1

Tutorial Solutions _ August 2023

1. When Voyager I and Voyager II spacecraft were exploring the outer planets, NASA flight
controllers had to plan the craft’s moves well in advance. How many seconds elapse between the
time a command is sent from Earth and the command is received by Voyager at Neptune? Assume
the distance from Earth to Neptune is 4.5 x 1012 m.
Solution:
𝑑𝑑 4.5 × 1012 𝑚𝑚
𝛥𝛥𝛥𝛥 = = = 1.5 × 104 s
𝑐𝑐 3.00 × 108 m/s

2. Vertically polarized light with an intensity of 0.55 W/m2 passes through a polarizer whose
transmission axis is at an angle of 65.0o with vertical. What is the intensity of the transmitted light?

Solution:
Calculate the intensity using Malus’s Law
I = I 0 cos 2 θ
( 0.55
= W/m ) cos 65.0°
2 2
0.098 W/m 2

3. A person riding in a boat observe that the sunlight reflected by the water is polarized parallel to
the surface of the water. The person is wearing polarized sunglasses with the polarization axis
vertical. If the wearer leans at an angle of 21.5o to the vertical, what fraction of the reflected light
intensity will pass through the sunglasses?

Solution:
When the polarization axis of the sunglasses is oriented at α = 21.5º from the vertical, the angle
between the polarization axis and the light is θ = 90º − 21.5º = 68.5°.
𝐼𝐼
⇒ = 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 2 (68.5°) = 0.134
𝐼𝐼0
 2

4. A distant star is traveling directly away from Erath with a speed of 37 000 km/s. By what factor
are the wavelengths in this star’s spectrum changed?

Solution:
𝑢𝑢 𝑐𝑐 𝑐𝑐 𝑢𝑢
𝑓𝑓 ʹ = 𝑓𝑓 �1 − � ⇒ ʹ = �1 − �
𝑐𝑐 𝜆𝜆 𝜆𝜆 𝑐𝑐

𝜆𝜆ʹ 1 1
= = = 1.14
𝜆𝜆 1 − 𝑢𝑢 (3.75 × 107 m/s)
𝑐𝑐 1 − (3.00 × 108 m/s)

5. In a dentist’s office an X-ray of a tooth is taken using X-rays that have a frequency of 6.30 x 1018
Hz. What is the wavelength in vacuum of these X-rays?
Solution:
The wavelength λ (in vacuum) is the speed of light c in a vacuum divided by the frequency f of
the X-rays:
𝑐𝑐
𝜆𝜆 = 𝑓𝑓

𝑐𝑐 3.00 × 108 m/𝑠𝑠

𝜆𝜆 = 𝑓𝑓 = 6.30 × 1018 Hz
= 4.76 × 10−11 m

6. An AM radio station broadcasts an electromagnetic wave with frequency of 665 kHz, whereas an
FM radio station broadcasts an electromagnetic wave with a frequency of 93.1 MHz. How many
photons are needed to have a total energy equal to that of one FM photons?

Solution:
All electromagnetic waves are comprised of photons. The energy E of a photon is 𝐸𝐸 = ℎ𝑓𝑓, where ℎ =
6.63 × 10−34 J ⋅ 𝑠𝑠 is Planck’s constant and f is the frequency of the wave. Since the AM wave has the
smaller (lower) frequency, the energy EAM of the AM photon is smaller than the energy EFM of the FM

photon.
(𝑁𝑁AM )𝐸𝐸AM = (1)𝐸𝐸FM or (𝑁𝑁AM )ℎ𝑓𝑓AM = ℎ𝑓𝑓FM
Solving the above Equation for NAM, we find that

ℎ𝑓𝑓FM 93.1 × 106 Hz

𝑁𝑁AM = = = 1.40 × 102
ℎ𝑓𝑓AM 665 × 103 Hz

7. Imagine that a motorist is traveling so fast that yellow light (585 nm wavelength) from a traffic
signal appears green (555 nm wavelength). Find the velocity of the motorist, assuming the positive
direction is defined as moving closer to the light.
 3

Solution:

