Questions and Answers of Inquiry into Physics

A nucleus of element 114 —flerovium—is produced by fusing calcium-48 with plutonium-244. Write the reaction equation assuming three neutrons are also released.
When the plutonium bomb was tested in New Mexico in 1945, approximately 1 gram of matter was converted into energy. How many joules of energy were released by the explosion?
An accident in a laboratory results in a room being contaminated by a radioisotope with a half-life of 3 days. If the radiation is measured to be eight times the maximum permissible level, how much
A Geiger counter registers a count rate of 4,000 counts per minute from a sample of a radioisotope. Twelve minutes later, the count rate is 1,000 counts per minute. What is the half-life of the
At the centers of some stars, nitrogen-15 can undergo a fusion reaction with a proton (a hydrogen-1 nucleus) to produce two different nuclei. One of the products is an alpha particle (a helium-4
The following is a possible fission reaction. Determine the identity of the missing nucleus. in + U - 235 92 ŽU – 236U* → 14La + ? + 3,n 92 57
The isotope silver-107* undergoes gamma decay. Write the reaction equation, and determine the identity of the daughter nucleus.
The isotope polonium-210 undergoes alpha decay. Write the reaction equation and determine the identity of the daughter nucleus.
The isotope silver-110 undergoes beta decay. Write the reaction equation and determine the identity of the daughter nucleus.
Determine the nuclear composition (number of protons and neutrons) of the following isotopes.(a) carbon-14(b) calcium-45(c) silver-108(d) radon-225(e) plutonium-242
(a) Which of the following elements emits a K-shell x-ray photon with the highest frequency?(b) Which of the following emits a K-shell photon with the lowest frequency?(i) Silver (Ag)(ii) Calcium
The carbon-dioxide laser is one of the most powerful lasers developed. The energy difference between the two laser levels is 0.117 eV.(a) What is the frequency of the radiation emitted by this
Characteristic x-rays emitted by molybdenum have a wavelength of 0.072 nm. What is the energy of one of these x-ray photons?
The characteristic K and K lines for copper have wavelengths of 0.154 nm and 0.139 nm, respectively. What is the ratio of the energy difference between the levels in copper involved in the
An atom of neutral zinc possesses 30 electrons. In its ground configuration, how many fundamental energy levels are required to accommodate this number of electrons? That is, what is the smallest
Figure 10.47 is the energy-level diagram for a particularly simple, fictitious element, Vernium (Vn). Indicate by the use of arrows all allowed transitions leading to the emission of photons from
A hydrogen atom has its electron in the n = 2 state.(a) How much energy would have to be absorbed by the atom for it to become ionized from this level?(b) What is the frequency of the photon that
(a) A hydrogen atom has its electron in the n = 4 level. The radius of the electron’s orbit in the Bohr model is 0.847 nm. Find the de Broglie wavelength of the electron under these
Describe the photoelectric effect. Name some devices that make use of this process.
During a certain experiment, the de Broglie wavelength of an electron is 670 nm = 6.7 x 10-7 m, which is the same as the wavelength of red light. How fast is the electron moving?
Electrons striking the back of a conventional TV screen travel at a speed of about 8 x 107 m/s. What is their de Broglie wavelength?
In what part of the EM spectrum would a photon of energy 9.5 x 10-25 J be found? What is its energy in electronvolts?
Find the energy of a photon with a frequency of 1 x 1016 Hz.
Water droplets in clouds scatter sunlight in ways that are similar to those of air molecules. Because clouds are white (during the day), what can you conclude about the frequency dependence of
How is a 228 halo formed? Describe a measurement technique you might use to distinguish a genuine 228 halo from some other “halo-like” phenomenon seen surrounding the Sun or the Moon.
Suppose you are told by close friends that they had witnessed a glorious rainbow in the west just as the Sun was setting. Would you believe them? Why or why not?
Compare the primary and secondary rainbows as regards their angular size, color ordering, and number of internal reflections that occur in the rain droplets.
Suppose an explosion at a glass factory caused it to “rain” tiny spheres made of glass. Would the resulting rainbow be different from the normal one? If so, how might it be different and why?
Describe the accepted model of rainbows. Specifically, discuss how the model accounts for the size, shape, location, and color ordering of primary rainbows.
Would a prism made of diamond be better at dispersing light than one made of glass? Why or why not?
