ASSIGNMENT

General Physics I
PHYS 101
Department of Physics

School of Science
Kathmandu University
Dhulikhel, Nepal

February, 2022
MECHANICS
 2

ASSIGNMENT 1
CHAPTER 1: DYNAMICS OF SYSTEM OF PARTICLES

1. A 45.36-kg block of ice slides down an incline 1.52 m long and 0.9144 m high. A man
pushes up on the ice parallel to the incline so that it slides down at constant speed. The
coefficient of friction between the ice and the incline is 0.1. Find

(a) the force exerted by the man,

(b) the work done by the man on the block,
(c) the work done by the gravity on the block,
(d) the work done by the surface of the incline on the block,
(e) the work done by the resultant force on the block, and
(f) the change in kinetic energy of the block.

[Ans: (a) 231.15N, (b) -352.56 J (c) +406.8 J (d) -54.24 J (e) zero (f) zero.]
2. A man pushes a 27.215-kg block 9.144 m along a level floor at constant speed with the
force directed 450 below the horizontal. If coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.2, how much
work does the man do on the block?
[Ans: 609 J]
3. A block of mass m = 3.57kg is drawn at a constant speed a distance d = 4.06 meters
along a horizontal floor by rope exerting a constant force of magnitude F = 7.68N making
an angle θ= 150 with the horizontal. Compute

(a) the total work done on the block,

(b) the work done by the rope on the block,
(c) the work done by the friction on the block,
(d) the coefficient of kinetic friction between the block and floor.

[Ans: (a) Zero, (b) 30.1 J (c) – 30.1 J, (d)0.225]

4. A small object of mass m is suspended from a

string of length L . The object is pulled sideways
by a force F⃗ that is always horizontal, until the
string finally makes an angle ϕm with the ver-
tical as shown in figure. The displacement is
accomplished at a small constant speed. Find
the work done by all the forces that act on the
object.
[Ans: WF = mgL(1 − cosθm ) , Wg = mgh , WT = 0 ]
5. The force acting on a particle varies as shown
in Figure. Find the work done by the force on
the particle as it moves

(a) from x = 0 to x = 8.00m ,

(b) from x = 8.00m to x = 10.0m , and

(c) from x = 0 to x = 10.0m.

[Ans: (a)24.0J , −3.0J , 21.0J ]
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6. A force acting on a particle moving in the xy

plane is given by F⃗ = (2y î + x2 ĵ) N , where x
and y are in meters. The particle moves from
the origin to a final position having coordinates
x = 5.00 m and y = 5.00 m as shown in Figure.
Calculate the work done by F⃗ on the particle
as it moves along (a) OAC, (b) OBC, and (c)
OC (d) Is F⃗ conservative or nonconservative?
Explain.
[Ans:(a) WOAC = 125J (b) WOBC = 50.0J (c) WOC = 66.7J (d)F is nonconservative]
7. The potential energy function for the force between two atoms in a diatomic molecule can
be expressed approximately as follows:
a b
U (x) = 12
− 6
x x
where a and b are positive constants and x is the distance between atoms.

(a) At what values of x is U (x) equal to zero? At what values of x is U (x) a minimum ?
(b) Determine the force between the atoms.
(c) What is the dissociation energy of the molecule?

a1  1
2a 6 12a 6b b2
[Ans: (a) x = 6 , (b) xm = (c) Fx = 13 − 7 (c) Ed = ]
b 6 x x 4a
8. Find the center of mass of a homogeneous semicircular plate. Let R be the radius of the
circle.
4R
[Ans: ]
3π
9. A small block of mass m slides along the fric-
tionless loop-the-loop track shown in Figure.

(a) If it starts from rest at P, what is the re-

sultant force acting on it at Q?

(b) At what height above the bottom of the

loop should the block be released so that
the force it exerts against the track at the
top of the loop is equal to its weight?
√
[Ans: (a) 65mg (b) 3R]
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10. An ideal spring S can be compressed 1.0 me-

ter by a force of 100 N. This same spring is
placed at the bottom of a frictionless inclined
plane which makes an angle of θ = 300 with
horizontal as shown in figure. A 10 kg mass M
is released form rest at the top of the incline and
is brought to rest momentarily after compress-
ing the spring 2.0 meters.

(a) Through hat distance does the mass slide

before coming to rest?

