Dear fellow NUS High students,

In light of the coming Physics Olympiad and the graduation of the Seniors, there is nothing more meaningful
than a good, old physics problem. After many caffeinated sessions, the Physics Interest Group has taken the
responsibility to challenge you with the following questions. Attractive prizes will be awarded to those who come up
with correct and creative solutions.

Junior Section: All fledging juniors from year 1 to year 4 are invited to ponder about this question.

In the final chapter of The Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter has to fight against a basilisk, a type of giant
snake that can turn people into stone by mere glance.

At t=0 Harry Potter is at (1, 0) and the snake at (-1, 0). Ginny is lying on the ground at (1, 0). The snake rushes to
attack Ginny immediately (yum yum). Harry cannot face the snake directly, or he will be turned into stone. Instead,
Harry starts walking counter-clockwise on a unit circle centered at origin while the snake moves to the right along the
x-axis. It happens that the Harry’s horizontal speed is half of that of the snake. Now, Harry needs to know the shortest
distance between him and the snake so that he can stupefy at it accurately. Since Harry does not study Muggle’s Physik,
he does not know the answer. Instead, he summons you to his aid.

1. Find the shortest distance between Harry and the snake.

2. Suppose that Harry’s horizontal speed is of a fraction e that of the snake. Find the shortest distance in term of
e.

Senior Section: All the year 5 and year 6 seniors are invited to solve this question.

Kepler’s 1st Law states that a planet will move around the sun in an ellipse.
Given the mass of the sun M, the mass of the planet m, semi-major axis a and semi-minor axis b.

1. Show that the total energy of the planet-sun system is given by:
GMm
E=−
2a
2. With the sun at the origin and the eccentricity e is small, show that the relationship between position and time
can be computed according to:
 3e 2  3 2 a 3 / 2 GM
θ  + 1 − 2e sin θ + e sin(2θ ) = t
 2  4 b3
Open Section: Everyone is invited to try this question.

From the Journal Physics Teacher:

Two small spheres of mass m each are attached to the ends of a light rigid
rod bent at a right angle and pivoted in the vertical plane at the vertex of the
right angle. The vertical part of the rod is three times as long as the
horizontal part. Initially, the rod is held at rest in the position shown in the
diagram. Find the force exerted by the rod on the pivot immediately after the
rod is released. The pivot is frictionless.

Finally, as a consolation prize for those who have read through this long, grueling paper, we shall present two
important identities discovered by Perry Lam Wee Hian, from M08501.

Under Perry Transformation, which is analogous to the laymen term of shifting the position of one specific
digit, the following identities hold true:

26 − 63 ≡ 1
2001 − 1999 ≡ 10924

(For example, under Perry Transformation, 22 ≡ 2 2 = 4 .)

Readers are strongly discouraged to attempt to prove these elegant identities. Try it at your own risk. However,
the derivations will be stated at the end of this page. Physics Interest Group is not responsible for any unpleasant
psychological experience encountered hereafter.

All solutions should be submitted to Mr. Lim’s pigeon hole.

Any enquiry can be forwarded by owls to Vo Thanh Minh Tue, M08502 or emailed to
minhtue90@hotmail.com.
 6
26 − 63 ≡ 2 − 63 = 1

2001 − 1999 ≡ 109 2 4 ≈ log 2 4 = 2