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Engineering Physics-II, Question Bank

1. Derive an expression for Fermi level in an intrinsic semiconductor. Discuss the effect of temperature
and doping on position of Fermi Level

2. Calculate the number of atoms per mm for FCC Pb in h100i and [h110i direction. The radius of the
Pb atom is 0.174nm.

3. A system of 3 particles has four energy levels with enrgies 0, 1, 2, 3units. The total energy of the
system is 5 units. List the accessible microstates.

4. Determine the temperature for which the probability of an occupancy of conduction band edge energy
level by an electron is 1% for intrinsic Si.

5. Derive an expression for interplaner distance in terms of miller indices and lattice constants. Deter-
mine the lattice parameter and atomic diameter if the interplaner distance between (101) planes in
a BCC crystal is 2.2 Å.

6. State and explain Zeroth, First, Second and Third laws of thermodynamics.

7. Describe the concept of entropy using second and third law of thermodynamic.

8. Describe types of thermodynamic processes and systems with suitable examples.

9. You add 50 g of ice at –5o C to 200 g of water at 25o C. What is the final temperature of the mixture,
assuming that no heat is lost to the outside? (Water cp = 4.1855[J/(g · K)])

10. State and explain first law of thermodynamics. Obtain various forms of it in case of isothermal,
isobaric, isochoric and adiabatic processes.

11. The highest possible wavelength which gives first order diffraction spectra for interplanar Distance
is 2.0Å ?

12. The intercepts for certain plane was found to be a, 0.5a, a on X,Y & Z axes respectively. Where ‘a’
is a lattice constant. What are the corresponding Miller indices?

13. In a BCC unit cell of lattice constant a the dead volume (unoccupied) is,

14. The unit cell of Aluminum is Fcc with lattice constant, a = 0.405nm. How many unit cells are there
in an aluminum foil 0.005cm thick and side 25cm square?

15. The Miller indices of a set of parallel planes which makes intercepts in the ratio (3a : 4b) on the
x-axis and y- axis and parallel to the z-axis, a, b, c, being the primitive vectors of the lattice, are?

16. Differences in Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics.

17. Consider a system which has two non-degenerate energy levels with energies 0 and , where  is a
positive number. The system is maintained at temperature T = kB . The entropy of the system is

18. Consider a system which has two non-degenerate energy levels with energies 0 and 4, where 4 is a
positive number. The system is maintained at temperature T = 2kB 4. The entropy of the system
is

19. State and explain basic postulate of statistical mechanics. If four balls a, b, c, d, to be distributed in
two compartments; what are the possible number of accessible states if balls are distinguishable and
indistinguishable?

20. Explain origin of band gap using electron in periodic potential model.
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21. Sketch the crystallographic of plane for given Miller indices in Cartesian coordinate system. (i) (120)
(ii) (011).
22. Show that for three/two/one dimensional motion of electrons the density of state for electron is
proportional to the square root/independent/inverse square root of energy value E.
23. Calculate the angle of incidence at which electrons of energy 100 eV must be incident on the lattice
planes of a metal crystal in order to give a strong Bragg reflection in the first order, given that the
lattice spacing is 0.252 nm.
24. Calculate the Fermi energy of potassium from the following data. Density of potassium: 0.86 g/cm3,
atomic weight: 39.202, 1 eV = 1.602Ö10-12 erg.
25. Define packing fraction and co-ordination number and determine these parameters for SC, BCC &
FCC structures
26. Write an expression for Fermi function and discuss its behavior in the various energy cases at T=0K
and T¿0K.
27. Metallic iron changes from bcc to fcc at 910oC. At this temperature, the atomic radii of the iron
atom in the two structures are 0.1258nm and 0.1292 nm respectively. Calculate the volume change
in percentage during this structural change.
28. Discuss the implications of temperature variation on Fermi-Dirac distribution and the density of
states for metals.
29. Calculate the number of energy states available for the electrons in a cubical box of side 0.05 cm,
lying below energy of 1 eV.
30. Derive the expression for specific heat of solids using Einstein’s model.
h   i
µm B kB T
31. Paramagnetic magnetization is given by M = N µm coth kB T − µm B , where µm is the atomic
dipole moment. Derive the expression of magnetization for the case i) low field high temperature
and ii) high field low temperature
32. Sketch the resistivity and magnetization as a function of applied magnetic field for type I and type
II superconductors.
33. The temperature of an ideal monatomic gas is changed from T1 to T2 , keeping (i) its pressure constant,
D
and (ii) its volume constant. Show that the ratio of the change in entropy Sp in case of (i) to that
D
of Sv in case (ii) is 5
34. Iron has a FCC structure with lattice constant of 0.287 nm and Young’s modulus Y = 22×1010 N/m2 .
If iron melts when the average amplitude of its atomic vibrations is 9.8% of the inter-atomic spacing
a, compute the melting point of iron. (The force constant for each oscillator is given by Y × a)
35. Show that the heat required for raising the temperature of copper from absolute zero to 0.0269
K is 2.52 erg and increase in entropy is 1.88 × 10−5 JK−1 . Assume constant volume and Cv =
7 × 10−4 T JK−1 , where T is the absolute temperature.