(b) What is the speed of the mass just before

it reaches the spring ?
[Ans: (a) 4.0, m (b) 4.5m/s]
11. A 1.0-kg block collides with a horizontal weight-
less spring of force constant 2.0 N/m as shown in
Figure. The block compresses the spring 4.0 me-
ters from the rest position. Assuming that the
coefficient of kinetic friction between the block
and horizontal surface is 0.25, what was that
speed of the block at the instant of collision?
[Ans:7.2m/s]
12. A vessel at rest explodes, breaking into three pieces. Two pieces, having equal mass, fly
off perpendicular to one another with the same speed of 30 m/s. The third piece has three
times the mass of each other piece. What is the direction and magnitude of its velocity
immediately after the explosion?
√
[Ans: 10 2 m/s, 1350 from either]
13. A projectile is fired form a gun at angle of 450 with the horizontal and with a muzzle
speed of 457.2 m/s. At the highest point in its flight the projectile explodes into tow
fragments of equal mass. One fragment, whose initial speed is zero, falls vertically. How
far from the gun does the other fragment land, assuming a level terrain?
[Ans: 1.1 × 105 N ]
14. A 6000-kg rocket is set for a vertical firing. If the exhaust speed is 1000 m/s, how much
gas must be ejected per second to supply the thrust needed:

(a) to overcome the weight of the rocket,

(b) to give the rocket an initial upward acceleration of 19.6 m/s2 ?

[Ans: (a) 58.8 kg/s, (b) 176.4 kg/s]

15. A rocket moving in free space has a speed of 3.0 × 103 m/s relative to earth. Its engines
are turned on, and fuel is ejected in a direction opposite the rocket’s motion at a speed
of 5.0 × 103 m/s relative to rocket.

(a) What is the speed of the rocket relative to the earth once the rocket’s mass is reduced
to one-half its mass before ignition?
(b) What is the thrust of he rocket if it burns at the rate of 50 Kg/s?

[Ans: (a) 6.5 × 103 m/s (b) 2.5 × 105 N ] ,

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16. A bullet of mass 10 gm strikes a ballistic pendulum of mass 2.0 kg. The center of mass of
the pendulum rises a vertical distance of 12 cm. Assuming the bullet remains embedded
in the pendulum, calculate its initial speed.

[Ans: 308.3 m/s]

17. A steel ball weighing 453.59 gm fastened to a cord 68.6 cm long and is released when
the cord is horizontal. At the bottom of its path the ball strikes a 2.268 kg steel block
initially at rest on a frictionless surface as shown in figure below. The collision is elastic.
Find the speed of the ball and the speed of the block initially at just after collision.

[Ans: (a) -2.54 m/s, 1.22 m/s]

18. A block of mass m1 = 2.0kg slides along a fric-
tionless table with a speed of 10 m/s. Directly
in front of it, and moving in the same direc-
tion, is a block of mass m2 = 5.0kg moving at
3 m/s. A massless spring with a spring con-
stant of k = 1120N/m is attached to backside
of m2 as shown in figure. When the blocks col-
lide, what is the maximum compression of the
spring? Assume that the spring does not bend
and
, always obeys Hook’s law.

[Ans:0.25m]
19. Two vehicles A and B are traveling west and south, respectively, toward the same inter-
section where they collide and lock together. Before the collision A (total weight, 408.233
kg) is moving with the speed of 17.88 m/s, and B (total weight, 544.310 kg) has a speed of
26.82 m/s. Find the magnitude and direction of the velocity of the (interlocked) vehicles
immediately after collision.

[Ans: 17.14 m/s, 63.440 ]

20. A gas molecule having a speed of 300 meters/sec collides elastically with another molecule
of the same mass which is initially at rest. After collision the first molecule moves at an
angle of 300 to its initial direction. Find the speed of each molecule after collision and
the angle made with the incident direction by the recoiling target molecule.
[Ans: 260 m/s, 150 m/s, 600 ]
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21. A star rotates with a period of 30 days about an axis through its center. After the
star undergoes a supernova explosion, the stellar core, which had a radius 1.0 × 104 km,
collapses into a neutron star of radius 3.0 km. Determine the period of rotation of the
neutron star.
[Ans: Tf = 0.23sec]
22. A horizontal platform in the shape of a circular disk rotates in a horizontal plane about
a frictionless vertical axle. The platform has a mass M = 100 kg and a radius R = 2.0
m. A student whose mass is m = 60 kg walks slowly form the rim of the disk toward its
center. If the angular speed of the system is 2.0 rad/s when the student is at the rim,
what is the angular speed when he has reached a point r = 0.50 m from the center.

