Space F(l)ight
A Tayland spacecraft was just returning from space when it saw an Elementia spacecraft some distance away. Being mortal enemies, the two spacecrafts started moving toward each other. The Tayland spacecraft was moving at 20 km per second and the Elementia one at half that amount. When they were 60000 km away, the Tayland spacecraft fired a laser bolt at the Elementia one. This is a special laser bolt which can travel at 1234 km per second. Fortunately, the Elementia spacecraft had it's reflectors on and the bolt flew back to the Tayland spacecraft. In the nick of time, the Tayland pilot pulled out her pocket mirror and sent the bolt flying back. The bolt kept bouncing back and forth until the two spacecrafts, so engaged in the bolt, crashed into each other. How far had the bolt travelled? Give your answer in km.
The answer is 2468000.
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
The spacecraft's are moving towards each other at a combined speed of 30 km per second. They will cover the distance of 60 000 kms in 2000 seconds. The laser bolt bounces back & forth at 1234 kmps for 2000 seconds. In this time at its speed it would have travelled 1234×2000 = 2364000 kms.