Approaching the speed of light
Hobart is approaching the speed of light and is holding a ruler and a clock in his hand. Which of the following statements are true? (Assume Hobart doesn't die while doing this) I: As Hobart gets closer to the speed of light, the ruler will shorten. II: If Hobart returns to where he took off, the clock he was holding will be a few minutes fast. III: As Hobart gets closer to the speed of light, Hobart will elongate.
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
1 solution
According to what I learned in class, the speed of light cannot be obtained by anything else other than light. So, when I get close to the speed of light, in order to make sure I don't reach the limit, length has to decrease (so the ruler will shorten and I will shrink) and time slows down. If I arrive back on Earth from where I took off, the time there will be a bit faster than the time on my clock, so my clock should be a few minutes behind. Thus, only option I is correct.