Question

Firecrackers A and B are $600\mathrm{m}$ apart. You are standing exactly halfway between them. Your lab partner is $300\mathrm{m}$ on the other side of firecracker A. You see two flashes of light, from the two explosions, at exactly the same instant of time. Define event 1 to be “firecracker A explodes” and event 2 to be “firecracker B explodes.” According to your lab partner, based on measurements he or she makes, does event 1 occur before, after, or at the same time as event 2? Explain

Short answer

Both event will occur simultaneously.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

We have given,

To me the both event will occur at distance =$300\mathrm{m}$

Distance of event A form lab partner = $300\mathrm{m}$

We have to find the which event will occur first for the lab partner.

Simplify

Because the lab partner is at $300\mathrm{m}$distance from the firecracker A and Firecrackers A and B are $300\mathrm{m}$apart for me.

Then, So the distance of fire cracker B from the lab partner is:

$\mathrm{Distance}=600\mathrm{m}+300\mathrm{m}=900\mathrm{m}$

By observation we can say that Due to large distance of event B from the lab partner, it may occur after event B.

Then, this concludes that lab partner sees event A occur first then event B.

But lab partner is smart enough to correct for the travel time of light.

Then, he conclude that the events occur at the same time .