What is a prism? Why are such devices useful to scientists?
The difference in speed between red light and violet light in glass is smaller than the difference in speed between the same two colors in a certain type of plastic. For which material, glass or
Suppose a 20-m-long tube is filled with benzene and the ends sealed off with thin disks of glass. If pulses of red and blue light are admitted simultaneously at one end of the tube, will they emerge
Two light waves that have wavelengths of 700 and 400 nm enter a block of glass (from air) with the same angle of incidence. Which has the larger angle of refraction? Why?Would the answer be different
Describe the phenomenon of dispersion, and explain how it leads to the production of a spectrum.
When a person is nearsighted, what happens in the eye when the person is looking at something far away? How is this condition commonly corrected?
How is the eye able to form focused images of objects that are different distances away?
What is chromatic aberration? How can it be remediated?
How is the magnification of a lens related to the object distance? How is it related to the image distance? What is the significance of the sign of the magnification? What is the significance of its
A convex lens forms a clear, focused image of some small, fixed object on a screen. If the screen is moved closer to the lens, will the lens have to be(a) moved closer to the object,(b) moved farther
Indicate whether each of the following is a real image or a virtual image.(a) Image on the retina in a person’s eye(b) Image one sees in a rearview mirror(c) Image one sees on a movie screen(d)
Contrast real images with virtual images in as many ways as you can.
Describe the three principal rays used to locate an image.
If you were lost in the forest and wanted to start a small fire to keep warm or cook a meal using sunlight and a small lens, what type of lens—converging or diverging—would you use and why?
Distinguish converging lenses from diverging lenses, and give examples of each type.
For transparent solids, distinguish between effects of surfaces that curve inward and those that curve outward on the paths of a parallel bundle of light rays incident on each.
Explain why images seen through flat, smooth, uniform, plate-glass windows are undistorted.
Would the critical angle for a glass–water interface be less than, equal to, or greater than the critical angle for a glass–air interface? Explain your choice.
What is total internal reflection, and how is it related to the critical angle?
Rank (from smallest to largest) the angle of refraction for a light ray in air entering each of the following substances with an angle of incidence equal to 308: (a) water, (b) benzene, (c) dense
One sometimes hears the expression, “It was like shooting fish in a barrel!” This usually is taken to mean that the task, whatever it was, was easy to complete. But is it really easy to shoot
After hitting a ball into a water trap, a golfer looks into the pond and spies the ball within apparent easy reach. Reaching in to retrieve the ball, the golfer is surprised to find that it cannot be
A light ray in air enters a block of clear plastic as shown in Figure 9.84. Which of the numbered paths represents the correct one for the ray in the plastic? Justify your choice by appealing to the
A piece of glass is immersed in water. If a light ray enters the glass from the water with an angle of incidence greater than zero, in which direction is the ray bent?
The speed of light in a certain kind of glass is exactly the same as the speed of light in benzene—a liquid. Describe what happens when light passes from benzene into this glass, and vice versa.
Describe how the path of a ray is deviated as it passes (at an angle) from one medium into a second medium in which the speed of light is lower. Contrast this with the case when the speed of light in
What kind of mirror (concave, convex, or plane) do you think dental care workers use to examine patients’ teeth and gums for disease? Explain your choice.
What is the ideal shape of concave mirrors used in telescopes?
What is different about an image (of a nearby object) formed with a convex mirror compared to an image formed with a concave mirror? What are the advantages of each type of mirror?
Two plane mirrors are hinged along one edge and set at right angles to one another as shown in Figure 9.83. A light ray enters the system, striking mirror 1 with an angle of incidence of 45?. Draw a
If the wavelength of light is doubled, by what fraction does the amount of the light scattered by Earth’s atmosphere change? Is the amount of light scattered at the new wavelength larger or smaller
At which of the lettered positions would an observer be able to see the image of the dot in the mirror? A B D E
Light traveling along direction SO in Figure 9.81 strikes the surface of a plane mirror. Which of the paths OP, OQ, OR, or OT best describes the path of the light reflected from the mirror? Defend
If the mirror described in the previous problem is used to form an image of the same object now located 16 cm in front of the mirror, what would the new image position be?Assuming that the
An observer O stands in front of a plane mirror as shown in. Which of the numbered locations 1 through 5 best represents the location of the image of the source S seen by the observer? Justify your
Compared to a person’s height, what is the minimum length (top to bottom) of a mirror that will allow the person to see a complete image of themselves from head to toe?
