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Fall 2004 Part 2

This document provides information about a qualifying exam for fall 2004, including physical constants and 8 practice problems. Examinees are instructed to work 5 out of the 8 problems and clearly mark the ones they want graded. The problems cover a range of physics topics, including rocket propulsion, oscillating charged particles, quantum tunneling, RLC circuits, rotational motion with radial acceleration, Lorentz transformations, hydrogen atom energy levels, and Lagrangian mechanics.

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68 views4 pages

Fall 2004 Part 2

This document provides information about a qualifying exam for fall 2004, including physical constants and 8 practice problems. Examinees are instructed to work 5 out of the 8 problems and clearly mark the ones they want graded. The problems cover a range of physics topics, including rocket propulsion, oscillating charged particles, quantum tunneling, RLC circuits, rotational motion with radial acceleration, Lorentz transformations, hydrogen atom energy levels, and Lagrangian mechanics.

Uploaded by

paimo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fall 2004 Qualifying Exam

Part II
Mathematical tables are provided. Formula sheets are provided
Calculators are allowed.
Please clearly mark the problems you have solved and want to be graded.
Do only mark the required number of problems.
Physical Constants:
Planck constant: h = 6.6260755 10-34 Js, = 1.05457266 10-34 Js
Boltzmann constant: kB = 1.380658 10-23 J/K
Elementary charge: e = 1.60217733 10-19 C
Avogadro number: NA = 6.0221367 1023 particles/mol
Speed of light: c = 2.99792458 108 m/s
Electron rest mass: me = 9.1093897 10-31 kg
Proton rest mass: mp = 1.6726231 10-27 kg
Neutron rest mass: mn = 1.6749286 10-27 kg
Bohr radius a0 = 5.29177 10-11 m
Compton wavelength of the electron: c = h/(me c) = 2.42631 10-12 m
Permeability of free space: 0 = 4 10-7 N/A2
Permittivity of free space: 0 = 1/0c2

Work 5 out of the 8 problems.


Problem 1:
A rocket with initial mass m0 starts from rest and travels in a straight line in a gravity-free
environment. It burns its fuel at a constant rate km0, and exhausts the burned gases at a
speed v relative to the rocket shell of mass m1. Find the maximum momentum of the
rocket.
Problem 2:
A small, uniformly charged ball of mass m and charge q is suspended on the top of a
spring with spring constant k under an infinitely large conductive surface. What is the
period of small oscillations of the ball and the distance of the center of the oscillation
from the surface, if this distance was L before the ball was charged.
Problem 3:
A beam of electrons with energy 1 eV approaches a potential barrier shown in the figure
below. Estimate the fraction of electrons that tunnel through the barrier.

5 eV
e

2 eV
0.05 nm 0.05 nm

Problem 4:
On the input of the RLC filter shown below the periodic voltage oscillating as U(t) = A
sin4( t) is applied. Calculate the output voltage after all transients have decayed if the
elements R,L,C have been chosen such that 42LC = 1 and RC = 2.

R
U(t)

L
C

Problem 5:
A brave physics student (an undergraduate, of course) climbs aboard a high powered
Merry-go-round and goes to the center, at r = 0. At time t = 0, the platform starts from
rest ( = 0) and begins to spin about its vertical axis with constant angular acceleration .
Also at time t = 0, the student begins to crawl radially outward at constant speed u,
relative to the platform.
Assuming the student does not slip, find the students acceleration in the inertial frame of
an outside observer.
Problem 6:
For two inertial coordinate systems K and K in relative motion at speed v along their
x1 axes, the Lorentz transformations provide that
x1 = (x1 vt)
x2 = x2
x3 = x3 and
t = (t vx1/c2), where = [1 v2/c2] .
(a) Derive the velocity transformations relating speeds uj (in K) and uj (in K), with j = 1,
2, 3.
(b) Now assume Kurt (in system K) fires an energetic photon straight up, along his x2
(i.e., y) axis. If Paulas system K travels at v = 0.6c relative to Kurt, calculate the
components of the photons velocity in Paulas reference frame.
(c) From your results in part (b), calculate the magnitude of the photon's velocity in
Paula's frame. Explain why this result is to be expected.
Problem 7:
(a) List the 8 possible states of the n = 2 manifold of the hydrogen atom in
the common eigenbasis of L2, Lz, S2, and Sz, and also in the common eigenbasis
of L2, S2, J2, and Jz.
(b) The 8 states of the n =2 manifold would be degenerate if not for spin-orbit coupling,
and hyperfine splitting. Let us ignore the hyperfine splitting but treat the spin orbit
coupling using first order perturbation theory. Determine the energies of the 8 states of
the n = 2 manifold under the perturbation V = L S, where L is the orbital
angular momentum operator of the electron and S is the electron's spin
operator.
(c) What is the physical origin of the hyperfine structure?
Problem 8:
Two masses m1 and m2 are connected by a massless string that runs over a frictionless
pulley. The length of the string, l, somehow increases at a constant rate, i.e., l(t) = l0 + l1 t.
Use the method of Lagrange multipliers to determine the tension of the string at time t.
l(t)

m1
1

m2

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