Question Bank, PHM281: Applied Physics II

Dept. of Physics and Computer Science.

Dayalbagh Educational Institute
Session: 2014-2015
Revised: Jan, 2015.

Unit 1: Lasers and Fiber Optics

Spontaneous and stimulated emissions, Einsteins coefficients, population inversion and lasing action,
coherence, properties and types of lasers, applications, Fermat's principle and Snells Law, optical fiber,
numerical aperture, types of fiber, fiber optic communication principle, fiber optical sensors.
1.
Describe absorption, spontaneous emission and stimulated emission of radiation. Explain the
meaning of Einsteins A and B coefficients and derive the relation between them.
2.
What is population inversion, why is it needed for amplification of light by stimulated emission, and
how is it achieved in practice?
3.
Describe the essential components of a laser. What are their functions?
4.
What is meant by coherence of light? How is it measured? Derive the relation between coherence
length, coherence time and spectral bandwidth, f? What is the operational definition of coherence length?
5.
Write short notes on the properties of the laser beam: (a) Directionality (b) Intensity (c) Coherence
(d) Monochromatic nature
6.
Explain the working of the Ruby laser with the help of an energy level diagram.
7.
Discuss some of the applications of lasers. Consider a CD player, DVD player and blu-ray disc
player. Which of the three do you expect will use a laser with shortest wavelength and why?
8.
Explain Fermat's principle. Derive Snells law from Fermat's principle.
9.
Explain the total internal reflection phenomenon, derive an expression for the critical angle for total
internal reflection, and obtain the expression for the numerical aperture of an optical fiber.
10.
Describe the different types of optical fiber in detail.
11.
Explain the basic principles of fiber optic communication. What limits the speeds of data transfer in
modern fiber optic communication systems?
12.
Explain the working of fiber optic sensors. What are the different types of fiber optic sensors?
13.
(a)The coherence length for light emitted by sodium (D2 line) is 2.5 cm. Deduce (i) coherence time
(ii) the spectral width of the line.
(b) Using a He-Ne laser in a Michelson Morley interferometer, with wavelength 1.15 10-5 cm, interference
fringes remain clearly visible when the path difference was increased up to 8 m. Estimate (i) the coherence
length, (ii) the coherence time (iii) the spectral bandwidth, f, and (iv) the spectral linewidth .
14.
(a) A laser beam can focused on an area 5 10-14 m2. If laser radiates energy at the rate of 1 mW, find
the intensity of focused beam.
(b) A laser source of wavelength = 600 nm, minimum beam width 4 mm and power 10 mW shines on a
surface 100m away. Deduce the intensity of light on the wall.
(c) Approximately how many photons are required per second to produce a red laser beam of 3 mW? A violet
laser beam at 3 mW? An infrared laser operating at 1000 nm at 3 mW?
15.
(a) Calculate the energy difference in eV between the two energy levels of Ne-atoms of a He-Ne
laser, which results in the emission of light with wavelength 632.8 nm.
(b) In the absence of any pumping, what is the ratio of the number of atoms in the higher energy state to the
number of atoms in the lower energy state at room temperature? At what temperature would this ratio be
equal to ?

16.

(a) Make a plot of the angle of incidence versus the angle of transmission for an air-glass interface,
for glass with ng=1.5.

(b) What is the distance that yellow light travels in water (n=1.33) in 1.0s? What will the wavelength and
frequency of the light be in water? Explain why the wavelength changes while the frequency remains
constant.
17.
Calculate the numerical aperture and maximum acceptance angle of a fiber having refractive indices
of core and cladding as 1.62 and 1.52 respectively. What would happen to a light ray incident at 45 degrees?
How would you increase or decrease the numerical aperture?
18.
Consider a fiber with n1= 1.48, n2= 1.46, and with its end placed in water (n=1.33). What is the
maximum angle of incidence at which light can enter the fiber? The light receiving end of the fiber is now
placed in a liquid of unknown index of refraction. Plot the maximum angle of incidence at which light can
enter the fiber as a function of the unknown index of refraction.
19.
Consider a long, straight, multi-mode step-index optical fiber, with fiber core index 1.62 and
cladding index 1.52. The length of the fiber is 100m and the diameter of the fiber is 100 microns. Light
enters the optical fiber at the maximum acceptance angle. How many times is the light internally reflected
before it exits the fiber? Sketch the path traveled by the light entering the fiber.

