>) Front and Center (Mr1) Challenge: A conducting sphere of radius & has a charge Q. A particle carrying a charge q is placed a distance 2R from the sphere. Find the potential at point A located a distance R/2 from the center of the sphere on the line connecting the center of the sphere and particle g. Note that the charge distribution of the sphere is net symmetrical due to the influence of particle g. 2R a Solution 1. By the method of images one can determine effect of the external charge, g, on the potential at the surface of the metal sphere. Since there are no charges actually inside the sphere, the potential everywhere inside the sphere, and par- ticularly at point A, is equal to the potential on the sphere’s surface. Since the sphere is conducting, the potential at every point on the surface must be constant. The external charge can be thought to cause an image charge, q, to appear inside the sphere at a point somewhere along the line connecting the external charge and the sphere’s center. The distance between the center of the sphere and this image charge is ¢. The location and magni- tude of the image can be found by imagining a grounded sphere, for which V= 0. Then an addi- tional image charge can be added to the center of the sphere to recover the given net charge of Q. The image charge at the center, though changing the value of Venere , will not alter the constancy of the potential at the surface of the sphere, be- cause a charge at the center contributes an equal potential to all points on the sphere’s surface. fe end oe ee OR 8 R=d 4R R+d ee ad Gi IR Red 4R R+d -£=4_=2|-4|=2|_4 | GR UR@a | aR Re) to 2 Rod a en R+d=2r-2d = d=1R Substituting back into the first equation: et 2R R=sR 4h 2R ae — ae qi 3 4: Since overall charge on the sphere is Q, the potential at the surface of the sphere is completely defined by the image charge g; (which effectively cancels the potential of the ex- ternal charge g) and a charge in the center equal to Q—g,. The charge at the center affects all points on the surface of the sphere equally and so does not alter the cancellation accomplished by Ge eA se R R Va = 2 phere Solution 2: Even when a spherical metal surface has non- uniform charge, the potential at the center is still due to the sum of all elemental charges divided by their common distance from the center R. Hence, the potential at the center {and therefore anywhere in or on the metal) is AQUR, where k = 1/47&q. The potential at the center due to the external charge q is simply 4q/3R and so the total poten- tial anywhere in or on the sphere, including the point of interest, is (2g/3R+ AQ/R).> The Invasion of the Space Tetrahedrons (Mr2) Challenge: Four charged particles (A, B, C, D), of mass m and charge g each, are connected by light silk threads of length d forming a tetrahedron floating in outer space. The thread connecting particles A and B suddenly snaps. Find the maximum speed of particle A after that. Solution: Suppose the strings connecting par- ticles A and B and those connecting particles C and D are initially horizontal as shown on the left. Initially, the total momentum and kinetic energy are zero. After the string between A and B is cut, particles A and B will pivot downward and particles C and D move upward so that al WHY A momentum is conserved. When the particles all lie in the same horizontal plane, the change in potential energy is greatest so the total kinetic energy is the greatest. At that time, particles A and B are moving downward with the same speed because of symmetry. Particles C and D must be moving upward with the same speed to conserve momentum (see the diagram on the right). The initial distance between A and B is d and the final distance is 2/, where d? (2 *_ NB 2 Z The distance between all of the other particles remains the same, so the change in potential energy is 2 2 2 Au=—?___4 _=_1 4ne, (20) 4me,d 4ned v | . 3 Since the particles start at rest and all have the same final speed, the change in the kinetic energy is es (Srv? - 2mv>. Energy is conserved, so AK = —AU and the maximum speed of particle A is Base = ona») Now You See It, Now You Don't (Mr4) Challenge: An air-filled parallel-plate capacitor has capaci- tance C. The capacitor is connected through a resistor to a voltage source providing a constant potential difference V (see the diagram) \v 1 | | c A dielectric plate with dielectric constant k is inserted into the capacitor, filling it completely. After the equilibrium is established, the plate is quickly removed. Find the amount of heat generated in the resistor by the time the equilibrium is reestablished Solution: Method 1: Conservation of Energy We will determine the energy stored in the capacitor right after the dielectric plate is removed and the energy stored at the final equilibrium. The energy loss from the capaci- tor went into the voltage source and the resis- tor. Let's state the capacitance, the voltage, the charge, and the energy stored in the capacitor at various moments. Right before dielectric plate is removed: