Scribd
Upload
45 views6 pages

Fall 2007 Qualifying Exam

This document contains instructions for a qualifying exam with two sections. Section I contains 10 physics problems and instructs examinees to work 8 out of the 10 problems. Sample problems include using conservation of mechanical energy to find the velocity needed to rise to the Earth's radius, finding the Hamiltonian and equations of motion for a spring system, and determining if events on Earth and the Sun could be related given their distance. Section II contains 5 additional problems and instructs examinees to work 3 out of the 5. Sample problems include finding the magic numbers for a harmonic oscillator nuclear potential, calculating the terminal velocity of a falling wire loop in a magnetic field, and constructing a quantum state of a harmonic oscillator. The document provides relevant physical constants to use

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
45 views6 pages

Fall 2007 Qualifying Exam

This document contains instructions for a qualifying exam with two sections. Section I contains 10 physics problems and instructs examinees to work 8 out of the 10 problems. Sample problems include using conservation of mechanical energy to find the velocity needed to rise to the Earth's radius, finding the Hamiltonian and equations of motion for a spring system, and determining if events on Earth and the Sun could be related given their distance. Section II contains 5 additional problems and instructs examinees to work 3 out of the 5. Sample problems include finding the magic numbers for a harmonic oscillator nuclear potential, calculating the terminal velocity of a falling wire loop in a magnetic field, and constructing a quantum state of a harmonic oscillator. The document provides relevant physical constants to use

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
You are on page 1/ 6

Fall 2007 Qualifying Exam

Part I

Calculators are allowed. No reference material may be used.


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
Gravitational constant: G = 6.6726 10-11 m3/(kg s2)

Radius of earth: RE = 6.38 106 m


Mass of Earth: ME = 5.98 1024 kg

Section I:
Work 8 out of 10 problems, problem 1 problem 10! (8 points each, in questions with
multiple sub-questions, (a), (b), , all the sub-questions are weighted equally.)
Problem 1:
Use the principle of conservation of mechanical energy to find the velocity with which a
body must be projected vertically upward, in the absence of air resistance, to rise to a
height above the earth's surface equal to the earth's radius, R.

Problem 2:
The Lagrangian for a simple spring is given by

Find the Hamiltonian and the equations of motion using the Hamiltonian formulation.
Identify any conserved quantities.

Problem 3:
A solar prominence (a large bright feature extending outwards from the sun's surface)
was observed 10 minutes following a volcanic eruption on Earth. Can those two events
be related? Why or why not? The Earth-Sun distance is approximately 1.5 108 km.

Problem 4:
A proton is released from rest at a distance of 1 from another proton.
(a) What is the kinetic energy when the protons have moved infinitely far apart?
(b) What is the terminal velocity of the moving proton if the other is kept at rest? If both
are free to move, what is their velocity?

Problem 5:
A coil has a self-inductance of 1.26 mH. If the current in the coil increases uniformly
from zero to 1 A in 0.1 s, find the magnitude and direction of the self-induced emf.

Problem 6:
A solid iron cylinder (density = 7.87 g/cm3) of radius r = 5 cm and length l = 20 cm rolls
down a ramp which has an incline of 20o (no sliding). The initial height is 3m above
ground.
(a) What is the magnitude of the linear acceleration at half the height?
(b) The cylinder arrives at the bottom of the ramp. What is the angular momentum of the
cylinder about its central axis if it suddenly lifted up from the ground at the two ends of
this axis?

Problem 7:
A 30.0 kg chair is attached to a spring and allowed to oscillate. When the chair is empty
it takes 0.8 s to make one complete vibration. But with a person sitting in it, with her feet
off of the floor, the chair now takes 1.5 s for one cycle. What is the mass of the person?

Problem 8:
A particle is in the state |>that has angular momentum j and angular momentum
projection on the z-axis m such that
J2|> = 2(j(j+1)|>,

Jz|> = m|>.

Find expectation values of the angular momentum components Jx and Jy in this state.

Problem 9:
A hole is drilled through the center of the Earth along the diameter and a mail pouch of
mass m is dropped into it. Assume that the density of the Earth is uniform (not realistic).
Derive an expression for the gravitational force on the pouch as a function of distance r
from the center.

Problem 10:
In the LC circuit below, at t = 0, the charge in capacitor C is Q0 and the current I0 = 0.
Find Q(t).

Section II:
Work 3 out of the 5 problems, problem 11 problem 15! (12 points each, in questions
with multiple sub-questions, (a), (b), , all the sub-questions are weighted equally.)
Problem 11:
Protons and neutrons making up a light nucleus move in an average potential that
resembles that of a harmonic oscillator:
U(r) = -U0 + M2r2/2
Find numbers of protons (or neutrons) corresponding to the first three closed shells
(magic numbers).

Problem 12:
A vertically oriented square loop of wire falls from a region where the magnetic field B is
horizontal, uniform and perpendicular to the plane of the loop, into a region where the
field is zero. Let the length of each side be s and the diameter of the wire be d. The
resistivity of the wire is R and the density of the wire is m. If the loop reaches terminal
velocity while its upper segment is still in the magnetic field region, find an expression
for the terminal speed.

Problem 13:
Two particles have equal mass m and opposite electric charge +q and -q, and are
embedded in a uniform magnetic field B that is perpendicular to the line connecting the
charges. The particles are initially held at rest, then are released simultaneously.
(a) Find the force on each particle.
(b) Find the minimum initial separation L that will not result in a collision after release.
You can neglect gravitational effects.

Problem 14:
(a) Construct the normalized, linear combination of one-dimensional harmonic-oscillator
states of the form |> = c0|0> + c1|1>, with c0 and c1 real, such that the expectation value
of the position operator x is maximized. Here |0> and |1> refer to the ground state and
the first excited state, respectively.
(b) For the above state evaluate the expectation values of the momentum and parity
operators.
Useful formulas:
a n n 1 n 1
a n n n 1
x

h
a a
2m

p i

mh
a a
2

m
x 0

dx e
0

2 x2

1/ 4 m x 2

2h

Problem 15:
A permanent magnet has circular pole pieces of radius a separated by an arbitrary
distance. The magnetic field B is uniform between the pole pieces. Calculate the force
between the pole pieces in terms of B and a.

You might also like