A10287W1

FIRST PUBLIC EXAMINATION

Trinity Term

Preliminary Examination in Physics

Paper CP1: PHYSICS 1

also

Preliminary Examination in Physics and Philosophy

Monday 8th June 2015, 2.30 pm – 5 pm

Time allowed: 2 12 hours

Answer all of Section A and three questions from Section B.

The use of calculators is permitted.

A list of physical constants, mathematical formulae

and conversion factors accompanies this paper.

The numbers in the margin indicate the weight that the Moderators expect to
assign to each part of the question.

Do NOT turn over until told that you may do so.

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 Section A

1. You throw a ball with speed v0 at a vertical wall a distance l away. At what angle
to the horizontal must you throw the ball to hit the highest possible point on the wall?
What happens when l > v02 /g? [5]

2. A non-uniform stick of mass m, length l, and moment of inertia ml2 lies on a

frictionless horizontal surface. The midpoint of the stick, which is also the centre of
mass, touches a thin vertical pole. The stick is struck at one end, as shown below.
What is the minimum value of required for the trailing end of the stick not to hit the
pole as it moves away? [5]

3. You are riding on a sled of mass M , moving on flat, frictionless ice, with initial
speed v0 . Snow falls onto the sled at a constant mass per unit time, . Determine the
speed of the sled as a function of time when:
A : You continuously sweep the snow o↵ the sled so that it moves away in a direction
perpendicular to the motion of the sled as seen by you.
B : You continuously sweep the snow o↵ the sled so that it moves away in a direction
perpendicular to the motion of the sled as seen by an observer stationary on the
ice.
C : You do nothing, and let the snow build up on the sled. [7]

4. A projectile of constant mass is launched from the surface of the Earth. Ignoring
atmospheric drag, determine the minimum launch speed required for the projectile:
(i) to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System.
(ii) to crash into the Sun. [7]

5. A mass M travelling non-relativistically collides elastically with a stationary mass

m and deviates from its original path by an angle ✓. Determine an upper limit for ✓ in
the case where M > m. [5]

6. An object is moving in frame S 0 with velocity v1 . S 0 is moving with speed v2 ,

in the same direction as v1 , relative to an observer in frame S. State the Lorentz
transformations between S 0 and S and use them to derive an expression for the speed
of the object in S. [6]

7. A stationary mass MA decays into two masses, MB and MC . What are the
energies and momenta of MB and MC ? [5]

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 Section B

8. Consider a point mass moving in one dimension, subject to a smoothly varying

potential V (x) and initially at rest in a local minimum of V (x). The mass is given a
small impulse such that it moves away from and then back towards the equilibrium.
What is the condition on V (x) such that this situation corresponds to simple harmonic
motion for suitably small amplitudes? Derive an expression relating the frequency of
oscillations about an equilibrium point to a derivative of the potential. [4]
Now consider a point mass m moving with angular momentum L under the action
of a radial force such that V (r) = rk .
(a) By considering the Lagrangian of this system, find an expression for the energy in
terms of r and L, and show that this is a constant of the motion. In this context,
explain what is meant by the e↵ective potential. [4]
(b) Derive an expression for the radius r0 of a circular orbit in terms of , k, m and
L. [4]
(c) The mass is disturbed slightly, such that the radius oscillates about r0 . Find
the frequency of these oscillations and the ratio of this frequency to the orbital
frequency at r0 . [5]
(d) Use the result from part (c) to describe the shape of the perturbed orbits for
k = 2; k = 7; and k = 7/4. [3]

9. Three identical cylinders, each of mass m, radius R, and moment of inertia mR2 ,
where is a constant, are arranged in a triangle as shown below.

(a) The ground and the cylinders are frictionless. A constant horizontal force is
applied to the left cylinder, directed to the right, giving the system an acceleration
a. For what range of a will all three cylinders remain in contact with each other?
[5]
(b) For the same initial configuration as in (a), but with no external force, determine
the initial downward acceleration of the top cylinder when:
(i) There is friction between the ground and the cylinders, but not between
the cylinders. [7]
(ii) There is no friction between the ground and the cylinders, but there is
friction between the cylinders. [8]

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 10. A pendulum consists of a mass m and a rigid massless stick of length l. The
pendulum is supported from a block mounted on a frictionless horizontal support, as
shown below.

(a) Write down the Lagrangian for this system. [2]

The support block is now driven horizontally such that the position of the pivot is given
by x(t) = Acos !t.
(b) Assuming small angles, derive the solution for the angle of the pendulum as a
function of time. [6]
p
(c) Discuss qualitatively what happens as ! approaches g/l. [2]
The support block, of mass M , is now released and is free to move along the support
in either direction. Assuming small angles and velocities:
(d) Show how this situation modifies the Lagrangian from part (a) and use this to
find the general solution for the position x(t) of the block and the angle ✓(t) of
the pendulum in this case. [8]
(e) Describe the evolution of the system for the case where the block is initially at
rest and the mass m has a small initial horizontal displacement. [2]

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 11. A person runs with speed v into a tunnel of length L. At the instant they enter
the tunnel, as measured in the frame of the tunnel, a light source at the far end emits a
single photon. Two clocks, one at each end of the tunnel, are synchronised in the frame
of the tunnel to read zero when the photon is emitted. The photon is detected by the
person when they have travelled a fraction f along the tunnel.
(a) Working in the frame of the tunnel, determine an expression for f . [3]
(b) In the frame of the person:
(i) What is the time on the clock at the tunnel entrance when the photon is
emitted?
(ii) What is the distance from the person to the tunnel entrance at this time?
(iii) What is the distance travelled by the photon to reach the person?
(iv) Using your answer for (iii), determine the fraction along the tunnel that
the person has travelled in this frame. [12]
(c) The source emits light from a single atomic transition at a rest wavelength of
0 . Derive an expression for the wavelength observed by the person entering the
tunnel. For 0 = 589.1nm find the speed v at which the person entering the tunnel
would observe the light at a wavelength of 500.0nm. [5]

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