Solutions to Practice Test 3

1. A wave motion can best be defined as:

Wave motion is a kind of energy

transfer in a medium due to the
vibration of the particles of the
medium without the particles
themselves moving away from
their positions.

c. the transfer of energy through a medium by particles of the medium

vibrating about their mean position.

2. The time taken by a particle to complete one vibration is called its:

The time taken for one complete vibration is called period represented by T
b. period

3. Frequency (f) of vibration of a particle is:

Frequency is the number of vibrations per second and is measured in Hz
d. the number of vibrations of a particle per second.

4. The unit of frequency is:

a. Hz

5. I the period of vibration of a particle is 2 s, its frequency is:

1
Frequency and period are related such that f T
b. Hz

6.
Upper extreme

Equilibrium position 1 2

Low er extreme

The figure shows two vibrating particles in their equilibrium position. Particle 1 is
beginning to move up and particle 2 is beginning to move down. What is the
phase difference between the two particles in terms of the period?
Particle 1 is beginning to move up when particle 2 is beginning to move down.
This means that particle 2 has completed half a vibration and therefore it is half a
period ahead of particle 1. The phase difference is T/2
b. T/2
7. The distance advanced by the wave by the time a particle completes one vibration
is called:

By he time the first particle vibrates 1

vibration, the energy has just reached
another particle. These two particles are
now in the same phase of vibration. The

distance between these two particles is
one wavelength ()

c. wavelength

8. Which of the following is NOT a definition of wavelength?

While distance between adjacent crests is a wavelength, the distance between a
crest and the nearest trough is half a wavelength.
d. The distance between a crest and a trough

9. What is the correct relation between wave speed (v), wavelength () and
frequency f?
a. v=f

10. What is the wave speed of a wave that has a wave length = 1.5 m and has a
frequency f = 80 Hz?
v = f = 80 Hz 1.5 m = 120 m/s
b. 120 m/s

11. What is the frequency of a wave that has a speed 340 m/s and has a wavelength 3
m?
v = 340 m/s and = 3.0 m
v = f
v 340 m/s
f 113.3 Hz
3m
d. 113.3 Hz

12. An important characteristics of a transverse wave is that:

If the particle vibration

is at right angles to the
direction of propagation
of a wave, it is called a
transverse wave.
b. the particle vibration is at right angles to the direction of wave
propagation.

13. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of longitudinal waves?

 A longitudinal wave is not described using crests and troughs. The corresponding
terms for longitudinal waves are compressions and rarefactions which are regions
of high density and low density in the medium.
d. Wavelength of a longitudinal wave is the distance between two nearest
crests of the wave.

14. Which of the following statements about sound waves is correct?

b. Sound waves are longitudinal waves.

15. In the case of a longitudinal wave:

A region of high density is

the compression and the
particles in a compression
move in the direction of the
wave and in a region of
rarefaction they move
opposite to the direction of
wave propagation.

a. a particle in a region of compression moves in the direction of the

wave.

16. The speed of sound at room temperature is about:

b. 340 m/s

17. If the speed of sound in air at 0o C is 331 m/s, what is its speed at 40o C?
The speed of sound at any temperature vt is related to speed of sound at 0o C vo
as:
vt = vo + 0.6t = 331 + 0.6 40 = 355 m/s
d. 355 m/s

18. Echoes are caused by:

c. reflection of sound

19. Reverberations are caused by:

Repeated reflections of sound produces a prolonged sound effect drowning the
original sound. Such repeated echoes are called reverberations.
b. persistence of sound due to repeated reflections.

20. The science of constructing good auditoriums where sound can be clearly heard
everywhere is called:
d. acoustics.

21. The change in direction of sound waves as they pass through an opening is
called:
 Diffraction involves a change in
direction of waves as they pass
through an opening or around a
barrier in their path. Diffraction
allows us to hear others who are
speaking to us from adjacent
rooms.

b. diffraction.

22. Refraction of sound refers to:

Refraction of waves involves a
change in the direction of waves as
they pass from one medium to
another due to a change in its
speed.

b.. bending of the path of sound waves accompanied by a change in

speed.

23.
Two waves meet with the crest on one
meeting the crest of the other. What is
the outcome for this interference?

The displacement due to both waves add up producing a greater displacement or a

bigger wave.
b. The two waves will assist each other to build a bigger wave.

24. Two waves meet with the crest of one falling on the trough of the other. What is
the outcome of this interference?
The displacement produced by one wave will be cancelled by the displacement of
the other wave. As a result there will be no resultant wave.
a. The two waves will cancel each other and there will be no resultant
wave.

