PHYSICS

2002 National Qualifying Examination

SOLUTIONS

SECTION A

Q1. D 300,000/(400)2
Q2. E A 25W incandescent bulb
Q3. E 1 GJ
Q4. C 10MJ
Q5. A is accelerating downwards
Q6. C Neither rise nor fall, just float where it is
Q7. D 50 cm
Q8. B 1.5 km
Q9. D They are all equally efficient.
Q10. D The kinetic energy of the gases is greater than the kinetic energy of the rocket
Q11. A
Q12. C Stays the same
Q13. A There is no effect on the spot
Q14. B 10 N/cm2
Q15. E The slider will not undergo simple harmonic motion in the valley.
Q16. B The same as if the sphere were not there.
Q17. B The water forms a layer on the glass. The mercury floats.
Q18. E independent of R
Q19. C Copper is a better thermal conductor
Q20. A About the same

Explanations

Q1. Gravitational force is proportional to the mass of the attracting body and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between the two bodies.

Q2. At fixed voltage, power dissipated is inversely proportional to resistance. The highest
resistance device dissipates the least power.

Q3. Chemical energy put into the tank is the energy per volume multiplied by the volume.
3GJ/m3 x 0.33 m3 = 1 GJ.

Q4. The energy required to force the hydrogen into the tank is the pressure mutliplied by the
change in volume. This is the work done to move the piston back. W = 0.33 m3 x 30
MN/m2 = 10MJ.
Q5. Acceleration of a body is always in the direction of the net force acting on the body. In this
case, the net force is gravity acting downwards.

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Q6. All bodies accelerate under gravity at the same rate. The bag, person, and elevator
accelerate together. In the freely falling frame, the bag floats where it is.

Q7. Wavelength equals speed of light divided by frequency. 3 x 108 /6x108 = 0.5 m

Q8. 10% of thee screen corresponds to a delay of 5 microseconds. The extra path length is
given by the delay multiplied by the speed of light. 3 x 108 x 5 x 10-6 = 1.5 x 103 metres.

Q9. The total resistance is proportional to the length of the cable divided by the total cross
sectional area. In this case the length and total cross sectional area of all three choices is
the same and they are all equally efficient.

Q10. The momentum of the rocket equals the momentum of the expelled gases. Kinetic energy
is proportional to the square of the velocity and the kinetic energy of the gases exceeds that
of the rocket.

Q11. The volume of water is only half that of the oil. The only possibilities are A and E. The oil
is less dense and must be higher in the tube. A is the only possibility.

Q12. Although the speed of the sound as measured by the person is decreased by the wind, the
wavelength also decreases and frequency remains the same. The same physics leads to a
decrease in speed, a corresponding decrease in wavelength but unchanged frequency when
a light beam enters a piece of glass with refractive index greater than 1.

Q13. Rotating the glass slab will displace a ray horizontally downwards. The direction of a ray
before and after the glass slide is unaffected. All parallel rays are focussed at the focal
point of the lens according to ray optics, and there is no effect on the focussed spot.

Q14. The net pressure is equal to the difference between the outside pressure and the inside
pressure. If the inside pressure is negligible compared with the outside pressure, as it is in
both cases here, the net pressure is to a very good approximation given by the outside
pressure alone. As the outside pressure remains the same, the net pressure remains the
same.

Q15. There is no friction in the problem and the particle cannot dissipate any energy. If the
particle enters with insufficient energy to climb the hill on the far side, it will turn around,
and, after leaving the valley will propagate in the negative x direction at its initial speed. If
it has sufficient kinetic energy to climb the hill on the far side, it will propagate in the
positive x direction with a speed less than its initial value. In no case will it undergo
simple harmonic motion in the valley.

Q16. The inside surface of the conducting sphere has a total negative charge equal to that of the
positively charged ball. As the conductor carries no net charge however, the outside
surface must carry an equal and opposite charge. As the electric field in this problem
depends only on the total net charge, the electric field with and without the sphere must be
the same at all points greater than the outside radius of the conductor.
Q17. Water is attracted to glass more strongly than it is to itself. At the edges of a glass of water,
the surface bends upwards. Mercury is attracted to itself more strongly than it is to glass,

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and the meniscus bends down. In space, we would expect the glass sphere to attract the
water and the water will coat the surface. The mercury on the other hand will be attracted
to itself and form a floating sphere.

Q18. The gravitational force and the force due to light pressure both decrease with the square of
the distance from the Sun. If a ball of radius R floats, it must be neutrally buoyant and will
float at any height above the sun. This is quite independent of the radius of the sphere.

Q19. Both blocks are at room temperature, a temperature lower than that of the human body.
When you touch a metal block, the block conducts heat away from your hand and the
temperature of the surface of your hand decreases. The better the thermal conductor, the
bigger the effect.

Q20. The bouyant force on the balloon is equal to the mass of air displaced less the mass of gas
That fills the balloon. As both the mass of helium and the mass of hydrogen are
significantly less than the mean mass of the gases that make up air, the lifting force is
about the same in both cases. As the density of air at atmospheric pressure and temperature
is roughly 1kg/m3, this balloon could lift roughly 1 kg filled either with hydrogen or
helium.

SECTION B

Q21. First resolve the velocity into horizontal (Vx) and vertical (Vy) components.
Vx = VcosA, Vy = VsinA

The time of flight is determined by the initial height h and the vertical component of the
velocity to be

Vy Vy2 h
t= + 2 +2
g g g

The horizontal distance covered is then

⎛ V sin A V 2 sin2 A h ⎟⎞
D = Vx t = V cos A⎜⎜ + + 2
g ⎟⎠
2
⎝ g g

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Q22.

(a)

(b) The bead will accelerate upwards and eventually come to rest at an equilibrium position
where the upward force due to the electric field is equal and opposite to the downward
force due to gravity. Depending on the magnitude of the frictional force, the bead may or
may not oscillate as it approaches its equilibrium position above the triangle.

Q23.

(a) Constant Wind

Downwind At ground level rays are horizontal

rays bend Upwind rays bend
towards vertical towards horizontal

(b)

Downwind rays bend Upwind rays bend towards

downwards near the ground vertical near the ground

(c) In the diagram in part b, the upwind rays bend upwards away from the ground and is
carried over the head of a nearby person. The sound seems to “disappears” in the upwind
direction not because of absorption but rather because it tends to travels upwards. In the
downwind direction, sound is bent downwards towards the person and seems to
“disappear” at much greater distances from the bell.

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SECTION C

Q24.

(a) If the acceleration due to circular motion of the slider at the top of the loop (the slowest
point) exceeds the acceleration due to gravity, the slider will remain in contact with the
loop.

(b)

h
D

Conservation of energy gives us

1 2 1 2
mgh + mv = mvt + mgD
2 2
Where vt is the speed of the slider at the top of the loop. Solving for vt gives:

vt = 2g(h − D) + v 2

The minimum height of release for the slider to remain in contact occurs when the
acceleration due to circular motion at the top of the loop is equal to the acceleration due to
gravity.
2v2t
=g
D
Substituting in the expression for vt gives:

5D v 2
hmin = −
4 2g

(c) Substituting D = 1 m, v = 2 m/s with g = 9.8 ms-2 in the expression obtained in part b and
expressing the answer to 1 significant figure consistent with the data given yields hmin = 0.8
m.

(d) The radius of curvature of the squeezed loop is smaller at the top than that of the circular
loop. For a fixed speed, the acceleration of the slider is greater and hmin is correspondingly
smaller.

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