SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

PH1012 Physics A AY2022/23 Sem 1

EXAMINERS’ REPORT
There were 1188 students who sat for the exam. The highest score was 100 out of 100 for the exam!
There were 11 students who scored 90 and above. There were 173 (including 3 part time) students
who scored 70 and above. This year, there are fewer students getting low grades (C and below) than
the past years. This year’s exam average score was slightly higher compared to past exam average
scores so no adjustments was needed.

The comments are contributed by the respective markers. The markers have been instructed to look
out for “signs of intelligence” relevant to solving questions in cases where the students did not
complete the questions. [In the report, “wrong” etc have been underlined so that it is not mistaken
as the correct approach.]

Question 1
(a) (i) This part which involves just a simple substitution of 𝑡 into 𝑟 is straight forward and 90%
of all students got full credit. Most of the errors made are careless numerical mistakes.

(ii) This part is also very well done with more than 80% of the students getting full credit.
Most of the errors made are careless numerical mistakes. A handful of students did not
𝑑
recognize that 𝑣⃗ = 𝑟⃗ they just wrongly substituted 𝑡 = 15𝑠 into 𝑟⃗.
𝑑𝑡

(iii) Only about 43% of students got full credit for this part. A common mistake is due to
students not knowing that 𝑦(𝑡) = 0 as the target is at the same vertical height as the
Howitzer. About 20% of the students read off the graph and obtained a less accurate
answer but near to full credit was still awarded to them. The correct and accurate way
to obtain the duration of flight 𝑡 is to solve 𝑦(𝑡) = 0 = -0.1𝑡 3 − 4.9𝑡 2 + 530𝑡 and
substitute 𝑡 into 𝑥(𝑡). About one-third of the students did not get any credit for this part.

(iv) Only about 32% of students got full credit for this part. A common mistake is that
students wrongly set 𝑎⃗ = 0 instead of 𝑣⃗𝑦 = 0 to solve for time 𝑡 at the maximum height.
The vertical velocity, not acceleration, is zero at maximum height. The duration to escape
Δ𝑡 can be taken by subtracting from the answer in (iii). About 45% of the students did
not get any credit for this part.

(v) Only about 25% of students got full credit for this part and the answer is dependent if
the students were able to solve part (iii). The angle can be obtained by considering
𝑣
tan 𝜃 = 𝑣𝑦 using the time solved in part (iii).
𝑥

(b) (i) An overwhelming number of students wrongly used displacement/time to find the recoil
speed. This is a serious mistake. It cannot be computed this way because acceleration of
the round is not zero. The more correct approach is use conservation of linear
momentum , 0 = 𝑀𝐻 𝑣𝐻 + 𝑚𝑟 𝑣𝑟 . Only about 18% of the students got full credit for this
part.
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(ii) Only about 15% of the students got full credit for this part. Common mistakes include:
• Using 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎 to calculate the average force with m being the mass of the round
• Using incorrect values of velocities to calculate a and substitute into 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
To compute the average force, we can use the Impulse-momentum relation,
𝐹𝛥𝑡 = 𝑀𝐻 (0 − 𝑣𝐻 )

(iii) Only about 5% of the students got full credit for this part. Students wrongly applied the
conservation of energy to solve this. This is not workable since we do not know the types
of energies. To work round this, since we know the average force from (ii), we can use
consider work done on the Howitzer 𝑊 = 𝐹𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝑥 as all the work done is absorbed in the
recoil as energy.
Question 2

(a) (i) Although this question involves thermal expansion, all the parts can be solved by simply
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠
using 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 and recognizing that the mass remains constant as water
expands / contracts. The volume at different temperatures can be calculated using the
table with the densities at the corresponding temperatures. About 45% of the students
gotten full credit for this part. Common mistakes include using formulas for thermal
expansion but not being able to proceed after that. Some wrongly used strange
approaches comparing ratios of heights with ratios temperature, ratios of pressure with
ratios temperature. A handful also wrongly used the ideal gas equation – not recognizing
that it only works for gases, not liquids.

(ii) This part is more straight forward and just involves 𝑄 = 𝑚𝑐Δ𝑇. About 63% of the student
gotten full credit and another 12% made some minor calculation errors. Some students
did the unnecessary step of converting the temperature to Kelvins. While it will still lead
to the correct answer as the temperature change is the same whether it is Kelvin or
Celsius.

(iii) This part uses the same concept as part (i) but for three sections of water at different
temperatures (all above 4oC) and it posed a challenge to many students. Only about 18%
of the students got full credit for this part. What is required is only to compute the height
change for each section and add them up together. A handful of students made the
careless mistake of using 4000 m (from the table) instead of 3688 m to compute the
height of the deepest section. Also a handful wrongly concluded that the sea (all above
4oC) level will drop with an increase of 1oC.