You get a new pair of sunglasses as a birthday gift from a friend. When wrapping the present, your friend has removed the price tag and all the other labels from the sunglasses. How could you
Just before the Sun sets, a driver encounters sunlight reflecting off the side of a building. Will Polaroid sunglasses stop this glare? Why or why not?
Describe how you could use two large, circular Polaroid filters in front of a circular window as a kind of window shade.
What is polarized light? How do Polaroid sunglasses exploit polarization?
When viewed through a magnifying glass, a stamp that is 2 cm wide appears upright and 6 cm wide. What is the magnification?
An interference pattern is formed by sending red light through a pair of narrow slits. If blue light is then used, the spacing of the bright areas (where constructive interference takes place)
If the wavelength of visible light were around 10 cm instead of 500 nm and we could still see it, what effect would this have on our ability to see diffraction and interference effects?
A camera is equipped with a lens with a focal length of 30 cm. When an object 2 m (200 cm) away is being photographed, how far from the film should the lens be placed?
Describe how light passing through two narrow slits can produce an interference pattern.
A ballet dancer is on stage dressed in a green body suit. How could you light the stage so that the dancer’s costume looked black to the audience?
The cover of a book appears blue when illuminated with white light. What color will it appear in blue light? Red light? Explain.
A light ray traveling in air strikes the surface of a slab of glass at an angle of incidence of 508. Part of the light is reflected and part is refracted. Find the angles the reflected and refracted
The law of reflection establishes a definite relationship between the angle of incidence of a light ray striking the boundary between two transparent media and its angle of reflection. Describe this
Distinguish between specular reflection and diffuse reflection.
Suppose a beam of red light from an He-Ne laser (λ = 633 nm) strikes a screen containing two narrow slits separated by 0.200 mm. The fringe pattern is projected on a white screen located 1.00 m
Why are the Doppler effect and diffraction not as commonly experienced with light as they are with sound?
The blackbody radiation emitted from a furnace peaks at a wavelength of 1.2 x 10-6 m (0.0000012 m). What is the temperature inside the furnace?
What wavelength EM radiation would be emitted most strongly by matter at the temperature of the core of a nuclear explosion, about 10,000,000 K? What type of wave is this?
A copper cylinder with a temperature of 450 K is found to emit 175 J of energy each second. If the cylinder radiates like a blackbody, what is its surface area?
The filament of a light bulb goes from a temperature of about 300 K up to about 3,000 K when it is turned on. How many times more radiant energy does it emit when it is on than when it is off?
Determine the range of wavelengths in the UV radiation band.
Compute the frequency of an EM wave with a wavelength of 1 in. (0.0254 m).
Compute the wavelength of the carrier wave of your favorite radio station.
Sketch the shape of the magnetic field around a bar magnet.
The charger cord used to recharge a cell phone contains a transformer that reduces 120 V AC to 5 V AC. For each 1,000 turns in the input coil, how many turns are there in the output coil?
The resistance of an electric heater is 10 V when connected to 120 V. How much energy does it use during 30 min of operation?
About 40,000 J of energy is stored in a typical 1.5-V D-cell battery. If two such batteries are joined to produce a total of 3.0 V in a flashlight circuit and cause 2.0 A of current to flow through
The generator at a large power plant has an output of 1,000,000 kW at 24,000 V.(a) If it were a DC generator, what would be the current in it?(b) What is its energy output each day—in joules and in
Which costs more, running a 1,200-W hair dryer for 5 min or leaving a 60-W lamp on overnight (10 h)?
An electric clothes dryer is rated at 4,000 W. How much energy does it use in 40 min?
A car’s headlight consumes 40 W when on low beam and 50 W when on high beam.(a) Find the current that flows in each case (V = 12 V).(b) Find the resistance in each case.
All of the electrical outlets in a room are connected in a single parallel circuit. The circuit is equipped with a 20-A fuse, and the voltage is 120 V.(a) What is the maximum total power that can be
An electric eel can generate a 400-V, 0.5-A shock for stunning its prey. What is the eel’s power output?
A 150-V resistor is connected to a variable-voltage power supply.(a) What voltage is necessary to cause a current of 0.3 A in the resistor?(b) What current flows in the resistor when the voltage is

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