Question

Superman (who we’ll assume to be 2 meters tall) is flying at 0.8c (80% the speed of light). With proper application of physics, how tall will he appear to be to an outside observer?

Answer 1

Answer

Superman height

L=2m

Flying v=0.8c

c is speed of light

So superman will appear to be to an outside observer as

$L'=L\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}$

Putting all values

$L'=2\times\sqrt{1-\frac{(0.8c)^2}{c^2}}\\=2\times\sqrt{0.36}\\=1.2m$