(iv) This part is intended to be challenging and demanding on imaginative use of information.
Only 14 students got full credit for this part. The cross-sectional area A of the ice is not
needed to calculate the energy absorbed but it can be introduced to help with the
thought process. It will cancel out if we consider the fraction of the Sun’s power incident
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𝐴
on the ice, where 𝑟 is the Sun-Earth distance in 𝑚. Some students made a mistake
4𝜋𝑟 2
in unit conversion of million kilometres to metres and some forgot the surface area of a
sphere. Also a handful converted 30 min to seconds wrongly.

Question 3
The performance for this question is very disappointing. It is lifted direct from the lecture
(a)
notes, been tested once in mid-term 2 and yet only about 20% of the student gotten full
credit for this part. Most students do not seem to understand Gauss’s law. Several
𝑄 𝑄
students wrongly wrote 𝐸 = 𝑘 2 without invoking the law. Others wrote Φ𝐸 =
𝑟 𝜀0
without realising that the electric flux Φ𝐸 = ∮ 𝐸⃗⃗ ∙ 𝑑𝐴⃗. A number of students wrongly
used area as 𝜋𝑅 2 (2𝑙) instead of 2𝜋𝑅(2𝑙).

(b) The performance for this part is slightly better and about 24% of the student gotten full
credit. Many students did not realise that they just have to take ratio of the electric
𝐸 𝐿 1
forces/fields to obtain tan(400 ) = 𝑦 . Some students wrongly wrote tan(400 ) = =
𝐸𝑥 2𝐿 2
which missed the point. The vector given in the diagram represents electric field. Others
try to find the resultant vector using Pythagoras theorem and then resolved it again.

(c) (i) About 75% of the students managed to identify the signs of the charges correctly.
Common mistake includes writing the sign together with the potential while the question
asks for the sign of the charges only.

(ii) This is generally quite well done also with about 55% of the students correctly identifying
B as the region with the electric field with the largest magnitude. Common wrong answer
includes D and E where the equipotential lines are far apart instead of close together.

(iii)
This part was reasonably well done with about 64% of the student gotten full credit.
Common mistake includes drawing the field line tangential to the equipotential line
instead of perpendicular to it.

(iv)
About 37% of the students got full credit for this part, solving using conservation of
energy. A common mistake for this part is using Newton’s law 𝑞𝐸 = 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎 together
with kinematics equations to find the speed instead of using conservation of energy. The
students did not realise that the acceleration is not constant here. Other mistakes include
𝑄
computing 𝑉 = 𝑘 𝑟 and mistook the potential 𝑉 to be the speed 𝑣.

(d) (i) Majority of the students are aware that magnetic flux is Φ𝐵 = ∫ 𝐵⃗⃗ ∙ 𝑑𝐴⃗ and the induced
𝑑Φ𝐵
emf is 𝜀 = − 𝑑𝑡 . The problem lies in computing the numerical values. Common mistake
includes using 𝜀 = 𝐵𝑙𝑣 and mistook the time interval to be 𝑇 instead of 𝑇/4. Only about
17% got full credit for this part.

(ii)
This part requires student to imagine the how the magnetic flux through the semi-circular
frame changes with time. In fact, the rate of change of magnet flux through the frame is
constant as it is turning at a constant angular velocity. Thus, half the cycle the magnetic
flux is increasing constantly and the other half, it is reducing constantly. Therefore, the
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correct answer is constant emf alternating between positive and negative. The most
common incorrect graph is a sinusoidal graph. Other wrong graphs include, saw tooth,
triangular, irregular and non-alternating rectangular graph. Students are given partial
credit if their answer indicate some of the features of the correct answer. Only 11
students got full credit for this part, making this the most discriminating question in the
exam.

Question 4
This question is on Newton’s laws of motion and rotational dynamics. The system in this
question contains three masses connected by strings passing over two pulleys. Students
generally did well for this question.

(i) In this part, students are asked to apply Newton’s second law to each object (including
the pulleys) and write down the corresponding equation. Majority of students were able
to apply Newton’s second law correctly. Below are some common mistakes:
(a) Introduced only two or three different tension variables in the system. Tensions
in the strings on two sides of each pulley are different. Four tension variables
should be used in this system.
(b) Wrong signs in the equations for pulleys. This mistake is due to inconsistent
choice of positive directions for the blocks and pulleys.
(c) Missed out frictional force for the first block.
(d) Included weight in the equation for the block in the middle.
(e) Applied 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎 to two pulleys. To solve the system, for the pulleys, Newton’s
second law for rotational motion needs to be used.
About 49% of the students got full credit for this part and about another 30% nearly got
full credit.