Unit 2: Conductors, Dielectrics and Magnetic Materials

Free electron theory (classical and quantum), Fermi-Dirac statistics, band theory of solids, dielectrics, types of
polarization, internal field and Clausius-Mosotti equation, ferroelectric materials, magnetic materials, types and
properties, domain theo:ry, hard and soft magnetic materials, application, superconductivity and types, Meissner
effect, high temperature superconductors, applications.

1.
On the basis of the band theory of solids, explain the difference between insulators, semiconductors
and metals. Give examples of each.
2.
Explain the basics of classical and quantum free electron theory of metals. What are the weaknesses
of classical free electron theory? Give the formula for the Fermi-Dirac distribution; plot it at low and high
temperatures. Explain the physical interpretation of Fermi-Dirac statistics as a consequence of the Pauli
exclusion principle.
3.
What is an electric dipole moment? How is it related to polarization? Consider an electric dipole
formed by a pair of opposite charges, separated by a fixed distance r. Derive an expression for the force and
torque on the dipole in an external electric field.
4.
(a) Describe three kinds of polarization of molecules in an external electric field, with help of
diagrams.
(b) Explain the relation between polarization and dielectric media. Define, and give the relation between, the
electric susceptibility and dielectric constant of a medium.
(c) What are ferroelectric materials?
5.
Explain the Clausius-Mossoti relation.
6.
Classify and describe the various types of magnetic materials. Explain the difference between
diamagnetic, paramagetic and ferromagnetic materials.
7.
What is a magnetic dipole moment? Describe the magnetic field of a small loop of current. What is
the magnetic field due to a magnetic dipole? What is the force on a magnetic dipole in an external magnetic
field?
8.
Explain the difference between hard and soft magnetic materials.
9.
What are the physical properties of Ferromagnets? Give examples of Ferromagnetic materials. What
is the difference between a ferro-electric material and a ferromagnetic material?
10.
What are the different types of superconductivity? Explain the difference between type I and type II
superconductors. Discuss the some of the practical applications of superconducting materials.
11.
Explain the Meissner effect. In what way is a superconductor different from a perfect conductor?
12.
(a) Give some examples of low temperature superconducting materials. What is the range of critical
temperatures for low-temperature superconductivity?
(b) Give some examples of high-temperature superconductors. What are the critical temperatures for these

materials? Are these materials type I or type II superconductors?

13.
(a) Explain the physical sigificance of Fermi energy.
(b) Evaluate the Fermi energy for sodium. The density of sodium is 0.971 g/cc. The atomic weight of sodium
is 22.99.
(c) Evaluate the Fermi energy for lithium. The density of lithium is 0.534 g/cc. The atomic weight of sodium
is 6.94.
14.
Two parallel plates carrying equal and opposite charges are separated by a dielectric 5mm thick, with
dielectric constant 3. The electric field intensity in the dielectric is 100 V/m. Calculate the displacement D
and polarization P in the dielectric.
15.
(a) For a gas at 300K, the dielectric constant is 1.000042. What is the electric susceptibility at this
temperature?
(b_The dielectric constant of Helium at a particular temperature is 1.000074. Find the dipole moment
induced in each Helium atom, if the gas is in an external electric field of 100 V/m.
16.
A cube of magnetite, with sides of length 5 cm, is magnetized to saturation in a direction
perpendicular to two of its faces. What is the magnitude of the bound-charge current that flows around the
circuit made up of the other four faces of the cube? The saturation magnetization in magnetite is 4.8105
J/Tesla-m3.
17.
You have a supply of polyethylene tape, with dielectric constant 2.3. The tape is 5.7 cm wide and
0.025 mm thick. You also have a supply of aluminum tape, 5 cm wide and 0.012 mm thick. How would you
use these materials to make a capacitor of capacitance .05 microfarad? Estimate the amount of aluminum
and polyethylene tape you would need and the diameter of the resulting capacitor.
18.
The magnetic field of the Earth is approximately that of a central dipole. At the north magnetic pole,
the Earth's magnetic field is vertical. It has a strength of .62 gauss. (1 Gauss = 104 Tesla.) (a) What is the
magnitude of the Earth's magnetic dipole moment in Joules/Tesla?
(b) Estimate the size and direction of the Earth's magnetic field at the Equator. (The radius of the Earth is
approximately 6,000 km.)
19.
A superconducting solenoid designed for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is 0.9 meters in
diameter and 2.2 meters long. The field at its centre is 0.4 Tesla. Estimate the total energy stored in the field
of this coil (in Joules.)