[Ans: ω = 4.1 rad/s]

23. Calculate the reduced mass of Hydrogen atom.
[Ans: µ ≈ me (mass of electron) ]
 7

ASSIGNMENT 2
CHAPTER 2: ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS

1. A conical pendulum consists of a bob of mass m in mo-

tion in a circular path in a horizontal plane as shown in
figure. During the motion, the supporting wire of length
l maintains the constant angle θ with the vertical. Show
that the magnitude of the angular momentum of the bob
about the circle’s is
1/2
m2 gl3 sin4 θ

L= .
cosθ
2. Consider an oxygen molecule(O2 ) rotating in the xy plane about z axis. The axis passes
through the centre of the molecule, perpendicular to its length. The mass of each oxygen
atom is 2.66 × 10−26 kg and at room temperature the average separation between the two
atoms is d = 1.21 × 10−10 m (the atoms are treated as point masses)

(a) Calculate the moment of inertial of the molecule about the z axis.
(b) If the angular speed of the molecule about the z axis is 4.60 × 10−12 rad/s, what is
its rotational kinetic energy?

[Ans: I = 1.95 × 10−46 kg.m2 , KR = 2.06 × 10−21 J]

3. Two masses ‘M ′ and ‘m′ are connected by a
rigid rod of length L and of negligible mass,
as shown in figure. For an axis passes perpen-
dicular to the rod, show that the system has
the minimum moment of inertia when the axis
passes through the center of mass. Show that
this moment of inertia is
 
mM
I= L2 .
m+M

4. Two identical solid spheres of mass M and Ra-

dius R are joined together, and the combination
is rotated about an axis tangent to one sphere
and perpendicular to the line connecting them.
What is the rotational inertia of the combina-
tion?

[Ans: I = 10.8M R2 ]
 8

ASSIGNMENT 3
CHAPTER 3: WAVE AND OSCILLATION

1. Consider a physical pendulum as shown in figure below. Representing its moment of

inertia about an axis passing through its centre of mass and parallel to the axis passing
through its pivot point as Icm . Show that its period is
s
Icm + md2
I = 2π
mgd

Where d is the distance between the pivot point and center of mass . Show that the
period has a minimum value when d satisfies md2 = Icm

2. In an engine, a piston oscillates with simple harmonic motion so that its position varies
accoring to the expression  π
x = (5.00cm)cos 2t +
6
Where x is in centimeters and t is in seconds. At t = 0, find

(a) the position of the particle,

(b) its velocity, and
(c) its acceleration.
(d) the period ad amplitude of the motion.

[Ans: (a) x = 4.33cm (b) v = −5.00cm/s (c) a = −17.3cm/s2 (d)

A = 5.00cm, T = 3.24s]
3. A 0.500-kg cart connected to a light spring for which the force constant is 20.0N/m
oscillates on a horizontal, frictionless air track.

(a) Calculate the total energy of the system and the maximum speed of the cart if the
amplitude of the motion is 3.00 cm.
(b) What is the total velocity of the cart when the position is 2.00 cm?
(c) Compute the kinetic and potential energies of the system when the position is 2.00
cm.

[Ans: (a) E = 9.00 × 10−3 J; vmax = 0.190m/s, (b) v = ±0.141m/s,

(c)K = 5.00 × 10−3 J, U = 4.00 × 10−3 J]
 9

4. A 10.6-kg object oscillates at the end of a vertical spring has a spring constant of 2.05 ×
104 N/m. The effect of air resistance is represented by the damping coefficient b = 3.00
Ns/m. Calculate the frequency of the damped oscillation.
[Ans: f = 7.00Hz]
5. A 2.00-kg object attached to a spring moves without friction and is driven by an external
force givn by F = (3.00N )sin(2πt). The force constant of the spring is 20.0 N/m. Deter-
mine

(a) the period and

(b) the amplitude of the motion.

[Ans: (a) T=1.00s (b) 5.09 cm]

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ASSIGNMENT 4
CHAPTER 5: ELASTICITY

1. A wire of length L, Young’s modulus Y , and cross-sectional area A is stretched elastically

by an amount ∆L. By Hooke’s law, the restoring force is −k∆L Show that:
YA
(a) k=
L
1 (∆L)2
(b) the work done in stretching the wire by an amount ∆L is W = Y A
2 L
2. A 200-kg liad is hung on a wire of length 4.00 m, cross-sectional area 0.200 × 10−4 m2 ,
and Young’s modulus 8.00 × 1010N/m2 . What is its increase in length?
[Ans: ∆L = 4.90mm]
3. Assume Young’s modulus for bone is 1.50 × 1010 N/m2 . The bone breaks if stress greater
than 1.50 × 108 N/m2 is imposed on it.

(a) What is the maximum force that can be exerted on the femur bone in the leg if it
has a minimum effective diameter of 2.50 cm?
(b) If this much force is applied compressively, by how much does the 25.0 cm long bone
shorten?