The Doppler effect for electromagnetic radiation is given by

𝑣𝑣rel
𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑜 = 𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑠 �1 ± � if 𝑣𝑣rel << 𝑐𝑐
𝑐𝑐
where 𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑜 is the observed frequency, 𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑠 is the frequency emitted by the source, and vrel is the
speed of the source relative to the observer. The wavelength of these waves is λ = c/f. Therefore,
the Doppler shift can be written in terms of wavelengths:
1 1 𝑣𝑣rel
= �1 ± � if 𝑣𝑣rel << 𝑐𝑐
𝜆𝜆𝑜𝑜 𝜆𝜆𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑐
Which can be solved for the relative velocity
𝜆𝜆𝑠𝑠
𝑣𝑣rel = 𝑐𝑐 �1 ∓ � if 𝑣𝑣rel << 𝑐𝑐
𝜆𝜆𝑜𝑜
We can find the speed of the motorist relative to the light by solving the wavelength version for
vrel:
𝜆𝜆 585 nm
𝑣𝑣rel = 𝑐𝑐 �1 − 𝜆𝜆 𝑠𝑠 � = (3.0 × 108 m/s) �1 − 555 nm� = −1.64 × 107 m/s
𝑜𝑜

Since the hypothetical motorist is moving toward the light (which we have defined as the positive
direction, their velocity would be 1.64 × 107 m/s.

8. The drawing shows three polarizer/analyzer pairs. The incident light beam for each pair is
unpolarized and has the same average intensity of 48 W/m2. Find the average intensity of the
transmitted beam for each of three cases (A, B, and C) shown in the drawing.
 4

Solution:

Drawing A: The transmission axes of the polarizer and analyzer are parallel to each other, so
all the light transmitted by the polarizer is completely transmitted by the analyzer.
Drawing B: The transmission axes of the polarizer and analyzer are perpendicular to each
other, so no light is transmitted through the analyzer.
Drawing C: The transmission axes of the polarizer and analyzer make an angle of 30.0° with
respect to each other. Thus, some of the light transmitted by the polarizer, but not all, is
transmitted through the analyzer.
Since the incident light is unpolarized, the average intensity 𝑆𝑆̄1 of the light transmitted by the
1
polarizer is one-half the average intensity 𝑆𝑆̄0 of the incident light, or 𝑆𝑆̄1 = 2 𝑆𝑆̄0 =
1
(48 W/m2 ) = 24 W/m2 . The average intensity 𝑆𝑆̄2 of the light transmitted by the analyzer
2
is given by Malus’ law, Equation 24.7, as 𝑆𝑆̄2 = 𝑆𝑆̄1 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 2 𝜃𝜃, where θ is the angle between the
direction of polarization and the transmission axis. The average intensity of the transmitted
beams for each of the three cases is
A 𝑆𝑆̄2 = 𝑆𝑆̄1 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 2 𝜃𝜃 = (24 W/m2 ) 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 2 0° = 24 W/m2
B 𝑆𝑆̄2 = 𝑆𝑆̄1 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 2 𝜃𝜃 = (24 W/m2 ) 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 2 90° = 0 W/m2
C 𝑆𝑆̄2 = 𝑆𝑆̄1 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 2 𝜃𝜃 = (24 W/m2 ) 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 2 (60.0° − 30.0°) = 18 W/m2

9. (a) Which color of light has the higher frequency, red or violet? (b) Calculate the frequency of
blue light with a wavelength of 470 nm, and red light with a wavelength of 680 nm.

Solution:
The frequencies of blue light with a wavelength of 470 nm, and red light with a wavelength of 680
nm can be calculated by:
𝑐𝑐
𝜆𝜆 = 𝑓𝑓
(a) Frequency varies inversely with wavelength, so that a shorter wavelength corresponds to a
higher frequency. Since the wavelength of violet light is shorter than that for red light, violet
light has the higher frequency.

𝑐𝑐 3.00×108 m/s
(b) Calculate the frequency of blue light: 𝑓𝑓blue = 𝜆𝜆 = 470×10−9 𝑚𝑚
= 6.4 × 1014 Hz
blue

𝑐𝑐 3.00×108 m/s
Calculate the frequency of red light: 𝑓𝑓red = 𝜆𝜆 = 680×10−9 𝑚𝑚
= 4.4 × 1014 Hz
red
10. ULF (ultra-low frequency) electromagnetic waves, produced in the depth of outer space, have
been observed with wavelengths in excess of 29 million kilometers. What is the period of such a
wave?
 5

Solution:
Ultra-low frequency electromagnetic waves have a wavelength of 29 million kilometers = 29 x
109 m. The period can be calculated by taking the inverse of the frequency (T = 1/f), where the
𝑐𝑐
frequency is given by f = 𝜆𝜆
1 𝜆𝜆 29 × 109 𝑚𝑚
𝑇𝑇 = = = = 97 s
𝑓𝑓 𝑐𝑐 3.00 × 108 m/s