Unit 3: Nuclear Physics

Laws, units of activity, half life, mean life and decay constant, measurement of decay constant. Detectors of
nuclear radiation, Ionisation, Proportional and Geiger-Muller counters. Uses of nuclear radiations, nuclear size,
Carbon Dating, Binding Energy and Packing Fraction. Nuclear fission and fusion, Basic Nuclear Reactors.

1.

What is radioactivity? Describe in detail the properties of -, - and - rays.

2.
Define the terms: decay constant, activity, half-life, and mean-life. What are the SI units for activity?
Derive the relation between half-life, mean-life and the decay-constant.
3.
The radioactive decay of a sample of Iodine-128 is being measured. After 4 minutes, it is found that
the sample has an activity of 392 counts/sec. After 68 minutes, the sample has an activity of 65.5 counts/sec.
After 100 minutes the sample has an activity of 26.8 counts/sec. What is the disintegration constant and halflife of Iodine-128? After how may minutes will the activity of the sample be less than 1.0 counts/sec?
4.
Explain the laws of radioactive disintegration and obtain an expression for the decay of a
radioactive substance.
5.
Describe, with the help of a neat graph, the response of Ionisation current with applied voltage of a
gas-filled chamber due to the incidence of various types of nuclear radiations.
6.
Describe the construction and working of an Ionisation Counter, a Proportional Counter and a
Geiger-Muller Counter.
7.
Briefly describe some experimental techniques by which we can measure the size of the nucleus.
How does the radius of a nucleus vary with its mass number A?

8.

Define one atomic mass unit (u). Calculate its energy equivalence.

9.
Define (i) Binding Energy and (ii) Packing Fraction. Plot the Binding Energy per Nucleon as a
function of Mass number A.
10.
(a) Calculate the binding energy and packing fraction of Iron-56 (Z=26). The atomic mass of Iron-56
is 55.934939 u . The mass of a neutron is 1.008665 u . The atomic mass of Hydrogen is 1.007825 u . (One
atomic mass unit=931.494013 MeV/c2.)
(b) Calculate the binding energy and packing fraction of Nickel-62 (Z=28). The atomic mass of Nickel-62 is
61.929670 u.
(c) Which is more stable, Iron-56 or Nickel-62?
11.

(a) Explain the principles behind carbon dating.

(b) 6.0 g of ancient charcoal sample has a carbon-14 activity of 63.0 disintigrations per minute. A living tree
has carbon-14 activity of 15.3 disintegrations per minute per 1.00 g. How old is the charcoal sample? (The
half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years.)
12.

What is a nuclear reactor? State and explain the various components of a nuclear reactor.

13.
(a) The half-life of Radon is 3.8 days. After how many days will only one-twentieth of Radon sample
be left over ?
(b) One gram of a radioactive material having a half-life period of 2 yrs is kept in store for a duration of 4
yrs. How much of the material will remain unchanged?
(c) The half-life period of Radium is 1590 yrs. After how many years will one gram of the pure element (i)
be reduced to one centigram and (ii) lose one centigram?
14.

What is meant by thermonuclear fusion? Describe the process of thermonuclear fusion in the sun.

15.

(a) Describe a typical fission event of U235.

(b) Calculate the energy released by fission of 1 g of U235 in KWH. (The energy per fission is 200 MeV.)

Unit 4: Special Theory of Relativity

Frames of reference, laws of mechanics, inertial frame of references, Galilean transformation, hypothesis of
Galilean invariance, Non-inertial frames and fictional forces, centrifugal force, Michelson-Morley experiment,
postulates of the special theory of relativity, Lorentz transformation and addition of velocities, conservation of
momentum and variations of mass, relativistic energy, Mass- energy and momentum-energy relation, particle with
zero rest mass.

