Travel near the speed of light: an instructive exercise in special relativity

Seth Zimmerman

Evergreen Valley College, San Jose CA

An acceleration of g can bring a space vehicle to nearly the speed of light in less than a year. In this paper we study one possibility for such relativistic travel, as measured by both travelers and earthbound observers. Undergraduates who encounter special relativity toward the end of their introductory, calculus based physics course should find the paper’s mathematics accessible, and be stimulated by its extension of the usual topics. The sections can be either studied as presented, or offered as problems for investigation and solution by the students.