25. When two equal sound waves interfere constructively:

 When two sound waves
interfere constructively, they
produce bigger waves and the
sound becomes louder.

a. a loud sound is produced.

26. When two equal sound waves interfere destructively:

When two sound waves

interfere destructively, the
displacement produced by
one wave is cancelled by the
displacement of the other
wave. As a result no sound
will be heard

b. no sound is produced

27. What will be the outcome when two sound waves of very nearly equal
frequencies are sounded together?

As these two waves advance

together, they get in phase and out
of phase continuously interfering
constructively and destructively in
an alternating manner. This will
produce short intervals of loud
sound and no sound repeatedly.
This phenomenon is called beats.
The number of beats heard per
second, called beat frequency, is
the difference between the
frequencies of the two sounds.

c. Loud sound and no sound will alternate producing beats.

28. What is the beat frequency when a 240 Hz tuning fork is sounded together with a
236 Hz tuning fork?
Beat frequency = 240 Hz 236 Hz = 4 Hz
c. 4 Hz

29. A vibrating object sends out energy in all directions. The amount of energy
transported across unit area in one second is called.

The amount of energy which is transported past

a given area of the medium per unit of time is
known as the intensity of the sound wave and
the loudness is determined by its intensity.
Intensity at a point is a measure of the power
crossing unit area placed at that point. Intensity
is measured in W/m2

d. the intensity of the sound.

30. The unit for measuring intensity of a sound is:

d. W/m2

31. The faintest sound that can be heard by human ear is called:
c. the threshold of hearing.

32. The intensity of the threshold of hearing is:

b. 10-12 W/m2

33. The scale for measuring loudness is:

b. the decibel (dB)

34.
A string of length 2m is
resonating in its fundamental
mode. What is the wavelength
of the wave?
 The wavelength of a stationary
wave is the length of two loops.
Length of one loop = half a
wavelength.

2m
2
4m

b. 4m

35. The fundamental frequency of a stretched length of string is 80 Hz. What is the
frequency of its third harmonic?
The frequency of the third harmonic is three times the fundamental = 80 3 =
240 Hz
c. 240 Hz

36.
How many nodes are there
when a string vibrates in its
fundamental mode?

When a string vibrates in its fundamental mode, each end is a node. There are two
nodes.
b. 2

37. When a string vibrates in its second harmonic, how many antinodes are there in
the string?

Antinode is a point on the string

that has maximum displacement.
When a string vibrates in its A A
second harmonic, there will be
two loops on the string that will
have two antinodes and three
nodes.

b. 2

38.
 The figure shows the air column
inside a closed tube resonating with
the frequency of a tuning fork. If the
length of the tube is 10 cm, what is the
wavelength of the wave inside the
tube?
d. 40 cm

When the air column resonates with the tuning fork for the firs time, a node will
be formed at the closed end and an antinode at the open end. The distance
between a node and an antinode is a quarter wavelength which is the length of the
tube = 10 cm. Wavelength will be four times this distance = 40 cm.

39.
The figure shows the air column
inside a closed tube resonating with
the frequency of a tuning fork. If the
length of the tube is 10 cm, and the
speed of sound is 340 m/s, what is the
fundamental frequency of vibration?
a. 850 Hz
b. 750 Hz
c. 650 Hz
d. 550 Hz

The wavelength = 40 cm = 0.4 m

The frequency is given by:
v 340 m/s
f 850 Hz
0.4 m

40.
 The figure shows the air column
inside a closed tube resonating with
the frequency of a tuning fork. If the
fundamental frequency is 280 Hz,
what is the frequency of the third
harmonic?
c. 840 Hz

The frequency of the third harmonic is 3 times the fundamental = 280 Hz 3 =

840 Hz.

41. All of the following are ways in which light can be produced except:
Light is generally produced by one of the three methods: incandescence,
luminescence, and fluorescence. Reflection is not a process of producing light.
d. reflection

42. What is a fluorescent material?

Materials that absorb ultraviolet radiations and emit visible light are called
fluorescent materials.
b. Fluorescent materials absorb invisible ultraviolet radiations and give
off visible light.

43. What are photons?

Light is considered to be made up of particle like wave packets called photons.
Photons exhibit wave characteristics and they have wavelength and frequency.
c. A photon is a small packet of energy that has a wavelength and a
frequency.

44. All the following statements about radiations are correct except:
All objects emit radiations at all
temperatures. The wavelength of
the radiation emitted depends on
the temperature of the object. As
the temperature increases, the
wavelength of the most prominent
radiation emitted becomes shorter.
An object will emit visible
light only at temperatures above
400 K
 c. An object emits visible light at all temperatures.

