Suppose Person A is traveling on a spaceship going 50% of the speed of light. Person A measures the length of the spaceship to be 10 meters. How long would a Person B measure the spaceship if person B were on a planet as the spaceship passed by?

L = 8.66 m

Explanation:

The length measured by the moving observer is related to the true length is given by

L = L₀ √1 - (v²/c²)

Where L₀ is the length of the spaceship as measured by person A, v is the speed of spaceship of person A and c is the speed of light c = 3.8x10ᵃ m/s

L = 10√1 - (0.5c) ²/c²

L = 10√1 - (0.5*3.8x10ᵃ) ²/3.8x10ᵃ ²

L = 8.66 m

Therefore, the Person B would measure the spaceship length to be 8.66 m