Assignment 2 2020-21

Physics-I: PH1001
January 6, 2021

1. Show that the number density of standing em waves in the frequency interval ν and
ν + dν inside a black-body is G(ν)dν = 8πν 2 dν/c3 . Express this formula in terms of
wavelength and plot it as energy density vs. wavelength for temperatures T1 = 800K
and T2 = 1000K. How does the plot look different from that of energy density vs.
frequency.

2. Suppose you are performing the photoelectric effect experiment using sodium as the
target metal. You find that with a 300 nm light with light intensity, you have about
1000 electrons being ejected per second. You are making observations of both the
number of electrons being ejected per second and the kinetic energy of these ejected
electrons.

(a) What do you observe if you decrease the intensity lower and lower as compared
to the original setup?
(b) What do you observe if you change the light radiation over a broad range(from
far IR to far UV)?
(c) What can you say about the nature of light from your observation?

3. The maximum wavelength for photoelectric emission in tungsten is 230 nm. What
wavelength of light must be used in order for electrons with a maximum energy of 1.5
eV to be ejected?

4. The stopping potential for photoelectrons emitted from a surface illuminated by light
of wavelength λ = 4910 A◦ is 0.71 V. When the incident wavelength is changed the
stopping potential is found to be 1.43 V. What is the new wavelength.

5. Electrons are accelerated in the television tubes through potential difference of about
10 kV. Find the highest frequency of the em waves emitted when these electrons strike
the screen of the tube. What kind of waves are these?

6. The smallest angle of Bragg scattering in Potassium chloride is 28.4◦ for 0.30 nm
X-rays. Find the distance between atomic planes in Potassium chloride.

7. A photon whose energy equals the rest energy of the electron undergoes a Compton
collision with an electron. If the electron moves off an angle of 40◦ with the original
photon direction, what is the energy of the scattered photon?

8. A positron with a kinetic energy of 2.0 MeV collides with an electron at rest and
the two particles are annihilated. Two photons are produced, one moves in the same
direction as the incoming positron and the other moves in the opposite direction. Find
the energies of the photons.

9. (a) Verify that the minimum energy a photon must have to create an electron-
positron pair in the presence of a stationary nucleus of mass M is 2mc2 (1+m/M ),
where m is the electron rest mass.
(b) Find the minimum energy needed for pair production in the presence of proton.

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Assignment 2 2020-21

10. Derive the relation  

θ hν
cot = 1+ tan φ
2 mc2
between the direction of motion of the scattered photon and the recoil electron in the
Compton effect.

11. Derive the following relation between the kinetic energy K of the recoil electron and
the energy E of the incident photon in the Compton effect
2hν
sin2 2θ


K mc2
= 2hν 2θ


E 1 + mc 2 sin 2

12. Show that a free electron can not absorb a photon and conserve both energy and
momentum in the process.

13. What is the frequency, wavelength and momentum of a photon whose energy equals
the rest mass energy of an electron.

14. Through what angle must a 0.20 MeV photon be scattered by a free electron so that
it looses 10% of its energy.
Assignment 3 2020-21

Physics-I: PH1001
January 22, 2021

1. Find the de Broglie wavelength of a 1.0 MeV proton. Is a relativistic calculation

needed?

2. Show that the de Broglie wavelength of a particle of mass m and kinetic energy KE
is given by
hc
λ= p .
KE(KE + 2mc2 )

3. To observe small objects, one measures the diffraction of particles whose de Broglie
wavelength is approximately equal to the object’s size.

(a) Determine the kinetic energy (in electron volts) required for electrons to resolve
a large organic molecule of size 10 nm, an atomic features of size 100 pm and a
nucleus of size 10 fm.
(b) Repeat these calculations using alpha particles in place of electrons.

4. (a) Derive a relativistically correct formula that gives the de Broglie wavelength of
a charged particle in terms of the potential difference V through which it has been
accelerated. (b) What is the non-relativistic approximation of this formula, valid for
eV  mc2 ?

5. An electron and a proton have the same kinetic energy. Compare the wavelengths
and the phase and group velocities of their de Broglie waves.
p
6. The phase velocity of ripples an a liquid surface is 2πS/λρ. Where S is the surface
tension and ρ the density of the liquid. Find the group velocity of the ripples.

7. The dispersion relation for a free relativistic electron wave is

p
ω(k) = c k 2 + m2 c2 /~2

Obtain expressions for the phase speed vp and group speed vg for this wave and show
that their product is constant, independent of k.

8. (a) Show that the phase velocity of the de Broglie waves of a particle of mass m and
de Broglie wavelength λ is given by
s
mcλ 2
 
vp = c 1 +
h

(b) Compare the phase and group velocities of an electron whose de Broglie wave-
length is exactly 1013 m.

9. A beam of neutrons that emerges from a nuclear reactor contains neutrons with a
variety of energies. To obtain neutrons with an energy of 0.050 eV, the beam is
passed through a crystal whose atomic planes are 0.20 nm apart. At what angles
relative to the original beam will the desired neutrons be diffracted?

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Assignment 3 2020-21

10. The lowest energy possible for a certain particle trapped in a certain box is 1.00 eV.
(a) What are the next two higher energies the particle can have? (b) If the particle is
an electron, how wide is the box?

11. (a) How much time is needed to measure the kinetic energy of an electron whose
speed is 10.0 m/s with an uncertainty of no more than 0.10 percent? How far
will the electron have traveled in this period of time?
(b) Make the same calculations for a 1.0 gram insect whose speed is the same. What
do these sets of figures indicate?

12. (a) Find the magnitude of the momentum of a particle in a box in its nth state.
(b) The minimum change in the particle’s momentum that a measurement can cause
corresponds to a change of ±1 in the quantum number n. If ∆x = L, show that
∆x∆p ≥ ~/2.

13. We wish to measure simultaneously the wavelength and position of a photon. Assume
the wavelength measurement gives λ = 500 nm to an accuracy to one part in a
million, that is, ∆λ/λ = 10−6 . Determine the minimum uncertainty in the position
of the photon.