FORM GR9677 77 THE GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATIONS® PHYSICS TEST Do not break the seal ‘until you are told to do so. The contents ofthis test are confidential, Disclosure or reproduction of any portion of itis prohibited, THIS TEST BOOK MUST NOT BE TAKEN FROM THE ROOM. GRE, GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATIONS, ETS, EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE, end the ETS logo are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service. Copyright © 1996 by Educational Testing Service, All rights reserved, Princeton, NJ. 08541© ee e ee e ee ef. e Se GRADUATE RECORD Examinations’ - GRE’ - suavect test SIDE Se eer oe € 8 9000000000000000000000 06050000000 0050s i (009000000000060000000000000e000000000¢2 er a 08990000000000000009000090000000000004|! ateteteratatatatatal fel lai] 22 (0009600000000Ge000e00090000009900000013 elelsieisisigigieis| Ie} (8) | 2& £9980000000000090000000080009000080000% sisleigialsisis|sie 8} |e Se [FERGsoessssatessersessseszezszsazerzis| srsieisisisigigigiai ie gi} P8000000090 8008860000000 000000000000) Ha Ee 2 99000000000000000000000000000800000005 [gigigigiaig|gigisig Br sh] g & 9 90990000000G0009090000000000NHOOO0000I Igigielgiieigigisie 8] 18 sé 90000006000000000000000000000000000000 sielelelsisisierelel |e 3 ge 9 9900000000000000000000R0000R09NRQQDLA eisigieyersigiegie) (a igi] £g [sess essecreacacscesssesstasenssserccce sialeis|sigistgiei3) le} |e re 9 9990000000008000000000500000000000000 slejalelsisioieleist (Sf Wl] ge 090090000000000800000000000000G0000000 algislsisisigigigigt 1g is} | 28 8 0900600900000000000000000000000000000 sieieisiagisigigig By eh | Be 9 © 8000600008 00000000000000000900090000 sere teiiaisigiet 2} {2 a: 9 80000060000000000000G00000G0900000000 EB [sc cc cc ccscnete cee Ra SER RRERRRERR ARBRE S Steer Fa eRe | cars | [© S0GKC Secunmy—] [~S ReaisTmATON | [= THLE GoDE |[7TEST WME cameo Spare oF ee owe ee Fo ae rs — eo [i [re eusaasy tom rcmason sea] | “erent 2 ao T FoR £008 ea oma 5 SS helateta| lelalataatalata ea eae foetal ~ = Sm ies gl og slesiss eal Bseessel sega S wl8 gig al 12 8 Sie gle ge sl 188889 9a 10 3 3 0 ole ae wmaraca| [9 = /0 l6 sl loo gic gles 8a] [296998 6) [2 8 8 8 Sirs girmporeenac rane ia Bim] Sie gl Hos sle sles esl lege age gl (gee e sf eee eae De 3 bas ruerona-| 19 sm! 918 0! Jo 9 Sle ala Sea) occ sss e) 8888s = ~T IB &] 8188] [oo ole slogo a) [6508380) [0006 oS a om] 916 9) log ols sia seal Issoessel locas oar commun —oosnam | |o ce | ol” 3] [8 dale sia 888] [eee ees S| 8888 SionaTunE: @, oreo yeaa re Ma Semourcrmen Gime wanep cma10 Rest mass of the electron Magnitude of the electron charge Avogadro's number Universal gas constant Boltemann’s constant Speed of light Planck's constant ‘Vacuum permittivity ‘Vacuum permeabi Universal gravitational constant Acceleration due to gravity 1 atmosphere pressure 1 angstrom, ‘TABLE OF INFORMATION mg = 9.11 x 10° kilogram = 9.11 x 10-2 gram = 1.60 x 10° coulomb = 4,80 x 10 statcoulomb (esu) No = 6:02 x 10 per mole R = 8.31 joules/(mole-K) = 1.38 x 10 joule/K = 1.38 x 10~ erg/K € = 3.00 x 108 m/s = 3.00 x 10! cm/s he 63 x 10" joule- second = 4,14 x 10-8 eV second = hin €o = 885 x 10" coulomb?/(newton -meter?) Ho = 4m x 10-7 weber/(ampere - meter) G = 667 x 10° meter*/(kilogram - second?) 8 = 9.80 m/s? = 980 omic? 1 atm = 1.0 x 10% newton/meter® = 1.0 x 105 pascals (Pa) 1A =1x 107 meter 1 woberia® = 1 tesla = 10* gauss ‘Moments of inertia about center of mass 1 gg? Rod ym dupe Disc MR’ 2 ype Sphere gURPHYSICS TEST Time—170 minutes 100 Questions Directions: Each of the questions or incomplete statements below is followed by five suggested answers or comple- ‘ons. Select the one that is best in each case and then fill in the corresponding space on the answer sheet, Figure 1 Current aa R v 3 Figure 2 1, The capacitor shown in Figure 1 above is charged by connecting switch $ to contact a, IF switch S is thrown 12 to contact b at time t ‘through the resistor R as a function of time? wa @)B oc (D)D @e ,_ which of the curves in Figure 2 above represents the magnitude of the current ‘The circuit shown above isin a uniform magnetic field that is into the page and is decreasing in magnitude at the rate of 150 tesla/second. The ammeter rends (A) O15. A B) 0354 (©) 050A (D) 0.65 A (E) 0.80 A GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.Questions 3-4 refer to a thin, nonconducting ring of radius R, as shown below, which has a charge @ unifoemly ‘spread out on it. 2 A jo 3. The electric potential at a point P, which is located on the axis of symmetry a distance from the center of the ring, is given by (A) Fo ©) Teak a gr (O Fre gs © 4meg(R? + x*V DR © aaa A small particle of mass m and charge ~g is placed at point P and released, If R >> x, the particle will Uundergo oscillations along the axis of symmetry with an angular frequency that is equal to a) Vite ©) alti © 4, Tian © 7 FE gmR qx _ © Vanegm Rhee “4 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.5. A car travels with constant speed on a circular road ‘on level ground. In the diagram above, Fy, is the force of air resistance on the car, Which of the cther forces shown best represents the horizontal force of the road on the car's tres? (A) By ) F, © Fe ©) Fp ®) Fe 6. A block of mass m sliding down an incline at constant speed is initially at a height it above the ‘ground, as