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PHY 1B03

DAY CLASS
DURATION OF EXAMINATION 2 Hours

THIS EXAMINATION PAPER INCLUDES 15 PAGES AND 29 QUESTIONS. PAGE 15 IS

A FORMULA SHEET. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT YOUR COPY
OF THE PAPER IS COMPLETE. BRING ANY DISCREPANCY TO THE ATTENTION OF
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to present your McMaster Student ID card for verification.

• Circle only ONE answer for each question. Multiple answers will be marked as
wrong. Each question is worth one mark.

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to know when the appropriate formula can be used.

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communicating calculators) are prohibited in the examination room. All such devies
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may result in a failing grade and/or expulsion from the university.
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continued on page 2
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1. Two identical stones are dropped from a tall building,one after the other. Assuming
that air resistance is negligible, what will happen to the vertical separation of the
stones as they fall?

A. The separation will decrease.

B. The separation will stay the same.
C. The separation will increase.

2. A block is released from rest and slides down an inclined plane and onto a
horizontal floor as shown in the diagram below. There is friction between all
surfaces.

Which of the sketches below best describes the component of the block’s
acceleration in the x-direction (i.e. horizontally) while it is moving between points P1
and P2 ?
 3

3. A person gives a shopping cart an initial push along a horizontal floor to get it
moving, and then lets go. The cart travels forward along the floor, gradually slowing
as it moves. Consider only the time after release and while the cart is slowing
down. Which of the following statements best describes why the cart continues to
move forward?

A. The force acting on it in the forward direction is greater than the force of
friction.
B. The force acting on it in the forward direction is slightly less than the force of
friction.
C. The force acting on it in the forward direction is decreasing.
D. The force of friction is finite.
E. Both A and C.
F. Both B and C.

4. Your instructor is leaning against a wall. The wall is not moving because the force
exerted by your instructor on the wall is

A. equal to the force exerted by the wall on your instructor.

B. less than the force exerted by the wall on your instructor.
C. equal to the force exerted by the surrounding building on the wall.
D. less than the force exerted by the surrounding building on the wall.

5. A factory worker raises a 100. kg crate at a constant rate using a frictionless pulley
system, as shown in the diagram. The mass of the pulleys and rope are negligible.

With what force is the worker pulling down on the rope?

A. 245 N
B. 327 N
C. 490 N
D. 980 N
E. 1960 N
 4

6. Rank in order, from largest to smallest, the size of the frictional forces, fA to fD ,
acting on the block in the 4 different situations shown below.

a. A=B>C>D
b. A=B>C=D
c. B>A>C>D
d. B>A>C=D
e. B>D=C>A
f. none of the above

7. Two blocks, connected by a string over a pulley, slide along the frictionless ramp
shown in the diagram. What is the tension in the string?

A. 6.7 N
B. 25 N
C. 28 N
D. 32 N
E. 42 N
F. 60 N

8. A hot air balloon is kept from floating away by cables which

hold it to the ground. The mass of the balloon and the air
inside the balloon is 2340 kg. The density of the hot air inside
the balloon is 0.960 kg/m3, while the density of the air outside
the balloon is 1.21 kg/m3. When the rope is cut, the balloon
accelerates upward at a rate of 1.23 m/s2. What is the volume
of the balloon (in units of m3)?

A. 1690
B. 2180
C. 2438
D. 2740
E. 8190
F. 10,500
 5

9. Two blocks are pushed along a horizontal surface. Block A is more massive than
block B. Consider the two scenarios for moving the blocks shown below. In the
first, the external force acts on block A from the left, while in the second, the
external force acts on block B from the right. The external force has the same
magnitude in both cases. Which of the following statements is correct?

A. The two systems will have the same acceleration, but the normal force
between the blocks will be less in (1) than (2).
B. Both the acceleration and the normal force between the blocks will be the
same in the two cases.
C. The two systems will have the same acceleration, but the normal force
between the blocks will be greater in (1) than (2).
D. System (1) will have the larger acceleration, and the normal force between
the blocks will be the same in both systems.
E. System (2) will have the larger acceleration, and the normal force will be the
same in both systems.

10. A steel ball of mass 0.500 kg is fastened to a cord 70.0 cm long. The cord is fixed
at the far end and the ball is released when the cord is horizontal. At the bottom of
the its path, it strikes a steel block that has a mass of 1.20 kg and is initially at rest.
The collision is elastic. What is the speed of the steel block after the collision?

