Think you’ve got your head wrapped around Special Relativity? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. 1) According to Michelson and Morley, the speed of light:
moves relative to Earth
moves relative to the ether
moves in all directions
is irrelevant, since the ether doesn't exist
is always constant
Q. 2) Gaspard tries to catch up to us as we continue running at a velocity of 0.1 mile per minute. His velocity relative to the ground is 2 \; \mathrm{\frac{m}{s}. What velocity are we running at from his frame of reference?
Q. Gaspard covers 1 mile in 5 minutes. What velocity is he running at from our frame of reference running at 0.1 miles per minute still in the same direction?
Q. Once again, you embark on the spaceship from Planet of the Apes, which travels at a speed of 0.9999837c and spends 10 years exploring space but never comes back home. What distance did you travel according to Earth?
9.46 × 108 m
5.41 × 1014 m
0 m
1.66 × 1019 m
It depends on the speed of the spaceship relative to Earth.
Q. Andromeda is our closest neighboring galaxy, located at 45,000 light years from Earth. Knowing that 1 light year is defined as the distance light travels in exactly 1 year, which of the following statement is false?
The distance to Andromeda is dependent on an observer's frame of reference.
The picture we see of Andromeda is 45,000 years old.
If we zoomed in on a planet in Andromeda with an incredible powerful telescope, and managed to see vegetation and life forms, these life forms would be 45,000 years old.
If we traveled 20,000 light years towards Andromeda, we would see the galaxy as it was 25,000 years ago.
It is possible that many of the stars in Andromeda have already died.
Q. Two UFOs fly at a relativistic speed of v = 0.8c relative to the ground and approach a farm from opposite directions. How fast do the UFOs fly relative to each other?
0.98c
1.6c
0c
2.67c
0.4c
Q. We're traveling at light speed and hold a mirror in front of our face. What do e see?
Our face distorted with your features pulled back
Our face distorted in a spiral
Beams of light shining all around us
Nothing
Gaspard still chasing us
Q. Two events have coordinates s1 = (1, 0, 0, 2) and s2 = (2, 0, 0, 1). What can be said about the events?
They are spacelike
The events are causally connected.
The events have the same location.
The events are lightlike.
These events are simultaneous.
Q. Two events have coordinates s1 = (1, 0, 0, 2) and s2 = (1, 0, 0, 1). What can be said about the events?
The events do not have the same location.
The events are timelike.
Event 1 occurred before event 2.
The events are lightlike.
These events are not simultaneous.
Q. What would be a theoretical consequence of traveling faster than the speed of light?
Since information travels less than the speed of light, we could get our hands on information faster.
Since information travels faster than the speed of light, we could obtain a lot more information.
Since information travels at the speed of light, we could alter the past.
Since information travels at the speed of light, we could never alter the past.
There would be no consequences of traveling faster than the speed of light.