45. As the temperature of a radiating object increases, the wavelength of the most
prominent radiation it emits:
c. decreases

46. It is reasonable to assume that white light is:

Visible light consists of radiations of wavelength as long as 700 nm (red) to 400

nm (violet). It s a combination of over 3000 different wavelengths and
frequencies. Each wavelength and frequency corresponds to a particular color.
a. a combination of over 3000 different colors.

47. In spectrum of white light:

b. red color has the longest wavelength.

48. The property of light that produces shadows and images is that:
The rectilinear propagation of light is responsible for the formation of shadows
and images.
c. light travels in a straight line

49. The image in a pinhole camera appears:

As a result of the rectilinear

propagation of light, an image
formed in a pinhole camera is
upside down.

a. upside down.
50. The primary colors for pure colors are:

Red, green and blue are the

primary colors in the case of pure
colors. Equal combination of these
primary colors will produce white
light. Read and green combined
equally produces yellow. Green
and blue combined equally
produces cyan. Blue and red
combined equally produces
magenta.

d. re, blue, and green

51. In pure colors, mixing red and green in equal proportion gives:
d. yellow

52. In pure colors, mixing red and blue in equal proportion gives:
a. magenta

53. In pure colors, mixing blue and green in equal proportion gives:
b. cyan

54. The primary colors for pigments are:

The primary colors for pigments

are yellow, cyan and magenta.
Mixing them equally produces
black.

b. yellow, magenta, and cyan

55. The law of reflection requires that:

c. the angle of incidence be equal to the angle of reflection.

56. When a ray of light falls on a mirror, the angle of incidence is the angle between:
 The angle between the incident ray
I and the normal drawn at the point
of incidence is called angle of
incidence (i)

a. the incident ray and the normal drawn at the point of incidence.

57. Which of the following statements is NOT true of an image formed by a plane
mirror?

The image formed by a plane is

not due to actual intersection of
light rays. It is an illusion created
by the rectilinear propagation of
light. As a result the image is
virtual, formed behind the mirror
and the distance of the image from
the mirror is equal to the distance
of the object from the mirror.

c. We see the image due to actual light rays coming from the image.

58. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic used to describe a curved mirror?

A curved mirror has a

principal axis, a center of
curvature (C), and a
principal focus (F). The
distance between the
principal focus and the
mirror is called the focal
length. Depending on the
curvature, different mirrors
have different focal lengths.

c. All curved mirrors have the same focal length.

59. Focal length of a curved mirror is the distance between:

b. the principal focus and the mirror.

60. When an object is placed very far from a concave mirror:

 When the object is very far from the mirror, the light rays coming from the object
will be all parallel, and after reflecting from the mirror, they will meet at the
principal focus forming a real inverted and small image.
a. a small inverted real image will be formed at the principal focus.

61. When an object is placed at the center of curvature of a concave mirror:

When the object is placed at the

center of curvature of a concave
Object
mirror, a real inverted image of
the same size is formed at the
center of curvature. C F

Image

d. a real inverted image of the same size will be formed at the center of
curvature.

62. The image formed by a convex mirror will be:

No matter where the object is paced, the image formed by a convex mirror will be
always virtual, erect and small.
c. always virtual and erect.

63. Which of the following statements describes the phenomenon of refraction of

light?

As light passes from one

transparent medium to another, it
changes speed, and bends. When
light enters from a less denser
medium to a denser medium, it
bends towards the normal to the
surface. This is because in a denser
medium the speed of light
decreases. When light travels from
a denser medium to less denser
medium, it bends away from the
normal.

c. When light passes from one optical medium into another, it undergoes
change in its direction of propagation due to a change in speed.
64. When light enters from air into glass:
When light enters from air into glass, it bends towards the normal, making the
angle of refraction smaller than the angle of incidence.
a. the angle of incidence will be greater than the angle of refraction.

65. When light enters from water into air:

When light enters from water into air, it bends away from the normal, making the
angle of refraction greater than the angle of incidence.
b. the angle of incidence will be less than the angle of refraction.

66. When light enters from water into air, for a certain angle of incidence in water,
the angle of refraction in air will be exactly 90o. This angle of incidence in water
is called its:
The angle of incidence in the
air
denser medium for which the
normal
angle of refraction in the less
denser medium is 90o is called 90
the critical angle (C)
critical
angle (C)

water
b. critical angle.