1.
What is the difference between inertial and non-inertial frames of reference? Give examples of each.
Using Newton's laws, show that fictitious forces must be present in non-inertial frames.
2.
Explain the meaning of the centrifugal force. If you are standing on the Earth's equator, by how
much is your weight reduced due to the Earth's rotation?
3.
Describe the Michelson-Morley experiment. What is the significance of the Micelson-Morely
experiment? Are the results of the Michelson-Morley experiment consistent with the postulates of special
relativity?
4.
State and explain the postulates of special relativity. Directly from the postulates of special relativity,
(without using Lorentz Transformations) derive a formula for time dilation. Explain the physical meaning of
the result.
5.
Derive an expression for Lorentz transformations starting from the postulates of special relativity.
Show that Lorentz transformations reduce to Galilean transformations when the relative velocity between
two observers is much less than the speed of light.
6.
(a) Derive the rule for (relativistic) addition of velocities, using either Lorentz transformations or the
postulates of special relativity.
(b) Galaxy A is reported to be moving away from us at a speed .55c. Galaxy B is moving away from us at the

same speed in precisely the opposite direction. According to ann inertial observer on Galaxy A, (a) what is
the velocity of our galaxy? (b) what is the velocity of Galaxy B?
7.
(a) Using Lorentz transformations, show that the spacetime interval between two events, defined as
s2= -c2t2 + x2 + y2 + z2, is the same for all inertial observers.
(b) In an inertial frame S, a red light and a blue light are at rest and separated by a distance of 5.45 km. In
frame S, the blue light flashes first and then the red light flashes, 3.3 micro-seconds later. A train is moving
from the blue light towards the red light at speed 0.89c as measured in frame S. What is (i) the distance
between the two flashes and (ii) the time separation between the two flashes, as measured by an observer S'
on the train? Comment on the result.
8.
Two events happen at the same place on a moving rocket, with a time separation of 3 seconds, as
measured using a clock on the rocket. According to an observer on Earth, the two events occur at two
different locations, separated by 12105 kilometers.
(a) What is the time separation between these two events as measured by the observer on Earth?
(b) What is the speed of the rocket relative to the Earth?
9.
(a) Explain why the non-relativistic expressions for momentum and energy must be modified in
special relativity. Starting from the expression for relativistic momentum, derive an expression for relativistic
kinetic energy, assuming the relation F = dp/dt and F dx=dE.
(b) Show that E2 - p2c2 =m02c4 where E is the relativistic energy, m0 is the rest mass and p is the relativistic
momentum of a particle. Why must particles of zero rest mass travel at the speed of light?
10.
A consequence of the postulates of special relativity is that two events which happen at the same
time in one frame might not happen at the same time in another frame. Explain this with an example.
11.
An astronaut travels to a star 25 light-years away, and then immediately returns to Earth. According
to observers who stayed on Earth, the astronaut departs Earth on January 1, 2014 and returns to Earth on
January 1, 2084. How long will the journey take according to the astronaut, assuming he travels at the same
constant speed on both legs of his journey?
12.
A muon is an elementary particle that decays in 2.2 microseconds (as measured in its rest frame.) A
cosmic ray strikes the atmosphere, producing a high-speed muon. According to an observer on earth, the high
speed muon travels a distance of 100km before decaying. How fast was the muon traveling? Calculate the
answer (a) in the rest frame of the muon, using length contraction; and (b) in the rest frame of the earth using
time-dilation. Explain why the answers must agree.
13.
An observer on earth measures the length of a spaceship to be exactly half of its rest length. (a) What
is the speed of the spaceship relative to the Earth? (b) By what factor do the clocks on the spaceship run
slow, compared to clocks on Earth?
14.
Can a person, in principle, travel from Earth to the centre of the Galaxy (which is 23,000 light-years
away) in a normal human lifetime? Explain using time-dilation and/or length contraction. What constant
speed would a spaceship need to travel, for the trip to take 30 years, as measured by a passenger on the
spaceship?
15.
Suppose a father is 25 years older than his son. He travels to location far away from earth, and then
returns back to Earth. Each leg of the journey takes two years as measured by the father. When the father
returns to Earth, he finds that he is 25 years younger than his son. How fast did he travel and how far away
was the galaxy?
16.
An electron, initially at rest, is accelerated through a potential difference of 25.0 kV. What is its
resulting velocity? By how much does the exact answer (calculated using special relativity) differ from the
approximate answer calculated using non-relativistic expressions? What is the highest potential difference
for which the non-relativistic answer is within 1% of the correct relativistic answer?
17.
How much work must be done to accelerate an electron (a) from rest to a speed of 0.01c (b) from
.18c to .19c (c) from .98c to .99c? Comment on the answer.
18.
A proton with kinetic energy K collides with another proton at rest, to produce a proton antiproton
pair as follows:

