A scientist reports the detection of an atomic particle that came toward his experiment from outer space at 4(10^5) km s^-1. What conclusion can we draw from this report?
a)he has made an error in his experiment, since such a speed i concidered to be impossible by all previous experiments.
b)this "particle" must have been a photon or quantum of electromagnetic radiation of very high energy in order to have traveled this fast.
c)this result is acceptable since atomic particles can travel this fast, whereas larger bodies are limited to 3(10^5) m s^-1.
d) This is an acceptable result for a particle originating from outer space, since particle speed from such regions is unlimited.
2006-11-16 05:59:13 · 5 answers · asked by diente 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
If this is a homework problem I'd go with (a) since that's faster than the speed of light. NOTHING is supposed to travel faster than the speed of light.
it's not b since photons aka quanta of EM radiation travel at the same speed at any energy (speed of light)
it's not c since NOTHING is supposed to travel any faster, although you could argue that electrons do since their position can never be measured... see my real life answer...
it's not d because 3*10^5 is the speed of light in a vaccum, such as outer space
In real life the closest explaination would be related to electrons and quantum entanglement. Here things can move instantaneously, HOWEVER, you could never measure them moving that quickly (in QE I believe they'd just "show up") since they don't really TRAVEL across space (hence there is no displacement, v=d/t). In real life, if I thought my measurement were valid, I'd have other people try to repeat the expiriment, and if they got the same, probably talk it over with some quantum physicists.
2006-11-16 09:19:16 · answer #1 · answered by iMi 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd say B....speed of light is 186,000 miles a second (300,000 km a second).
Even a particle with mass like an electron would be able to travel NEARLY that...not quite, but almost.
Relativity precludes that anything with mass can never acheive light speed..but if its small enough, it can travel pretty close to it.
2006-11-16 14:06:27 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is 400,000 km/s... since the speed of light is 300,000 km/s and all previous experiments (as we know them today) have shown that the speed of light can not be exceeded by radiation or matter, the answer is (a).
2006-11-16 14:09:18 · answer #3 · answered by AresIV 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Compare the speed to the speed of light. If it exceeds the speed of light, which is impossible, the answer should be obvious.
2006-11-16 14:07:43 · answer #4 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2(10^4).m s.
2006-11-16 14:02:38 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