67. When light enters from glass into air, if the angle of incidence in glass is greater
than the critical angle for glass, the ray of light:

When the angle of incidence in

air
the denser medium is greater than
normal
the critical angle, the will reflect
back into the denser medium.
This phenomenon is called total total reflection
internal reflection. i> C

glass
d. will reflect back to glass obeying the laws of reflection.

68. Total internal reflection occurs when:

b. light travels from a denser medium into a less denser medium such that the
angle of incidence in the denser medium is greater than the critical angle.

69. Refractive index of an optical medium is defined as:

d. the ratio of speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in the
medium.
70. The speed of light in vacuum is 3.0 108 m/s and the speed of light in water is
2.26 108 m/s. What is the refractive index of water?
speed of light in vacuum 3 108
Refractive index = 1.3
speed of light in the medium 2.26 108
a. 1.3

71. When light passes through a triangular glass prism, the double refraction of light
while entering and leaving cause the emerging light:
As light enters from air into glass,
it bends towards the normal and glass
as it emerges from glass into air it
bends away from the normal.
This double refraction results in
the light bending towards the
i> C
base of the prism.

bends towards the base

c. to deviate towards the base of the prism.

72. Which of the following is NOT a characteristics of a converging lens?

A converging lens is thick

at the center. A ray parallel
to the principal axis after
passing through the lens
converges at the principal
focus The principal focus
of a converging lens is a
real point. The distance
from the principal focus to
the lens is its focal length.
When objects are placed at
distances greater than the
focal length, always real
images are formed.

d. A converging lens forms virtual images of objects placed at distances

greater than its focal length.

73. Choose the statement that is NOT true for lenses.

The image formed by a diverging lens will be always virtual.
d. A diverging lens forms a real image when the object is far away.

74. Describe the image formed by a converging lens when the object is placed
at a distance greater than two focal lengths from the lens.
 When the object is beyond 2F
from the lens, the image is formed
between F and 2F on the other side
of the lens. It is real, inverted and
smaller than the object.

d. The image is diminished, real and inverted.

75. Describe the image formed by a converging lens when the object is placed within
the focal length of the lens.

When the object is

between the focus and
the lens, the image is
enlarged, erect and
virtual. It is formed on
the side of the lens where
the object is.

a. The image is virtual, erect and enlarged.

76. When white light is passed through a triangular glass prism, it splits into several
colors. This is because:
When white light enters the glass prism, each wavelength bends at a different
angle and this results kin the splitting of the colors.
c. when light undergoes double refraction while entering and leaving the
prism, each wavelength bends at a slightly different angle splitting
different waves producing colors.

77. What is the reason for the formation of the rainbow?

When light passes through a rain
drop, blue light is refracted more
than red light and a viewer sees
these colors at slightly different
angles.
 a. When light passes through a rain drop, blue light is refracted more
than red light and the viewer sees these colors at slightly different
angles.

78. Newtons theory on light assumed that light is made up of small particles called:
a. photons

79. The results of the double slit experiment done by Thomas Young established that
light is a form of:
The dark bands indicate the
absence of light and the bright
bands indicate the presence of
light. Dark bands are where light
from both slits meet out of phase
and cancel each other. Since this
is possible only for wave motion,
Youngs experiment supports the
wave theory of light.

b. wave motion.

80. The bright and dark bands observed on the screen of Thomas Youngs double slit
experiment are caused by:
c. interference of light coming from two slits

81. In general light can be thought of as:

a. electromagnetic waves vibrating in vertical as well as horizontal
planes.

82. Polarized light is:

d. light that have vibrations only in one plane.

83. What is a Polaroid filter?

A Polaroid filter cuts off

vibrations in all other
planes allowing only
vibrations in one plane to
pass through it.

b. a filter that allows only vibrations in one plane to pass through it.

84. When unpolarized light is transmitted through a Polaroid filter:

 a: it emerges with one-half the intensity and with vibrations in a single
plane.

85. Light reflected off water is:

Light reflected off water is

partially polarized in a direction
parallel to the water's surface.

a. partially polarized in a direction parallel to the water's surface.

86. Choose the statement that best describes photoelectric effect.

a. When light is allowed to shine on certain types of metals, photons are
emitted by the metal.

87. Einsteins study of photoelectric effect established that:

c. light is made up of energy bundles that have particle characteristics.

88. Einstein established that light is made up of photons that carry an amount of
energy given by:
E = hf where h is Plancks constant and f is the frequency of light.

89. The complementarity principle put forward by Bohr states that:

d. particle theory and wave theory are equally valid in explaining the
behavior of light.

90. The theory that merges particle and wave theory into a single theory is called:
d. quantum elecrtrodynamics.