On the moon's surface, lunar astronauts placed a corner reflector, off which a laser beam is periodically reflected. the distance to the moon is calculated from the round-trip time. the earth's atmosphere slows down light. assume the distance to the moon is precisely 3.84×10^8 m, and earth's atmosphere (which varies in density with altitude) is equivalent to a layer 40.0 km thick with a constant index of refraction n=1.000293. what is the difference in travel time for light that travels only through space to the moon and back and light that travels through the atmosphere and space?

Explanation:

The difference in time will be due to travel through atmosphere where speed of light slows down. If t be the thickness of atmosphere and c be the speed of light in space and μ be the refractive index of atmosphere difference in travel time will be as follows .

difference = \frac{2t\mu }{c}-\frac{2t }{c}

=\frac{2t}{c }\left ( 1-\mu  \right )

Now t = 40 x 10³m ,μ = 1.000293 , c = 3 x 10⁸.

difference =\frac{2t\mu }{c}-\frac{2t }{c}

=\frac{2t}{c }\left ( \mu -1  \right )\\

=\frac{ 2\times 40\times 10^3}{3\times10^3 }\left ( 1.000293-1 \right )\\

=7.81\times 10^{-3} s

relativism, roughly put, is the view that truth and falsity, right and wrong, standards of reasoning, and procedures of justification are products of differing conventions and frameworks of assessment and that their authority is confined to the context giving rise to them. more precisely, “relativism” covers views which maintain that—at a high level of abstraction—at least some class of things have the properties they have (e.g., beautiful, morally good, epistemically justified) not simpliciter, but only relative to a given framework of assessment (e.g., local cultural norms, individual standards), and correspondingly, that the truth of claims attributing these properties holds only once the relevant framework of assessment is specified or supplied. relativists characteristically insist, furthermore, that if something is only relatively so, then there can be no framework-independent vantage point from which the matter of whether the thing in question is so can be established.

relativism has been, in its various guises, both one of the most popular and most reviled philosophical doctrines of our time. defenders see it as a harbinger of tolerance and the only ethical and epistemic stance worthy of the open-minded and tolerant. detractors dismiss it for its alleged incoherence and uncritical intellectual permissiveness. debates about relativism permeate the whole spectrum of philosophical sub-disciplines. from ethics to epistemology, science to religion, political theory to ontology, theories of meaning and even logic, philosophy has felt the need to respond to this heady and seemingly subversive idea. discussions of relativism often also invoke considerations relevant to the very nature and methodology of philosophy and to the division between the so-called “analytic and continental” camps in philosophy. and yet, despite a long history of debate going back to plato and an increasingly large body of writing, it is still difficult to come to an agreed definition of what, at its core, relativism is, and what philosophical import it has. this entry attempts to provide a broad account of the many ways in which “relativism” has been defined, explained, defended and criticized.

explanation:

d₁ = displacement of tern from arctic to antarctic = 11000 miles

d₂ = displacement of tern from antarctic to arctic =   - 11000 miles

d = total displacement for the journey

total displacement for the journey is given as

d = d₁ + d₂

d = 11000 + (-11000)

d = 0 miles

t₁ = time of travel from arctic to antarctic = 3 months = 3 x 30 days = 90 days

t₂ = time of travel from antarctic to arctic = 3 months = 3 x 30 days = 90 days

t = total time of travel

total time of travel is given as

t = t₁ + t₂

t = 90 + 90

t = 180 days

average velocity is given as

average velocity = total displacement/ total time

v = d/t

v = 0/180

v = 0 miles/day