C, = AC, V, = V, Q, = ACV, U,= LRQV2 2 Right after dielectric plate is removed: Cy = C, Vy = BV, Qy = ACV, Uy= 5 C(RV)?. (The extta enetgy store in the capacitor came from the work done to remove the dielectric plate.) Final equilibrium is established: , il ie Cz= C, V3 = V, Q3= CV, Uys 5 CV’. So the energy loss from the capacitor is Ugg5 = Uy - Uz = 4 CV*(R? - 1). The energy that went into the voltage source is Up = (Q)— Q3)V = CV2(e= 1), By conservation of energy, the energy that went into the resistor is 1 2 2 Ug = Ug, — Up = gy CV UR — 1)”. Method 2: Direct Calculation of Joule Heat After the dielectric plate is removed, the capac- itor’s voltage is greater than the voltage source, hence it discharges. The charge as a function of time is given by QW) = (Q,- Q)eMFo+ Q, = CVA Ie MRE 4 CY. The current is given by )-4Q__ CVE=1) sire dt RC , The amount of heat dissipated in the resistance is Tt yt Gee Up= Hi [Rat = ii RC! 0 0 oe 2TIRE py i sou ey.>» The Power of Two (A1) Challenge: Find the resistance between points A and B of an infinite circuit shown. Express your answer in terms of R. Fig. 2 Let R; represent the total resistance between points A and B of the infinite circuit shown above in Fig. 1. If we isolate the portion of the circuit inside the box (see Fig. 2), we can see that this infinite circuit looks exactly like the original circuit except that the value of each resistor is now doubled. Therefore, the rotal resistance of this circuit is just twice that of che original, or 2Rp Now, the original circuit can be redrawn as shown in Fig. 3, where 2A, has replaced the entire circuit from the box. R R Fig. 3 Since this circuit has a resistance R7, then Rp = R+R+(R||2R,) (where || represents a parallel combination). Mathematically: -1 9 Rp =2R+ +55 | ao es R 2Rr 2Rp +R —@ 2h; —IRR, —2R =0. The only positive root of this quadratic equa- tion is the answer: Sava) ie Rp =» Don't Ask, Don't Tell (A2) What resistor r must be connected between points 3 and 4 so that the resistance between points 1 and 2 can be found without knowing the total number of resistors in the circuit shown below? Each resistor in this circuit is 10 QO. 102 2 1 ol Solution. Let us consider the two INFINITE circuits of 10-© resistors shown in Fig. 1. eee 4 Fig. 1 Do Both circuits must have the same equivalent resistance, X. In other words, X equals 10 in parallel with 20 +X. X= (10)(20 +X) / (30+) X? +30X = 10X+ 200 X? 420X200 =0 X= 10(/3-) A= 3200 So if we add a 7.321-O resistor at the end of the circuit given in the problem, the total resis- tance of the circuit will be 7.321 O, regardless of the number of loops!» Ring, Ring, Ring...(A4) A ring of mass m, diameter ¢, and resistance r is falling from a large height in a vertical magnetic field, The magni- tude of the field changes with height: B = By(1 + ky), where k is a known constant and y is the vertical coordinate. Find the terminal velocity of the ring. The plane of the ring remains horizontal as it falls. Solution 1. The ring falls under gravity in the nonuniform magnetic field. As the ring falls, eddy currents / arise in the ring because of the changing magnetic flux ® and an emf ¢ is induced in the ring. The direction of these cur- rents is such as to repel the ring. The energy is dissipated in the form of heat. If the rings fall with constant velocity, then the rate at which the gravitational potential energy decreases must equal the rate at which heat is generated, and the magnetic force then is equal to the gravitational force. B y Using Faraday’s law, the electromotive force is d® oe aes (1) at The magnetic flux at time ¢ is given by nd” &=BA=B +k) ais (2) where A is the area of the ring. From Eq. (1) 2 rae ae (3) 4 dt Note that -2 is the terminal velocity, V,. i From Ohms law. 4 = R’ where R is the resis- tance of the ring. The rate at which heat is generated is 2 P?R=— and the rate at which gravitational R potential decreases is dy mg i, dt From energy conservation: 2 € a —=—~mg™ = meV. (4) RK dt Now by substituting € from Eq. (3) into Eq. (4) and using some algebra, we obtain the ter- minal velocity mgR Vv, =16— =; : Beken'*d*) It Is Crowded at the Bottom (M2) Challenge: A research vessel has a round glass window in the bottom for observing the seabed. The diameter of the window is 60 em, the thickness of the glass Is 20 mm, and the index of refraction of water is 1.33; that of the glass is 1.55. The seabed is 6.0 m beneath the window. Estimate the area of the seabed that can be seen through the win- dow. Solution: In the figure | have represented the limit situation; the ray of light, traveling origi- nally in water, is refracted twice—at the bound- ary water-glass (first refraction) and at the Interior s vessel alt D-60cm n water boundary glass-air (second refraction). In this limit situation the second refraction occurs with , = 90° (beginning of total inter- nal reflection). Snell’s law applied to both refractions gives ose, SIN, = Myg SIF, = ry, si A, = (SiN, Jace Nn, 1.00 =—* =— = (4)... = 48.8". PI 1.33 ( ae ‘Water Only points with #, < (4,),,,, are visible from the interior of the research vessel. Also, tan(, = - — ( — Eten) = (6.0m) tan(48.8°) = 6.84 m. The radius of the visible area is a +2~6.84m+0.30m =7.14m. The area of the seabed that can be seen through the window is .4 = 7R® = 7(7.14 m)? = 160 m2. Note that this result does not depend on the thickness or the index of refraction of the glass.