Ph.D. Qualifying Examination Department of Physics and Astronomy Wayne State University
Ph.D. Qualifying Examination Department of Physics and Astronomy Wayne State University
Ph.D. Qualifying Examination Department of Physics and Astronomy Wayne State University
QUALIFYING EXAMINATION
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
INSTRUCTIONS: This examination consists of three problems each worth 10 points. Use
a separate booklet for each problem. Write the following information on the front cover of
each booklet:
1. your special ID number that you received from Delores Cowen,
2. the exam and problem number (i.e. III.1).
Please make sure your answers are dark and legible.
Do NOT write your name on the cover or anywhere else in the booklet!
Problem III.1. A beam of particles can be described by a quantum-mechanical wave.
Consider the 1-dimensional motion of a beam of particles of mass m and energy E > 0
traveling (non-relativistically) in the x direction and incident on a step potential at x = 0.
(The particles have x > 0 before they reach the step.) The potential energy is described
by
U0 x < 0
U (x) =
0 x0
0 1 0 i 1 0
x = y = z = .
1 0 i 0 0 1
1 0
= = .
0 1
INSTRUCTIONS: This examination consists of three problems each worth 10 points. Use
a separate booklet for each problem. Write the following information on the front cover of
each booklet:
1. your special ID number that you received from Delores Cowen,
2. the exam and problem number (i.e. IV.1).
Please make sure your answers are dark and legible.
Do NOT write your name on the cover or anywhere else in the booklet!
Problem IV.1. One mole of a van-der-Waals gas (at pressure Pi and temperature Ti ) is
held within a container with a movable piston. The walls of the container are adiabatic
(cannot absorb any heat). A piston can be used to change the volume V of the gas in
the container. There is a valve on the piston that when opened allows gas to freely flow
through it. Initially the gas is only in the bottom portion of the container with a volume
V0 /2.
a) (5 pts.) The valve is opened and the gas is allowed to expand into the remainder of the
container (the full volume V0 ). Assuming that the specific heat at constant volume cV is
independent of temperature, what is the new temperature of the gas?
b) (5 pts.) Then the piston is drawn completely to the top. The valve is now shut and the
piston is pushed down until the entire gas is in the bottom of the container within volume
V0 /2. What is the new temperature of the gas ?
The van-der-Waals gas has an equation of state
a
P + 2 (V b) = RT (1)
V
where a, b are small constants.
Maxwells relation is
P S
= . (2)
T V V T