A. 1.09 m/s
B. 1.22 m/s
C. 1.53 m/s
D. 1.84 m/s
E. 2.18 m/s
 6

11. In a table-top shuffleboard game, a heavy moving puck collides with a lighter
stationary puck as shown. The incident puck is deflected through an angle of 20o
and both pucks are eventually brought to rest by friction with the table. The impulse
approximation is valid.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A. The collision must be inelastic because the pucks have different masses.
B. The collision must be inelastic because there is friction between the pucks
and the surface.
C. The collision must be elastic because the pucks bounce off each other.
D. The collision must be elastic because, in the impulse approximation,
momentum is conserved.
E. There is not enough information given to decide whether the collision is
elastic or inelastic.

12. A 6.0 kg block is pushed up against an ideal Hooke’s law spring (of spring constant
3750 N/m ) until the spring is compressed a distance x. When it is released, the
block travels along a track from one level to a higher level, by moving through an
intermediate valley (as shown in the diagram). The track is frictionless until the
block reaches the higher level. There a frictional force stops the block in a distance
of 1.2 m. If the coefficient of friction between the block and the surface is 0.60,
what is x ?

A. .11 m
B. .24 m
C. .39 m
D. .48 m
E. .56 m
 7

13. A block is sliding along a frictionless horizontal surface, when it reaches the base
of an incline. The block slides up the incline, and then back down again. A
frictional force, f, acts on the block while it is on the incline.

What is the net work done on the block between when it starts up the incline and
when it returns to the bottom of the incline?

A. mgd - fd
B. mgh - 2fd
C. 2mgh - 2fd
D. 2mgd - 2fd
E. -2fd
F. zero

14. A mass hanging on the end of a spring travels from its lowest point to its maximum
height and back again in 1.5 sec. In that time, it has travelled a total distance of 48.
cm. What is its maximum velocity?

A. 29 cm/s
B. 32 cm/s
C. 50 cm/s
D. 72 cm/s
E. 100 cm/s

15. An object attached to a spring undergoes simple harmonic motion with an amplitude
of 4.0 cm. When the object is 2.0 cm from the equilibrium position, what fraction of
its total energy is potential energy?

A. one quarter
B. one third
C. one half
D. two thirds
E. three quarters
 8

16. A block is placed against a spring so that the

spring is compressed a distance )x. When
released, the block slides along a horizontal
frictionless surface. The block separates from
the spring after being in contact with the spring
for a time )t.

If the initial compression of the spring is only half as great, how long will the block
remain in contact with the spring when it is released?

A. )t / 4
)t / 2
)t / %2
B.
C.
D. )t
E. none of the above

17. The diagram below shows two identical particles of mass M, both carrying a charge
of +Q, fixed on the x-axis at positions +d and -d . If a third particle, of mass m
and carrying a charge -q, is placed along the y-axis and released, it is clear that the
particle will oscillate back and forth along the y-axis, attracted by the positive
charges.

If the amplitude of the oscillation is very small, it can be shown that the net
electrostatic force acting on -q at any position y along the axis is

where K is a constant which has a magnitude of 9.0 x109 .

Suppose that -q is displaced 2.0 cm from the origin and released. What is the
period of the oscillation?

A. .036 s
B. 1.1 s
C. 2.8 s
D. 3.7 s
E. 12. s
F. 31. s
 9

18. The diagram below shows a snapshot of a transverse traveling wave at t = 0.

displacement (cm)
0
0 20 40 60

-4
position (m)

If the wave travels to the right at 8.0 m/s, which of the sketches below describes the
displacement as a function of time for the particle at x = 15 ?

4 4

displacement (cm)
displacement (cm)

A 0 B 0
0 20 40 0 2 4 6

-4 -4
time (s) time (s)

4 4
displacement (cm)
displacement (cm)

C D
0 0
0 2 4 6 0 20 40

-4 -4
time (s) time (s)

4 4
displacement (cm)
displacement (cm)

E 0 F 0
0 2 4 6 0 20 40

-4 -4
time (s) time (s)
 10

19. The density of aluminum is 2700 kg/m3 . What is the velocity of a wave that
propagates along a cylindrical aluminum wire that has a radius of 2.30 mm and is
under a tension of 58.0 N?