(ii) This part tests students’ ability to identify the unknows of the problem and then solve
for them. Below are some issues of students’ responses for this part.
(a) Some students got correct values for the asked quantities in their calculations,
but they reported wrong values in the final answer. For example, some students
reported tensions in the left and right sides of the middle block in the final
answer.
(b) Some students did not have a clear strategy to solve simultaneous equations.
Subjects of the equations were not made clear, so calculations become
unnecessarily complicated.
About 23% of the students got full credit for this part and about another 20% nearly got
full credit.

(iii) The final part of the question is designed to be discriminating with only 5% of the
students getting full credit. This part is in fact very simple to solve as the acceleration of
the block is provided so the net force on the block can be easily obtained using
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𝐹3 = 𝑚3 𝑎. From here, with the vertical displacement (0.15 m) provided, the work done
can be easily computed and that gives change in kinetic energy according to the work
energy theorem (change in KE is equal to work done by NET force).
A second method is to first use kinematic equations to find final velocity (assuming a
certain initial velocity), from which change of kinetic energy can be deduced.
Alternatively, conservation of energy can be applied to the entire system to solve this
part. Common mistakes:
(a) Majority students applied conservation of energy to the entire system. Within
this approach, most students missed out one or more energy terms (rotational
KE of pulleys and energy dissipation due to friction) in their equations.
(b) A common mistake is to equate gain in KE of the mass to decrease of its GPE. In
this method, the object under consideration is the mass alone. Since the mass is
attached to a string, which does work on the mass, gain in KE of the mass is not
equal to decrease of its GPE.

Question 5
(i) This is the easiest part of the whole exam with 91% of students getting full credit. This
just requires a simple application of the ideal gas equation. Unfortunately, there are
still 3% of the students who did not get any credit for this part. A few made the
5
mistake of using 𝑝3 𝑉3 = (2) 𝑛𝑅𝑇3 .

(ii) This part requires students to identify the two processes on the graph. 62% of the
students identified both parts correctly. Those who made a mistake usually has the
first part correct and the second part wrong.

(iii) This part requires students to compute the work done of the complete cycle and 41% of
the students gotten full credit. The common mistakes were:
• Using expression for work done in isothermal process instead of adiabatic
process
𝛾 𝛾
• Not calculating the pressure at point 4, 𝑝4 correctly (using the 𝑝4 𝑉4 = 𝑝3 𝑉3
the adiabatic equation joining the states 3 and 4.

(iv) Students did a better job at computing the heat input with 57% getting full credit. Some
common mistakes were:
• Using both (23) and (14) processes for heat input.
5 5
• Using 𝑄23 = 2 𝑛𝑅𝑇 instead of 𝑄23 = 2 𝑛𝑅Δ𝑇
7 5
• Using 𝑄23 = 2 𝑛𝑅Δ𝑇 instead of 𝑄23 = 2 𝑛𝑅Δ𝑇

(v) Only about 18% of the students got full credit for this part. A lot of them did not even
attempt or made random and meaningless attempts. Some common mistakes by those
who made serious attempts were:
• Getting the sign of work done wrong.
• Using wrong expression for heat input.
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• Not cancelling (5/2)𝑛𝑅 correctly from numerator and denominator – cancelled

for one term and left it for the other. This was very surprising, but many
students made this mistake.
Question 6

(a) Though there are two batteries in the circuit, they can be easily combined into one
battery. The problem can be analysed either by finding the equivalent resistance or using
Kirchhoff’s Laws. Due to the unconventional way that the circuit was drawn, some
students had difficulties in finding the equivalent resistance of the resistors connected in
series and parallel. For those who attempted to solve the question using Kirchhoff’s Laws,
a common mistake is to introduce too many unknown currents in each branch of the
circuit. There were also mistakes made whilst using the voltage / current divider rule.
Only about 30% of the students got full credit for part (i) and about 23% of the students
got full credit for this part (ii).

(b) This part is an application of RC circuits in a digital timer. The question is quite wordy,
and it is the last question in the exam. A significant number of students did not attempt
and 44% did not get any credit this part of the question.
Some students were not able to analyse the information given in the question, and
associate the time taken for each cycle in the high and low states with the equations
provided. A number also incorrectly attempted to solve the question by trying to find the
equivalent resistance / capacitance of the circuit and solve using charging / discharging
equations. A significant number of students were also unable to correctly identify the
prefix – pico as 10−12 or had careless mistakes in the exponent values in various parts of
the calculations.
Only about 15% of the students got full credit for this part.