36. If a change dx in an external parameter X, causes a change dE in the energy of a canonical system,
derive the expression for average work done dW in terms of partition function Z. Show that the
mean pressure,hP i = kB T ∂lnZ
∂V
.
u
37. Calculate wavelength of atomic vibrations at D in copper and compare it with lattice constant=
3.615Å. Use, θD = 348K and sound speed vs = 4000m/s.
38. Calculate the Fermi energy of potassium and then find the temperature at which there is 1% prob-
ability that a state with energy 0.4 eV above the Fermi energy will be occupied by an electron.
{Density: 8600kg/m3 , At. Wt.= 39.202 }
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39. A typical paramagnetic solid has 1028 atoms/m3 . The magnetic moment of each atom is 1.8 ×
10−23 Am2 . Calculate the paramagnetic susceptibility at 300K. What would be the dipole moment
of a bar of this material 0.1m long and having a cross section of 1cm2 placed in a magnetic field of
8 × 104 A/m?

40. In aluminum, sound speeds are vl = 6.32 × 103 m/s and vt = 3.1 × 103 m/s. i) Calculate Debye cut-off
u u
frequency, D . ii) Find D from Debye temperature 375 K. {Density: 2700kg/m3 , At. Wt.= 26.97 }

41. In a canonical ensemble the entropy, S = kB (β hEi + lnZ) whereβ = kB1T . Establish the relation
between S and probability of occupancy Pr , where ‘r’ is an accessible state of a system. Further
show that at absolute zero temperature if non degenerate ground state is the only accessible state
for a system, the entropy of the system becomes zero.

42. Identify the planes.

i) ii) iii)
π
43. Using appropriate diagram, show that the packing factor for FCC lattice is √
3 2
. Calculate the
density of Cu (FCC structure, lattice constant = 3.615Å and At. wt. = 63.5)

44. For lead Tc = 7.26K and Hc = 8 × 105 A/m. What is the maximum temperature at which lead can
be used as a superconductor in the presence of a magnetic field of 4 × 104 A/m ?

45. Energy of the nth level of H atom is En = − 13.6

n2
eV and the degeneracy is n2 . At what temperature
is the population of the 1st excited state of hydrogen i) half the ground state population? ii) same
as the ground state population? iii) twice the ground state population?
 3 ´ θD 3
46. If the energy of a solid is, U = 9NA kB T θTD T x dx
ex −1
where x = kThv
and θD : Debye temperature,
0 ´ 
∞ x3 dx π4
obtain the expressions for specific heat for T → 0 and T → ∞. x
0 e −1
= 15

47. Sketch the graphs showing the magnetic field and temperature dependence of magnetization for
diamagnetic and paramagnetic materials.

48. A system consisting of N spatially separated sub-systems, is in thermal equilibrium with a heat
reservoir at absolute temperature T = kB where  is the energy. If each sub-system has non-
degenerate energy levels of energy 0 and , find i) the partition function, ii) the mean energy, and
iii) the entropy, of the system.

49. In a canonical ensemble the entropy, S = kB (β hEi + lnZ) whereβ = kB1T . Establish the relation
between S and probability of occupancy Pr , where ‘r’ is an accessible state of a system. Further
show that at absolute zero temperature if non degenerate ground state is the only accessible state
for a system, the entropy of the system becomes zero.