>) The Star and the Imagemaker (M3) Challenge: The image of a star is formed by a spherical mirror that lies on a horizontal surface. The star is directly above the mirror. The image is formed a distance b from the mirror. The mirror is then filled with a transparent liquid with the index of refraction n. Find the new location of the image. Assume that the diameter of the mirror is much less than its radius of curvature, Solution: The star is very distant, so the light rays will be coming almost straight down on the mirror. This means that when the mirror is filled with transparent liquid, the rays will not refract. They will strike the mirror just as they do when there is no liquid and will only refract as they are leaving the liquid back up into the alr. a without liquid 1 | i 1 1 1 1 1 ' I 1 1 1 1 ' Since we are assuming chat the diameter of the mirror is much less than its radius of curvature, tan 9 = sin 6. Without the liquid, x sind = tang =—, s b where x is the distance from the center. (I am also assuming that the distances @ and 6 are much greater than the depth of the liquid in the mirror, since the radius of curvature is so large.) With the liquid, the light rays refract at angle o and come together to form an image closer to the mirror than 6. asin@ = Itana, so ntanG = tang ues b a= alma ls ; . & ; The new image is > away from the mirror.>» Hocus Focus (M4) Challenge: A thin glass lens is formed by two convex sur faces that have equal radii of curvature. When the lens is in the air, the distance between its foci is 27,. When the same lens is immersed in water, that distance changes to 2f5. What is the distance d between the foci of the lens when the lens is placed on the boundary between the water and the air? The index of refraction of air is 1.00; that of water is 1.33: Solution: In the following analysis, I will adopt the sign convention that the radius of curvature of a spherical surface of a material of index x ina medium of index Trroundings 18 Positive (negative) if the surface is convex (concave) as viewed from the surroundings. In that case, the formula relating the object distance d, and image distance ¢, is mh nh i nah d, d; R, if the object is located in the surrounding (1) medium of index aroundings image is viewed from inside the surface of radius R,. On the other hand, suppose the object is in- stead located inside the material at a distance d’, =n, and the away from a spherical surface of radius R, and the image is viewed in the surrounding medium of index n, at distance d;. Then the relation analogous to Eq. (1) is nh |My _N—Ny eo , ds, dj Ry [Equation (2) is obtained from (1) by inter- changing the object and image distances and (2) adding primes to them, and replacing subscript #1 by “271 Now we can construct a lens by choosing the image from the first surface to be the object for the second surface. If the distance between the first and second surfaces of the lens is £, it fol- lows that dt d= L. (3) For a thin lens we must have L = 0 & di) = -d,. Substituting this result into Eq. (2) and then adding ic to Eq. (1) gives Ml My A-N A-N += + : d, dR Ry S This is a generalization of the lensmaker equa- tion where d, is the distance to the thin lens (made of glass of index ) from an object in a medium of index »,, and d; is the distance from the lens to the image viewed in a medium of index 72. For the lens with air on both sides, so that nt, = n= 1, Eq. (4) implies that 1 2 i = (5) since the two convex surfaces each have radius R. On the other hand, when the lens is fully immersed underwater, Eq. (4) becomes eae oD —=(n—1,.33)—. 6 po OR ) Simultaneously solving Eqs. (5) and (6) for 2 and R gives _ 0.66ffo - fp-133f, 0) and nah A) fy -1.334, Now suppose that we have air on one side and water on the other side of the lens. Start with the case where we have an object at infinity (d, = ©) on the air side (7, = 1). Then the image on the water side (11, = 1.33) is located at the focal point, 2 =f. er Say, such that 1.33 — fol n= 1.33 3 >? «OR (8) el erater from Eq. (4). On the other hand, if we have an object at infinity on the water side, then the image on the air side is located at d' = f;,, say, where now 17133) a1 ==. (9) R R Jair (Note that the two focal points are no longer located symmetrically on either side of the lens, as they are when a lens is immersed in a single medium. Instead, the focal point on the water side is located 33% farther away from the lens than the focal point on the air side.) Substituting Eg. (7) into (8) and (9) and rear- ranging leads to 4.66f; f- d = fvater + Soir es oi.