously into two parts with masses m1 & m2 and speeds v1 & v2
respectively. Show that m > m1+m2 using conservation of mass energy.

31. Muons have rest lifetime 2.3 × 10-6s, while those in cosmic shower have lifetime 16 × 10-6s when measured from the
earth. Find the speed of the muons in cosmic shower.

32. Using the invariance of the law of momentum conservation, derive the formula for the variation of mass with velocity.

33. State Einstein’s velocity addition theorem. From this, obtain the velocity of light in a medium of refractive index n
moving with velocity v along the direction of light.

34. Write briefly on the outcome of Michelson Morley experiment.

35. Calculate the velocity at which the relativistic increase of mass of a particle is f%?

36. In a certain inertial frame, light pulses are emitted by two sources 5 Km apart. Time interval between the pulses is 5
μs. An observer moving at a speed V along the line joining these sources finds that pulses are simultaneous. Find the
speed V of the observer.

37. Two rockets of rest length L0 approach each other from opposite directions with equal speed c/2. How long does one
of them appear to each other?

38. A neutral pion of rest mass m and relativistic momentum p = 3mc/4 decays into two photons, one in the direction of
the original pion and the other in the opposite direction. Find the relativistic energy of each photon.

39. A particle of rest mass m0 moving with a speed V collides and stick to a stationary particle of rest mass M0. Show
−1
 V2 
that the speed of the composite particle is m0V (M 0 + m0 ) , where  = 1 − 2  .
 c 
40. Two trains A & B, each having proper length L, move along the same direction. Speed of A is 4c/5 and speed of B is
3c/5. A starts behind B. How long, as viewed by a person on the ground, does it take for A to overtake B?