Answer :
To observers at rest, a meter stick traveling at 0.95c will appear shortened to b) 31.2 cm due to length contraction from special relativity.
To determine the length of a meter stick traveling at 0.95c (where c is the speed of light), we use the concept of length contraction from special relativity. According to this principle, the length of an object moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light will appear shorter to an observer at rest. The formula for length contraction is given by:
[tex]L = L0 * sqrt(1 - v^2/c^2)[/tex]
where:
- L is the contracted length observed.
- L0 is the original length (1 meter in this case).
- v is the velocity of the object (0.95c).
- c is the speed of light.
Calculating this, we get the length of the meter stick as observed by the at-rest observers would be 31.2 cm.
