Question

What is the relative speed of two particles travelling towards each other with speed 0.8c?

Answer 1

Answer:

$V_{relative}=0.975c$

Explanation:

given,

velocity of two particles

u = 0.8 c

v = -0.8 c

According to the Lorentz Transformation Equation the relative velocity of 2 object moving.

$V_{relative}=\dfrac{u-v}{1-\dfrac{uv}{c^2}}$

$V_{relative}=\dfrac{0.8c-(-0.8c)}{1-\dfrac{0.8c\times(-0.8c)}{c^2}}$

$V_{relative}=\dfrac{1.6c)}{1+0.64}$

$V_{relative}=0.975c$

hence, the relative velocity of the two particle is equal to $V_{relative}=0.975c$