p + p p + p + p+p
The mass of a proton is 938.3 MeV/c2. What is the minimum value of K for this to occur?
19.
(a) What is the speed of an electron with momentum 12.5 MeV/c? What is the speed of a proton with
momentum 12.5 MeV/c? (The rest mass of electron = .5110 MeV/c2, and rest mass of proton = 938.3
MeV/c2.) Compare your answers and explain the difference.
(b) In the Stanford Linear Accelerator, an electron has kinetic energy of 50.0 GeV. What is its velocity?
Express your answer to an appropriate number of significant figures, as a fraction of the speed of light. What
is the velocity of an electron with total energy 100 GeV?
20.
Luminous energy from the sun strikes the top of Earth's atmosphere at 1372 W/m2. Earth is 1.51011
m from the sun. (a) Estimate the total amount of mass (in kg) that must be converted into energy inside the
sun every second to provide this much luminous energy. (b) What is the the force exerted by sunlight on the
flat, highly-reflecting 40m50m wall of an Earth-orbiting space-station that is facing the sun?

Unit 5: Electrodynamics
Coulomb's law for distribution of charges, polarization and Gauss's law, electric current and equation of
continuity, magnetic induction and Lorentz force, steady current and Biot-Savart law, Ampere's law, magnetization
and magnetic intensity, Faraday's law of induction, generalization of Ampere's law, Maxwell's equation,
electromagnetic wave equation, propagation of EM waves in free space, Poynting vector.

1.

(a) State and explain Gauss's law (in both integral and differential form). How is Gauss's law related
to Coulomb's law?
(b) Use Gauss's Law and symmetry arguments to (i) derive an expression for the electric field due to an
infinite plane of constant charge density and (ii) derive an expression for the electric field due to an infinitely
long charged wire.
2.
Consider a charged sphere of radius R, with constant charge density in its interior. The total charge
contained in the sphere is Q. What is the electric field (a) inside the sphere, r<R and (b) outside the sphere,
r>R? Plot the electric field as a function of distance from the centre of the sphere.
3.
(a) Consider a cube with sides of length b. A charge -e is placed at each of the cube's 8 corners. A
charge +2e is placed at the centre of the cube. What is the total electrostatic energy of the configuration?
(b) Three protons and three electrons are placed at the vertices of a regular octahedron, with edge length a.
How many genuinely different arrangements are there? What is the electrostatic energy of each arrangement?
4.
(a) Explain the equation of continuity and the relation between charge conservation and current
conservation. In SI units, what are the units of charge density and current density?
(b) The current density in a cylindrical wire or radius R=2.0 mm is uniform across the cross-section of the
wire, and is j=2.0105 A/m2 . What is the total current flowing through the outer part of the wire, between
radial distaces R/2 and R?
5.

(a) A charged particle is in an external electric and magnetic field. What is the force on the particle?

(b) Suppose that E=0 and B=Bk. What is the trajectory of a charged particle initially at rest? What is the
trajectory of a charged particle with non-zero initial velocity in the x-direction?
6.
An electron with kinetic energy 22.5 eV moves into a region of space with a uniform magnetic field
B, with magnitude 4.55 10-4 T. The angle between the electron's velocity v and the magnetic field B is 65.6
degrees. Describe the trajectory taken by the electron.
7.
(a) State Ampere's law. Consider an infinitely-long and straight current carrying wire. Obtain an
expression for the magnetic field a distance r from the wire.
(b) A steady current of 8000 Amperes flows through a metal rod of 4cm diameter. Assuming the current is
distributed uniformly through cross-section of the rod, find the strength of the magnetic field at a distance of
1 cm, 2 cm, and 3 cm from the axis of the rod.
8.
Consider two long, parallel current-carrying wires, carrying currents I1 and I2, a distance d apart.
What is the force between the two wires? Use the Biot-Savart law and Lorentz force law.