A. .0480 m/s
B. 1.47 m/s
C. 10.1 m/s
D. 36.0 m/s
E. 82.2 m/s
F. 146 m/s

20. A light wave travels from below the surface of the water to the air above. The
indices of refraction of air and water are 1.00 and 1.33 respectively. If the light
wave has a wavelength of 500 nm in water, what is its wavelength in air (in units
of nm)?

A. 376
B. 500
C. 665
D. 752
E. 1000
F. 133

21. The human vocal tract can be treated as an air column roughly 17 cm long (from
vocal cord to lips). The end of the tract at the vocal cord can be considered a fixed
boundary. Suppose that the mouth is open (as it would be for a vowel “a” sound)
so that the end of the column, at the lips, is essentially a free boundary. If the
speed of sound in air is 340 m/s, what are the two lowest frequency resonances for
the vocal tract?

A. 500 Hz, 1000 Hz

B. 500 Hz, 1500 Hz
C. 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz
D. 1000 Hz, 3000 Hz
E. 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz
F. 2000 Hz, 6000 Hz
 11

22. One end of a string is attached to a wall. The other end is hung over a pulley and
supports a block of mass m. The wavelength of the lowest frequency standing
wave to be supported by the horizontal string segment is 8o .

What would the wavelength of the fundamental be, if the mass of the hanging block
were doubled?

A. 48o
B. 28o
C. 1.418o
D. 8o
E. .50 8o
F. .707 8o

23. A laser beam is incident on two parallel slits 0.250 mm apart. If the wavelength of
the laser is 632.8 nm, how far apart are the bright fringes on a screen 6.00 m away
from the slits?

A. .250 mm
B. 1.90 mm
C. 3.80 mm
D. 7.59 mm
E. 15.2 mm

24. In the previous problem, at what angle, would you expect to find that the waves
from the two slits are 135 degrees out of phase with each other?

A. 6.75 x 10 -3 deg
B. .027 deg
C. .048 deg
D. .054 deg
E. .072 deg
F. .145 deg
 12

25. Monochromatic light of wavelength 500. nm shines on a pair of identical glass

microscope slides that form a very narrow wedge, as shown in the diagram. The
top surface of the upper slide and the bottom surface of the lower slide have
special coatings on them so that they do not reflect light. The inner surfaces are
reflective. The indices of refraction of air and glass are 1.00 and 1.50
respectively. Looking down on the slide from above, you see the fringe pattern
shown.

What is the approximate thickness of the wedge (in nm) at the point marked P in
the diagram?

A. 417
B. 625
C. 500
D. 583
E. 750
F. 875
G. 1000

26. An incompressible fluid flows through an underground pipe system. Pressure

gauges at two points along the pipe show that the pressure at gauge position X
is greater than the pressure at gauge position Y. Which of the following
scenarios would result in this observation?

A. The pipe is narrower at X than Y.

B. The pipe is narrower at Y than X.
C. The pipe has the same cross-sectional area, but is deeper underground at
X than Y.
D. Both A and C.
E. Both B and C.
 13

27. Water is poured into an empty U-tube. A small amount of oil (which has a
density slightly less than the water so that it floats on the water) is then poured
into one arm. Which of the diagrams below represent the equilibrium
configuration of the water/oil system?

28. A spherical ball of lead (density 11.3 kg/cm3) is placed in a tub of mercury
(density 13.6 kg/cm3 ). Which answer best describes the outcome?

A. The lead ball will float with about 17 % of its volume above the surface of
the mercury.
B. The lead ball will float with its top exactly even with the surface of the
mercury.
C. The lead ball will float with about 83 % of its volume above the surface of
the mercury.
D. The lead ball will sink to the bottom.

29. The cross-sectional area of an annulus is

A = B ( r1 2 - r2 2 )

where r1 is the outer radius and r2 is the inner radius. If r1 = 4.50 ± .01 cm and
r2 = 2.15 ± .01 cm, how would you quote the area of the annulus, with its
uncertainty, in units of cm2 ?

A. 49.1 ± .1
B. 49.1 ± .4
C. 49.1 ± .7
D. 49. ± 1
E. 49. ± 3
E. 49. ± 8
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