INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KANPUR Supratik Banerjee

Physics I (PHY 102 AA) 2021-22 Odd semester

Tutorial sheet 6
Date: 24. 06. 2022

1. Two crackers lie on a road, a distance L apart. As a truck passes by at speed v eastwards,
the crackers explode simultaneously in the road frame and leave marks on the truck. Due
to the length contraction of the vehicle, we know that the marks on it are a distance γL
apart when viewed in the truck’s frame. How would someone in the truck quantitatively
explain why the marks are a distance γL apart, whereas the crackers are a distance of
only L/γ apart in the truck frame?

2. A train moves at speed v in the positive x-direction. Bullets are successively fired at speed
u (relative to the train) from the rear of the train to the front. A new bullet is fired at the
instant (as measured in the train frame) the previous bullet hits the front. In the frame of
the ground, what fraction of the way along the train is a given bullet, at the instant (as
measured in the ground frame) the next bullet is fired? What is the maximum number of
bullets that are in flight at a given instant, in the ground frame?

3. Train A with proper length L moves eastward at speed v, while train B with proper length
2L moves westward also at speed v. How much time does it take for the trains to pass
each other (defined as the time between the fronts coinciding and the backs coinciding):
(i) In A’s frame? (ii) In B’s frame? (iii) In the ground frame?

4. Show that the combination of a Lorentz transformation with speed v1 and another one
with speed v2 yield a Lorentz Transformation with speed u = (v1 + v2 )/(1 + v1 v2 /c2 ).

5. A clock moves vertically (along positive y-direction) with speed u in a given frame, and
a man runs horizontally (along positive x-direction) with speed v with respect to that
frame. Show that the man sees the clock run slow by the nice simple factor, γu γv .