Suppose We Discovered Radio Signals Coming from the Star Alpha

question 23

Essay

Suppose we discovered radio signals coming from the star Alpha Centauri, whose distance is 4.4 light-years from us, and we sent a crew in a spacecraft to visit it. If the spacecraft used revolutionary technology allowing it to travel at a speed of 0.5 c, how long would it take the spacecraft to get to Alpha Centauri, and how long a time would the astronauts say passed during the trip? (Ignore the time it would take to accelerate the spacecraft to reach a velocity of 0.5
c.)

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Definitions:

First Quartile

The first quartile is a statistical measure that divides a data set into four equal parts, representing the value below which 25% of the data falls.

Hours

Units of time equivalent to 60 minutes, commonly used to measure durations and periods of the day.

Playing Video Games

The activity of engaging in games that involve interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a display device.

Lower Quartile

A statistical measure indicating the value below which 25% of the observations in a dataset fall.