Question

In an attempt to reduce the extraordinarily long travel times for voyaging to distant stars, some people have suggested traveling at close to the speed of light. Suppose you wish to visit the red giant star Betelgeuse, which is 430 lyly away, and that you want your 20,000 kgkg rocket to move so fast that you age only 22 years during the round trip.

How much energy is needed to accelerate the rocket to this speed?

Express your answer to two significant figures and include the appropriate units.

How many times larger is this energy than the total energy used by the United States in the year 2000, which was roughly 1.0×1020J1.0×1020J?

Express your answer using two significant figures.

Answer 1