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General Certificate of Education

January 2002
Advanced Level Examination

PHYSICS (SPECIFICATION A) PHA7/W

Unit 7 Nuclear Instability: Applied Physics Option

Monday 28 January 2002 Morning Session

In addition to this paper you will require: For Examiner’s Use

Ÿ a calculator; Number Mark Number Mark

Ÿ a pencil and a ruler. 1

3
Time allowed: 1 hour 15 minutes
4

5
Instructions
l Use blue or black ink or ball-point pen.
l Fill in the boxes at the top of this page.
l Answer all questions in the spaces provided. All working must be shown.
l Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want
marked.

Information
l The maximum mark for this paper is 40.
l Mark allocations are shown in brackets.
Total
l The paper carries 10% of the total marks for Physics Advanced. (Column 1)
l A Data Sheet is provided on pages 3 and 4. You may wish to detach this Total
perforated sheet at the start of the examination. (Column 2)

l You are expected to use a calculator where appropriate. TOTAL

l In questions requiring description and explanation you will be assessed on Examiner’s Initials
your ability to use an appropriate form and style of writing, to organise
relevant information clearly and coherently, and to use specialist vocabulary
where appropriate. The degree of legibility of your handwriting and the level
of accuracy of your spelling, punctuation and grammar will also be taken into
account.

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Data Sheet

l A perforated Data Sheet is provided as pages 3 and 4 of this question

paper.

l This sheet may be useful for answering some of the questions in the
examination.

l You may wish to detach this sheet before you begin work.

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DATA SHEET

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DATA SHEET

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TURN OVER FOR THE FIRST QUESTION

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SECTION A NUCLEAR INSTABILITY

Answer all parts of the question.

1 (a) The nuclide 203

83
Bi can decay by electron capture to become an isotope of lead as shown in the
following equation,
203
203
83 Bi + 0
–1 e– 82 Pb + ne + Q.

(i) Explain what is meant by electron capture.

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(ii) Give one reason why electromagnetic radiation is emitted following this process.

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(iii) Give the equation for another process in which 203

83
Bi is converted into an isotope of lead.

203
83
Bi
(5 marks)

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(b) 83 Bi is also an a particle emitter. An initial measurement of the a particle activity

The nuclide 203
of a sample of this isotope gives a corrected count rate of 1200 counts s–1. After an interval of
24 hours the corrected rate falls to 290 counts s–1.
Assume that corrections have been made for the radiation both from daughter products and
background radiation.

(i) Show that the decay constant of 203

83 Bi is about 1.6 ´ 10–5 s–1.

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(ii) Calculate the half-life of this sample.

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203
(iii) Calculate the number of 83 Bi nuclei in the sample when the corrected count rate was
1200 counts s–1.

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(5 marks)

10

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SECTION B APPLIED PHYSICS

Answer all questions.

2 (a) The first law of thermodynamics can be written DQ = DU + DW.

State the usual meaning of each term in the equation.

DQ .................................................................................................................................................

DU .................................................................................................................................................

DW ................................................................................................................................................
(3 marks)

(b) A fixed mass of gas in a cylinder is heated in two stages:

stage 1 at constant volume, when 10.0 kJ of heat is supplied,

stage 2 when it expands isothermally and does 6.0 kJ of work.

Apply the first law of thermodynamics to each of these processes and complete the table to show,
for each process, the values of DQ, DU and DW.

DQ DU DW

stage 1
constant volume +10 .0kJ

stage 2
isothermal +6.0 kJ

(4 marks)

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3 A flywheel battery can be used in place of lead-acid batteries to provide a short-term electrical power
supply when mains power fails. Energy is stored as rotational kinetic energy in a rapidly spinning rotor,
which is driven up to speed by a mains-powered motor. To recover the energy, the motor is operated
in reverse as a generator driven by the spinning rotor.

(a) The rotor of a flywheel battery is a thin-walled circular cylinder of mass 160 kg and mean radius
0.34 m, which can be rotated at a maximum safe angular speed of 44 000 rev min–1.

Calculate

(i) the moment of inertia of the rotor about its own axis,

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(ii) the rotational kinetic energy stored in the rotating rotor when it spins at 44 000 rev min–1.

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(3 marks)

(b) The manufacturer claims that the power loss due to friction when the rotor is running at its
maximum safe angular speed is 2.0 W and that the mean power loss over the range of speeds
from rest up to the maximum safe angular speed is 0.60 W.

Use the manufacturer’s data to calculate

(i) the frictional torque acting on the rotor when spinning at its maximum safe angular speed,

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(ii) the time it takes to come to rest from this angular speed under the action of the frictional
torque alone.

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(2 marks)

(c) When it is required to supply electrical power during a mains failure, the flywheel battery can
supply a constant load of 2.5 kW for 17 hours. Calculate the rotor’s angular speed at the end of
this period if it starts at 44 000 rev min–1.

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(3 marks)

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4 A small steam engine used for demonstrating energy transfers is fitted with sensors for monitoring the
pressure and volume of the steam in its cylinder. The indicator diagram shows one cycle of pressure
and volume changes taken when the engine was used to lift a load at a steady rate.

300

pressure/kPa

200

100

0
0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0

volume/10–6m3

(a) Using information from the indicator diagram, together with the measured speed of the engine,
the indicated power of the engine during the lifting operation was estimated to be 5.0 W.
Show that this corresponds to an engine speed of about 450 cycles min–1.

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(5 marks)

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(b) During the lifting operation, a load of 42 N was lifted through a height of 1.2 m in a time of 12 s.

(i) Estimate the mechanical efficiency of the engine.

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(ii) Explain why the mechanical efficiency is not equal to 1.

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(4 marks)

TURN OVER FOR THE NEXT QUESTION

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5 A potter in an African village makes large clay pots on a stone wheel. The wheel rotates freely on a
central bearing and is driven by the potter, who applies a tangential force repeatedly to its rim using his
foot until the wheel reaches its normal working angular speed. He then stops driving and throws a lump
of clay onto the centre of the wheel.

(a) The normal working angular speed of the wheel is 5.0 rad s–1. The moments of inertia of the
wheel and the clay about the axis of rotation are 1.6 kg m2 and 0.25 kg m2, respectively. When
the clay is added, the angular speed of the wheel changes suddenly. The net angular impulse is
zero.

Calculate the angular speed of the wheel immediately after the clay has been added.

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(2 marks)

(b) The potter now applies a tangential force to the rim of the wheel during one quarter of its
revolution so that the angular speed returns to 5.0 rad s–1. The wheel has a diameter of 0.62 m.

Calculate

(i) the angular acceleration of the wheel,

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(ii) the average tangential force which must be applied by the potter.

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(4 marks)

END OF QUESTIONS

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