ANNUAL 1997 INTERMEDIATE - PHYSICS 1st year

TIME ALLOWED: 2 HRS 2 Whenever required take the acceleration due to gravity to be 9.8 m/s . SECTION A: Attempt ALL questions in this section. This section carries 50% of the total mark for this paper.

1. The period of a simple pendulum of length L is given by the formula T = 2Show that this
formula is consistent with respect to units. 2. Define work and power. Write down a unit for each. An athlete of mass 55 kg runs up a flight of stairs of vertical height 3.6 m in 1.8s. Calculate the power that this athlete develops in raising his mass.

3. Explain what is meant by an electric field.

Name one similarity and one difference between electric and gravitational fields. An electric field is maintained between two parallel metal plates by a potential difference of 1000V . A -15 charge of 10 C is moved by the forces of the field from one plate to the other. If the plates are 20 mm apart what is the value of the electrical field strength ? Hence find the value of the electrical force on the charge.

4. a) When materials are stretched their behaviour may be either elastic or plastic. Distinguish
carefully between these two terms. b) Sketch a force-extension graph for a thin copper wire. Mark on it the region where the behaviour is elastic and the region where it is plastic.

5. Define e.m.f. of a cell.

The p.d. across a resistor in a circuit was calculated to be 0.8V. But when a voltmeter was used , the reading it gave was 0.6V. After removing this voltmeter, a different voltmeter was used. This time the reading was 0.2V. Both voltmeters were certified as working correctly. Explain. 2 5 6. A gas at a pressure of 2 x 10 Pa is contained in a cylinder of cross-sectional area of 0.01 m , fitted with a frictionless movable piston.The gas is slowly heated by a 10 W electric filament for 2 minutes, during which time the piston moves out by 0.25m , such that the gas pressure remains constant. a) Calculate the heat supplied to the gas and the work done by the gas on the surroundings. b) Use the first law of thermodynamics to show that the internal energy of the gas has increased and find this increase. SECTION B: Attempt this question. This section carries 25% of the total mark for this paper. 7. A student wanted to find the time - constant of a capacitor C discharging through a voltmeter. Below are tabulated the values he obtained for the p.d. across C for various intervals of discharge time. p.d./V t/sec 4.4 0.0 4.0 1.2 3.4 3.2 3.0 4.8 2.4 7.6 2.0 10.0 1.4 14.6 1.0 19.6 0.8 22.2 0.6 25.8

a) b) c)

Draw a circuit showing how the capacitor was charged and then discharged through a voltmeter. Plot a graph of p.d. on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. Use the graph to obtain a value for the time - constant for this discharge.

d) e)

Sketch , on the same graph paper, how the p.d. would fall if the voltmeter had a higher resistance. Label this sketch A. Given that the capacitor had a value of about 2600 F, use the graph to find the discharge current after 12 seconds.

SECTION C: Choose ONE question from this section. This section carries 25% of the total mark of this paper. 8. A small particle carrying a charge -q, revolves in a circular path at a constant speed around a much more massive particle carrying a charge +q. a)Write down an expression for the acceleration of the orbiting charge. State clearly its direction. b)What is the nature of the force giving rise to this acceleration. If the radius of the orbit is 5. 3 x 10 -11 m and the magnitude of the charge q is 1. 6 x 10 - 19 C , calculate a value for the force. (Permitivity of free space = 8.9 x 10 -12 F /m)

c) d)

If the mass of the orbitinhg charge is 9.1 x 10 - 31 kg , calculate its linear speed . If the radius of the orbit were increased explain how the linear speed would change and why the potential energy of the system wuuld increase.

e)

Find the ratio gravitational force / electrical force for these two masses given that the gravitational constant G = 6.7 x 10 -11 in S.I. units and that the more massive particle has a mass 2000 times that of the orbiting mass.

9. The diagram below illustrates an elastic collision between two spheres, A and B, of equal mass. Sphere A is tied to the end of a long vertical thread and pulled to one side until it has risen a distance of 10 cm. It is then released and comes to rest when it strikes the sphere B which is resting on a smooth flat support. Sphere B travels a horizontal distance d before it hits the ground after falling 10 cm. (Air resistance is being ignored) Calculate the speed of A as it strikes B. A 10 cm Mention any principle used. What is the only force acting on B as it is falling? What is the acceleration of B in the 10 cm B d horizontal direction? B How long does B take to fall 10 cm? What is the speed of B just after the collision? Mention any principle used. Calculate the distance d. and in the vertical

Explain briefly why B drops a distance of 10 cm much more quickly than A.