50. Derive an expression for interplaner distance in terms of miller indices and lattice constants. Deter-
mine the lattice parameter and atomic diameter if the interplaner distance between (101) planes in
a BCC crystal is 2.2 Å.

51. Write an expression for conductivity of a semiconductor. Show that the minimum conductivity
√
occurs when n0 = ni µp µn and calculate minimum conductivity of Si at 300K.

52. Calculate the displacement of Fermi level from Eg/2 for Si at 300K, assuming effective mass values
for electrons and holes are 1.1m0 and 0.56m0 respectively. (Eg = 1.1eV ).
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53. Determine the temperature for which the probability of an occupancy of conduction band edge energy
level by an electron is 1% for intrinsic Si.

54. Evaluate the partition function at temperature T for a classical one-dimensional oscillator. (HINT:
Consider continuum of momentum and position). Hence find the mean energy of the oscillator(4
marks).

55. What do you mean by statistical ensemble? How are they classified? In each case, what are the
probabilities of the ni system to have energy Ei ?

56. A system of 4 particles has energy levels with energies 0, 1, 2, 3 units. The total energy of the system
is 5 units. List the accessible microstates.
p2
57. A free particle is described by the Hamiltonian E = 2m
. Assume that the particle is in a cubic box
of volume V = L3 . Determine its mean energy.

58. Consider two particles inside a harmonic oscillator with frequencyw. The eigen energies of a single
particle in this oscillator are En = (n + 12 )~w and

(a) Calculate the canonical partition function of two particles in this oscillator treating it as a
classical system with discrete states.
(b) Calculate the canonical partition function of two particles in this oscillator assuming that the
two particles are bosons.
(c) Calculate the canonical partition function of two particles in this oscillator assuming that the
two particles are fermions.

59. Electrons in a piece of copper metal can be assumed to behave like an ideal Fermi-Dirac gas. Copper
metal in the solid state has a mass density of 9g/cm3 . Assume that each copper atom donates one
electron to the Fermi-Dirac gas. Assume the system is at T = 0K.

(a) Compute the Fermi energy EF of the electron gas in eV .

EF
(b) Compute the Fermi temperature TF = kB
.

60. Energy of the nth state of hydrogen atom is En = − 13.6eV n2

and the degeneracy is n2 . At what
temperature is the population of the first excited state of hydrogen (n = 2)

(a) half the ground state population?

(b) same as the ground state population?
(c) twice the ground state population?

61. Derive an expression for Fermi level in an intrinsic semiconductor. Discuss the effect of temperature
and doping on position of Fermi Level

62. Calculate the number of atoms per mm for FCC Pb in h100i and [h110i direction. The radius of the
Pb atom is 0.174nm.

63. With the Debye’s theory of solids and using the partition function approach, derive expressions for
a) Heat capacity and b) Entropy for such a solid.

64. Write a note on Bose-Einstein statistics.

65. Write and explain correct statement of basic postulate of statistical mechanics and establish the
relation, for Entropy of a canonical, S ≈ klnΩ.

66. State and explain the classification of the magnetic materials?

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67. Explain qualitative features of Einstein’s model of specific heats of solids (The derivation is not
expected). Calculate transverse speed of sound wave for Al. Given data, Debye cut off frequency,
wD = 8 × 1012 Hz, longitudinal sound speeds; vl = 6.32 × 103 m/s and, Density= 2700kg/m3 , At.
Wt.= 26.97.

68. Using classical Langevien’s theory of paramagnetism, derive an expression for the susceptibility in
the low temperature limit.

69. Calculate the number of energy states available for the electrons in a cubical box of side 1 cm lying
below energy of 1.5 electron volt.

70. Determine the phase trajectory of a particle of mass m moving under the influence of the gravitational
force towards a fixed mass M at a distance r.

71. Consider a two-state para-magnet E1 = +µH and E2 = −µH, consisting of N elementary non-
interacting dipoles in an external magnetic field, H. Write the partition function and determine
Helmholtz free energy.

72. Copper has electrical resistivity ρ = 1.73 × 10−8 ohm–m with free electron concentration,n = 8.5 ×
1028 cm−3 . Considering classical free electron theory, determine the mobility of electrons in copper.