really need help with this.....

[stardust_826]

I'm trying to understand this and really can't grasp it..... if anyone can offer help I would really appreciate it<br /><br />Suppose you stay on Earth and watch a spaceship leave on a long trip at a constant acceleration of 1g.<br /><br />a) At an acceleration of 1g, approximately how long will it take before you see the spaceship traveling away from Earth at half the speed of light? Explain<br /><br />b) Describe how you will see its speed change as it continues to accelerate. Will it keep gaining speed at a rate of 9.8m/s each second? Why or why not?<br /><br />c) Suppose the ship travels to a star that is 500 light years away. According to you back on Earth, approximately how long will this trip take? Explain.

 

[harmonicaman]

Some of your questions are covered here (the 1 g rocket is a common physics problem):<br /><br />http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/O/one-g_spacecraft.html<br /><br />Relativity Java Applets:<br /><br />http://physics.berea.edu/~king/Teaching/ModPhys/Relativity/animations.htm#doppler

 

[thebigcat]

So after 6 months of constant acceleration the ship will have reached 0.5C. Would then a further 6 months (ship relative) produce a velocity of 0.75C? And what would be the Earth-relative time frame? 36 months? Or are my suppositions way off? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>