A moving walkway at an airport has a speed v1 and a length L. A woman stands on the walkway as it moves from one end to the other, while a man in a hurry to reach his flight walks on the walkway with a speed of v2 relative to the moving walkway. (a) How long does it take the woman to travel the distance L? (b) How long does it take the man to travel this distance?

t=L/

Explanation:

solution:

Let E be an observer, and B a second observer traveling with velocity  as measured by E. If E measures the velocity of an object A as  then B will measure A velocity as

= -    

Applied here,

the walkway (W) and the man (M) are moving relative to Earth (E}, the velocity of the man relative to the moving walkway is

= -    

,

The time required for the woman, traveling at constant speed relative to the ground, to travel distance L relative to the ground is :

t=L/