>) Back to Square One Challenge: A rigid cube ABCDEFGH is in motion, Ata certain moment, face ABCD is vertical, and the velocities of vertices A and D are directed vertically downward and equal to v. At the same moment, the speed of point H equals 2v. What point of the cube has the maximum speed at that moment? What is that speed? Solution: Since points A and D have the same velocity and the cube is rigid, any two points in the cube that form a line parallel to AD must also have the same velocity. Thus, it suffices to consider only the face CDHG. G G D H Consider a reference frame in which point D is at rest. Then, the square can only pivot about D, either clockwise or counterclockwise. Relative to D, the velocity of H is directed either up or down. Since the actual velocity of H is 2u, the velocity of H relative to D is either 3v [up] or v [down]. We will consider the two cases separately. Case 1: H has velocity 3v [up] relative to D. Let i and j denote the horizontal and verti- cal unit vectors, respectively. Let s denote the side length of the square (then, for example, Hf = si). The velocity at H relative to D is 3xj, and since the square pivots around D, the velocity at point xi + yj is —3V @)i +3v(4)j. and the actual velocity of the point is —3v (= )i+3v@)j-vi The magnitude of this velocity is {C3v-2) +(v-2—v) =o) +(Q-2-1) Since X,V € [0.s |, the above reaches a maxi- mum when x = y= 5, i.e. at point G. The speed there is V13y. Case 2: H has uv [down] relative to D. The velocity of point xi + yj is vp Gi = (2)i. and the actual velocity is v (i —v «)j — yj. The magnitude of this velocity is [ory ees Since x,y € [0,], the above reaches a maxi- mum again when x = y =, ie. at point G. The speed there is J5y. The points with the highest speed are the points along the edge FG.>) The Slide Rule Two identical uniform cylinders of radius R each are placed on top of each other next to a wall as shown. After a disturbance, the bottom cylinder slightly moves to the right and the system comes into motion. Find the maximum subsequent speed of the bottom cylinder. Neglect friction between all surfaces. Solution: Consider a moment when the center of top the cylinder has moved down a distance x and the center of the bottom cylinder has moved to the right a distance x. At this moment, the cylinders are moving with speeds vy and vp, respectively. From Fig. 1, xp = 2R(1 — cos @). Also, energy conservation gives mv” a wy?)/2 = mgxy = 2mgR(1 — cos 6). 2R 2R -Xy XB Fig. 1. Also from Fig. 1, xp? + (2R—xy)* = (2R)*. The derivative with respect to time gives xpup — QR- xp)vz So vp = Upxp/(2R— xy) = vp tan 8. Eliminating »p from the energy conservation equation gives wp? = 4gR(1 — cos #/(1 + tan2é). Setting the derivative with respect to @ equal to Zero gives cos f= 2/3 for the angle @,, at which vg is maximum. At this point, the speed of the bottom cylinder is Uy = {(16gR/27). Mathematically, it appears that the speed decreases after @,,,. However, for this to happen, the acceleration and, therefore, the horizontal force must be directed to the left (negative) for angles greater than #,,. But the contact force on the bottom cylinder by the top cylinder cannot be directed to the left. Therefore, the bottom cylinder loses contact with the top one and moves off at the maximum speed of (16 gR/27).} The Springs in the Winter Challenge: A uniform rod of mass mis suspended on two springs as shown. The force constants of the springs are k and 3k. During the vertical oscillations of the system, the rod remains horizontal. Find the period of these oscil- lations, The strings and the pulley are ideal, 3k k mM Solution: Since the springs, strings, and pulley are ideal, the tension throughout is constant. ‘Therefore, each spring must support half the weight (or mass) of the rod. With this in mind, we can redraw the picture linearly by removing the pulley (which only changes the direction of motion) as follows: 3k * me a I Note: We can neglect the gravitational force in this problem by measuring all spring displacements from the equilibrium position established when the rod is hanging from the springs. Because the tod remains horizontal during the oscillations and the springs have different stiffness, the string that wraps around the pulley oscillates back and forth. We can remove this oscillation by replacing the system with one that has the necessary symmetry. First, let us replace the two “series” springs by one using the equa- tion used for combining springs in series, i.e., i 44 —=—+—+... kp kh With 2, = 34 and &) = &, the new spring will have a spring constant of 34/4 as shown: 3k/4 m2 sti |] <> Now, let us take this new spring and splic it into two equal springs by again using the equa- <—> tion above. This leads to: 3k/2 Cc Now that we have a symmetric system, the centet (C) will remain stationary and each end will oscillate back and forth independent of the other (but with the same period as if the center Cwas a rigid wall.) The well-known period for a mass oscillating on a spring is iT a VK so with our new values of M/ = m/2 and K = 3/2, the period of the rod becomes m f=27,|—. 3k