standard_description: Verify experimentally the properties of dilations given by a center and a scale factor:
- A dilation takes a line not passing through the center of the dilation to a parallel line, and leaves a line passing through the center unchanged.
- The dilation of a line segment is longer or shorter in the ratio given by the scale factor.
problem_activity: Task
A physics professor says: "Of course, it is easy to see that
$$ L_0 \sqrt{1 - \frac{v^2}{c^2}} = 0 $$
when $v = c$."
Give a possible explanation in terms of the structure of the expression on the left why the professor might say that.
Assuming that $L_0$ and $c$ are positive, what is the greatest possible value of the expression on the left?  Explain your answer in terms of the structure of the expression.


aligns: no