[Ans: (a) F = 73.6kN (b) ∆L = 2.50mm]

4. A solid brass sphere is initially surrounded by air, and the air pressure exerted on it is
1.0 × 1010 N/m2 (normal atmospheric pressure). The sphere is lowered into the ocean to
a depth where the pressure is 2.0 × 107 N/m2 . The volume of the sphere in air is 0.50m3 .
By how much does this volume change once the sphere is submerged?
[Ans: ∆V = −1.6 × 10−4 m3 ]
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ASSIGNMENT 5
CHAPTER 5: VISCOSITY

1. Castor oil, which has a density of 0.96×103 kg/m3 at room temperature, is forced through
a pipe of circular cross section by pump that maintains a gauge pressure of 950 pa. The
pipe as a diameter of 2.6 cm and a length of 65 cm. The castor oil emerging from the free
end of the pipe and at atmospheric pressure is collected. After 90 s, a total of 1.23 kg has
been collected. What is the coefficient of viscosity of castor oil at this temperature?
[Ans: η = 1.15N s/m2 ]
2. A large storage tank, open at the top and filled with water, develops a small hole in
its side at a point 16.0 m below the water level. The rate of flow from the leak is
2.50 × 10−3 m3 /min. Determine:

(a) the speed at which the water leaves the hole.

(b) the diameter of the hole.

[Ana: (a) v2 =17.7 m/s, (b) d=1.73 mm]

3. In ideal flow, a liquid of density 850 kg/m3
moves from a horizontal tube of radius 1.00
cm into a second horizontal tube of radius 0.500 cm. A pressure difference ∆P exists
between the tubes.

(a) Find the volume flow rate as a function of ∆P .

(b) Evaluate the volume flow rate for ∆P = 6.00kP a.
(c) State how the volume flow rate depends on ∆P
√
[Ans: (a) (3.93 × 10−6 ∆P )m3 /s where ∆P is in pascals, (b) 0.305 L/s, (c) Volume
√
flow rate ∝ ∆P ]
4. A hypodermic syringe contains a medicine having density of water as shown in figure
below. The barrel of the syringe has a cross-sectional area A = 2.50 × 10−5 m2 , and
the needle has cross-sectional area a = 1.00 × 10−8 m2 . In the absence of a force on the
plunger, the pressure everywhere is 1 atm. A force F⃗ of magnitude 2.00 N acts on the
plunger, making medicine squirt horizontally form the needle. Determine the speed of the
medicine as it leaves the needle’s tip.

[Ans: v2 = 12.6m/s]
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OPTICS
 13

ASSIGNMENT 6
CHAPTER 1: INTERFERENCE

Intensity Distribution

1. Two coherent sources of intensity ratio β interfere. Prove that in interference pattern,
√
Imax − Imin 2 β
= .
Imax + Imin 1+β

2. Show that the two waves with wave functions E1 = 6.00 sin(100πt) and E2 = 8.00
π
sin(100πt + ) add to give a wave function ER sin(100πt + ϕ). Find the required values
2
for ER and ϕ.
[ER = 10.0 ; ϕ = 0.927]

Young’s Double Slit Experiment

3. The distance between two coherent sources in Young’s double slit experiment is 0.2 mm
and the interference pattern is observed on a screen 80 cm from the sources. If the
wavelength used is 6000Å, then

(i) How far is second bright fringe from the central bright fringe?
(ii) How far is the second dark fringe from central bright fringe?
[(i) 0.48 cm ; (ii) 0.36 cm]

4. In Young’s double slit experiment, the slits are separated by 0.28 mm and the screen is
1.4 m away. The distance between the central bright fringe and the fourth bright fringe
is 1.2 cm. Find the frequency of light used. Use the standard value of velocity of light.
[5 × 10−14 Hz]

Interference in Thin Film

5. Calculate the minimum thickness of a soap-bubble film that results in constructive inter-
ference in the reflected light if the film is illuminated with light whose wavelength in free
space is λ = 600 nm. The index of refraction of the soap film is 1.33. What if the film is
twice as thick? Does this situation produce constructive interference?
[113 nm]
6. A thin film of oil (µ = 1.25) is located on smooth, wet pavement. When viewed perpen-
dicular to the pavement, the film reflects most strongly red light at 640 nm and reflects
no green light at 512 nm. How thick is the oil film?
[512 nm]
 14

Newton’s Ring

7. In a Newton’s rings experiment, the diameter of 12th dark ring changes form 1.40 to 1.27
cm as a liquid is introduced between the lens and the glass plate. Calculate the refractive
index of the liquid.
[1.235]

8. In a Newton’s rings experiment, a plano-convex

glass (µ = 1.52) lens having radius r = 5.00
cm is placed on a flat plate as shown in figure.
When light of wavelength λ = 650 nm is in-
cident normally, 55 bright rings are observed,
with the last one precisely on the edge of the
lens.

