National Institute of Technology Rourkela - 769008

End Semester Examination, Session : 2017-18 (Autumn)

Course: PH - 1001 Physics - I Dept. Code: PH

No. of pages: 2 Maximum marks: 50 Duration: 3 hours

Figures at the right hand margin indicate marks

Answer all parts of the question at one place
All questions are compulsory
Notations carry their usual meaning

1. (a) Verify the following. 3

1 p2 v 1 E0

2 v pc
(i) 2 =1+ m2 c2
, (ii) For E  E0 , c
≈1− 2 E
, (iii) c
= E
.
1− v2
c

(b) i. A certain quantity of ice at 0◦ C melts into water at 0◦ C and in doing so gains 1.0 kg of
mass. What was its initial mass ? 3
ii. How much work (in MeV) must be done to increase the speed of an electron from 1.2×108
m/s to 2.4 × 108 m/s ?

2. (a) Name and write the relevant equations for the processes that involve (i) Photon materializes
into matter, (ii) Inverse photoelectric effect, (iii) Photon shares all of its energy, (iv) Electron
and positron vanishes simultaneously, (v) Atoms that absorb incident plane waves and re-
emit spherical waves of same frequency, (vi) Photon shares part of its energy. 3
(b) (i) Sketch the relative probabilities of photoelectric effect, Compton scattering and pair
production in light element carbon (no description). (ii) A positron with kinetic energy of
2.0 MeV collides with an electron at rest and two particles are annihilated. Two photons are
produced, one moves in same direction as the incoming positron and other moves in opposite 1 + 3
direction. Find the energies of the photons.

3. (a) Consider a wave y(x, t) = A cos(ωt − kx), where ω = 2πν and k = 2π/λ. Here ν is the 2
frequency and λ is the wavelength of the wave. What is the velocity of propagation vp of
the wave y(x, t) ? If this wave describes the motion of a non-relativistic quantum particle
moving with velocity v then show that vp = v/2.
(b) Suppose two waves y1 (x, t) = A cos(ωt − kx) and y2 (x, t) = A cos [(ω + ∆ω) t − (k + ∆k) x] 2 + 2
are superposed, where ∆ω << ω and ∆k << k. Show that the resultant wave y(x, t) forms
a group of waves which moves with a group velocity vg . Finally show that if y(x, t) describes
 the motion of a non-relativistic quantum particle with velocity v then vg = v, i.e., the group
of waves moves with the same velocity as the particle.

4. (a) (i)Compute the de Broglie wavelength of an electron having kinetic energy (ia) 1 eV (ib)
100 MeV. (ii) What is Zero point energy and how it is related with Heisenberg uncertainty
relation ? (iii) How Rutherford model of an atom is related with the failure of classical
mechanics ? 4
(b) (i) Compare the uncertainties in the velocity of an electron and a proton confined in a 25Å
box. (ii) An excited atom gives up its excess energy by emitting a photon of characteristic
frequency. The average period that elapses between the excitation of an atom and the time
it radiates is 1.0 × 10−8 s. Find the inherent uncertainty in the frequency of the photon. 3

5. (a) A beam of monoenergetic electrons is passing through a pair of slits before hitting on a
viewing screen. Let us asssume that the wave functions of the electrons passing through
~ ~
slit-1 and slit-2 are ψ1 = A ei(k·~x−ωt) and ψ2 = A ei(k·~x−ωt+φ) respectively, where φ is the
phase difference. Show mathematically that, there will be an interference pattern on the
viewing screen. 3
(b) (i) Show that the expectation value < px > and < xp > are related by < px > − < xp >=
−ih̄. (ii) Find the expectation value of < x2 > of a particle trapped in an infinite potential
well of width L. 2+1

6. (a) (i) What are the physical conditions that the wave function of a particle must satisfy ? (ii)
Show that ψ(x) = Aeikx , where k is some constant, is an acceptable wave function of a
particle. (iii) Normalize ψ(x) over the region −a ≤ x ≤ a and find out A. 4
(b) A particle is confined to a one dimensional finite potential well (E < V ) of width 0.2 nm. Plot
the energy eigen functions and probability densities for ground state and first two excited
states. 2

7. (a) Determine the energy levels and the corresponding normalized energy eigen functions of
a particle in a one-dimensional potential well of the form, V (x) = ∞, for x < −a/2, x >
a/2, and V (x) = 0 for − a/2 < x < a/2. Is the wave function and its derivative continuous
everywhere ? 4
(b) If E1 is the energy of the electron in the lowest energy state of a one dimensional box of side
L and E2 is the energy of the electron in the energy state just above the lowest state of a
three dimensional cubical box of side 2L, then find the ratio of E1 /E2 . 2

8. (a) The general formula for the nth energy eigen function
q of a Harmonic oscillator is given by
2mν 1/4 2
(2n n! )−1/2 Hn (y)e−y /2 where y = 2πmν


ψn = h̄ h̄
x. Find the expectation value < x >
for the first two states of Harmonic oscillator. Use H0 (y) = 1, H1 (y) = 2y. 3
(b) Electron with energy of 1.0 eV is incident on a barrier of 10.0 eV high and 0.50 nm wide. (i)
Find the transmission probability. (ii) Find the transmission probability if barrier is doubled
in width. 3