9.
(a) State and explain the Biot-Savart law. (b) Consider a current in a circular loop of wire, of radius
r. Draw a picture of the magnetic field lines due to this current distribution. Obtain an expression for the
magnetic field along the axis passing through the centre of the loop.
10.
Oersted first discovered that electricity and magnetism were related by placing a compass near a
current-carrying wire during a lecture. How much current must be passed through a long, straight wire to
produce a magnetic field comparable to the Earth's magnetic field at a distance of 5cm from the wire? (The
Earth's magnetic field in Copenhagen is about 0.2 Gauss where Oersted did his experiment.)
11.
A solenoid is made by winding two layers of copper wire around a cylinder 8 cm in diameter. The
cylinder is 32 cm long. In each layer, the wire is wound around the cylinder 4 rounds per centimeter. The
wire has diameter .16 cm and resistance of 0.010 ohm/meter. The solenoid is connected to a 50 V generator.
What is the magnetic field at the center of the solenoid?
12.
(a) What happens if you take a rectangular loop of wire and move it at a constant speed through a
uniform magnetic field? What if you move the loop of wire through a nonuniform magnetic field?
(b) An electric generator contains a coil of 100 turns of wire, each forming a rectangular loop with
dimensions 50.0 cm by 30.0 cm. The coil is placed in a uniform magnetic field with magnitude 3.50 Tesla.
What is the maximum emf produced when the coil is spun at 1000 rev/minute about an axis perpendicular to
the magnetic field?
13.

(a) State and explain Faraday's law of induction.

(b) Consider a cylindrical solenoid 15 cm in diameter and 3 m long. It has a single layer of wire winding
with total of 1200 turns. Calculate the self-inductance of the solenoid. Use the approximation that the
magnetic field is uniform and constant throughout the entire solenoid. Estimate the error caused by this
approximation.
14.

(a) Derive an expression for the total energy stored in an inductor of inductance L.

(b) A coil with resistance of 0.01 ohm and self-inductance 0.50 millihenry is across a 12V battery (with
negligible internal resistance.) How long after the switch is closed will the current reach 90% of its total
value? At that time, how much energy is stored in the magnetic field? How much energy has been withdrawn
from the battery?
15.

(a) How did Maxwell modify Ampere's law and why was it necessary?

(b) Write down Maxwell's equations. Briefly explain each equation. How would these equations be modified
if magnetic charge and current density existed in nature?
16.
(a) Show that Maxwell's equations in vacuum admit plane wave solutions. What is the velocity of
these waves?
(b) Write formulas for the electric and magnetic fields E and B that specify a plane electromagnetic wave
with the following properties: The frequency is 200 GHz. The wave is traveling in the -x direction. The
electric field is perpendicular to the z direction. What is the Poynting vector for these waves?
(c) The electric field of a beam of light is E = (0, E sin[kx-t], 0), with E=5.00 V/m, and k=(1.00106 m-1).
What is the corresponding magnetic field? In what direction is the wave traveling? State the wavelength,
frequency, and intensity of the light.
17.

(a) Explain the physical interpretation of the Poynting vector.

(b) Sunlight falls on Earth with power density 1 kW/m2. How large are the average electric and magnetic
fields, E and B, of the electromagnetic waves comprising sunlight?
(c) Consider a 100W light bulb, which operates at 2.5% efficiency. How large are the average electric and
magnetic fields of the electromagnetic waves radiated by the light bulb at a distance of 3 meters away from
the bulb?
18.
A large solenoidal coil of long length l1, radius a, and number of turns N1 coaxially surrounds a
smaller coil of long length l2 , radius a, and number of turns N1. Find the coefficient of mutual inductance
between the two solenoids. (Hint: Assume the magnetic field is essentially uniform within the cylinders.)
References: Halliday, Resnick and Walker, Principles of Physics, 9th Edition.