A Spaceship Visits a Star That Is $4.5$ Light-Years from Earth, and the Spaceship Travels at One-Half the Earth

question 55

Short Answer

A spaceship visits a star that is $4.5$ light-years from Earth, and the spaceship travels at one-half the speed of light for the entire trip.
(a) How long did the trip take according to an observer on Earth?
(b) How long did the trip take according to an observer on the spaceship?

---

Definitions:

Monopolistically Competitive

A market structure where many firms sell products that are similar but not identical, allowing for some degree of market power and differentiated competition.

Excess Capacity

The failure to produce enough to minimize average total cost; characteristic of monopolistically competitive firms.

Average Total Cost

The total cost of production (fixed plus variable costs) divided by the total quantity produced.

Marginal Cost

This represents the extra expense of manufacturing or producing an additional item, highlighting the concept of decreasing efficiency with increased production volume.