(a) What is the radius ‘R’ of curvature of the

convex lens?

(b) What is the focal length of the lens?

[(a) 70.6 m, (b) 136 m]

 15

ASSIGNMENT 7
CHAPTER 2: DIFFRACTION

1. Monochromatic light from helium-neon laser (λ1 = 632.8nm) is incident on a diffraction

grating containing 6000 grooves per cnetimeter. Find the angles at which the first and
second order maxima are observed. What if you looked for the third maximum? Would
you find it?
[22.310 ; 49.410 ; No]
2. A helium-neon laser (λ = 632.8nm) is used to claibrate a diffraction grating. If the
first-order maximum occurs at 20.50 , what is the spacing between adjacent grooves in the
grating?
[1.81 µm]
3. A plane transmission grating has 6000 lines/cm. It is used to obtain a spectrum of light
from sodium lamp in second order. Calculate the angular separation between two sodium
lines 5890Å and 5896Å.
[4 min]
4. A diffraction grating used at normal incidence gives a line, λ1 = 6000Å in a certain
order superimposed on another line λ2 = 4500Å of the next higher order. If the angle of
diffraction is 300 , how many lines are ther in a ‘cm’ in the grating ?
[2778 lines/cm]
5. Assume that limits of the visible spectrum are arbitrarily chosen as 4300Å and 6800Å.
Design a grating that will spread the first order spectrum through an angular range of
200 ?
[27700 lines/inch]
 16

ASSIGNMENT 8
CHAPTER 9: POLARIZATION

1. Light traveling in water strikes a glass plate at an angle of incidence of 53.00 , part of the
beam is reflected. If the reflected and refracted portions make an angle of 90.00 with each
other, what is the index of refraction of the glass?
[1.76]
2. Unpolarized light traveling in a liquid with refractive index µ is incident on the surface of
the liquid, above which there is air. If the light incident on the surfae at an angle of 31.20
with respect to the normal, the light reflected back into the liquid is completely polarized.
(a) What is dthe refractive index of the liquid? (b) What angle does the refractive light
traveling in air make with the normal to the surface?
[(a)1.65; (b)58.80 ]
3. Three polarizing plates whose planes are parallel are centered on a common axis. The
directions of the transmission axes relative to the common vertical direction are shown
in figure below. A linearly polarized beam of light with the plane of polarization parallel
to the vertical reference direction is incidetn from the left on the first disk with intensity
I1 = 10.0units(arbitrary). Calculate the transmitted intensity If when θ1 = 20.00 , θ2 =
40.00 , θ3 = 60.00 .
[6.89 units]

4. Calculate the specific rotation if the plane of polarization is turned through 26.40 , travers-
ing 20cm length 20% sugar solution.
[66 deg(dm)−1 g −1 cm3 ]
 17

HEAT
 18

ASSIGNMENT 9
CHAPTER 1: HEAT TRANSFER

1. Two slabs of thickness L1 and L2 and thermal conductivities k1 and k2 are in themal
contact with each other as shown in figure. The temperature of their outer surfaces are
Th and Tc , respectively and Th > Tc . Determine the temperature at the interface and the
rate of energy transfer by conduction through the slabs in steady condition.

 
k1 L2 Tc + k2 L1 Th Ak1 k2 (Th − Tc )
T = ,Q =
k1 L2 + k2 L1 k1 L2 + k2 L1
2. Calculate the average energy ε̄ of an oscillator of frequency 0.60 × 1014 sec−1 at tempera-
ture T = 1800 K treating it as (i) Classical oscillator. (ii) Planck’s oscillator. [Boltzmann
constant (k)=1.38 × 10−23 Joule/K and Planck’s constant(h)=6.6 × 10−34 Js )]
[(i) 2.484 × 10−20 joule (ii) 1.01 × 10−20 joule]
3. When the temperature of a black body increases, it is observed that the wavelength
corresponding to maximum energy changes from 0.26µm to 0.13µm. Calcualte the ratio
of emissive power of the body at the respective temperature.
[1/16]
4. The radiation emitted by a star is 10,000 times more than that of the sun. If the surface
temperature of the sun and the star is 6000 K and 2000 K respectively. Calculate the
ratio of the radii of the star and the sun.
[900:1]

THE END