shown in the figure above. The coeffi- cient of kinetic friction between the mass and the incline is 4. If the mass continues to slide down the incline ata constant speed, how much energy is dissipated by friction by the time the mass reaches ‘the bottom of the incline? (A) mgh/ (B) meh © pmgh/sind @) mghsind ® 0 16 "Or, a 7. As shown above, a ball of mass m, suspended on the end of a wire, is released from height and collides elastically, when itis at its Jowest point, with a block of mass 2m at rest on a frictionless surface, After the collision, the ball rises to a final height equal to A) 19h B) 18 © 13 ©) 12 b €) 23» 8. A particle of mass m undergoes harmonic oscilla: tion with period To, A force f proportional to the speed v of the particle, f= —by, is introduced, If the particle continues to dscillate, the period with F acing is (A) larger than Tp (B) smaller than To (©) independent of (D) dependent linearly on & ©) constantly changing 9. In the spectrum of hydrogen, what is the ratio of the longest wavelength in the Lyman series (n7= 1) ‘o the longest wavelength in the Balmer series (y= 2? (A) 5227 ®) 13 © 49 ©) 32 (E) 3 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.10, 1. 12, 18 Internal conversion is the process whereby an excited ruoleus transfers its energy directly to one of the ‘most tightly bound atomic electrons, causing the clectron to be ejected from the atom and leaving the atom in an excited state. The most probable process after an internal conversion electron is ejected from an atom with a high atomic number is that the (A) ator returns to its ground state through inelastic collisions with other atoms (B) atom emits one or several x-rays (©) nucleus emits a 7-ray (D) nucleus emits an electron @) nucleus emits a positron ‘A beam of neutral hydrogen atoms in their ground state is moving into the plane of this page and passes through a region of a strong inhomogeneous ‘magnetic field that is directed upward in the plane of the page. After the beam passes through this field, a detector would find that it has been (A) deflected upward (B) deflected to the right (©) undeviated (D) split vertically into two beams (B) split horizontally into three beams ‘The ground-state energy of positronium is most nearly equal to (A) 272ev (B) -13.6 eV © ~68ev D) 34eV ©) B6ev 13, 4 ‘4 100-watt electric heating clement is placed in a pan containing one liter of water, Although the ‘heating clement is on for a long time, the water, ‘though close to boiling, does not boil. When the heating element is removed, approximately how Jong will it take the water to cool by 1° C ? (Assume that the specific heat for water is 4.2 kilojoules/kilogram °C.) (A) 208 (B) 40s © 60s @) 1308 E) 200s ‘Two identical 1.0-kilogram blocks of copper metal, one initially at a temperature 7; = 0° C. and the other initially at a temperature T, = 100° C, are enclosed in a perfectly insulating container. The two blocks are initially separated. When the biocks are placed in contact, they come to equilibrium at final temperature Tj, ‘The amount of heat ‘exchanged between the two blocks ia this process is equal to which of the following? (The specific heat of copper metal is equal to 0.1 kilocalorie/ kilogram °K.) (A) 50 keal (B) 25 kcal ©) 10 keal @D) 5 keal ©) Tkeal GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE,15. Suppose one mole of an ideal gas undergoes the reversible cycle ABCA shown in the P-V diagram above, where AB is an isotherm, The ‘molar heat capacities are Cp at constant pressure ‘and Cy at constant volume. The net heat added to the gas during the cycle is equal to (A) RTAV2/V, ®) ~C,(Th-Te) ©) Co(ty-T.) ) RTplaValV) ~ Cy(Th Te) (©) RTpInVs/V; ~ RO -Te) 20 "7. 16. The mean free path for the molecules of a gas is spproximately given by =1, where 1 isthe number density and o is the collision cross section, The mean free path for air molecules at room conditions is approximately @ 104m ®) 107 m © 10° m ©) 10-8 m © 10% m 123456 ‘The wave function for a particle constrained to ‘move in one dimension is shown in the graph above (Y=0 for x<0 and x25). What is the probe- bility that the particle would be found between x22 and x24? (A) 17164 (B) 25164 © 58 ©) ee ® 106 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.18, 22 Consider a potential of the form V@a)=0, rsa VQ)=Vy acx0. ‘The values of S,° and S, are fixed at Sy(S; + 1) and S_(S, + 1), respectively, Which of the following is the energy of the ground state of the system? (A) 0 B) ~IS,5, (©) -JISMS: +1) S24] @D) ~UHUS, + S)(S + Sa + 1) ~ SiS, + 1)- SS2+ DI J [SS 1) + $6 +1) © - 9 In an n-type semiconductor, which ofthe following is true of impority atoms? (A) They accept electrons from the filled valence band into empty energy levels just above the valence band, (B) They accept electrons from the filled valence band into empty energy levels just below the valence band. (© They accept electrons from the conduction ‘band into empty energy levels just below the ‘conduction bend. (B) They donate electrons tothe filled valence band from donor levels just abowe the valence band, (E) They donate electrons to the conduction band from filled donor levels just below the conduction band, For an ideal diatomic gas in thermal equilibrium, the ratio of the molar heat capacity at constant volume at very high temperatures to that at very low temperatures is equal to we ®) 58 ©2 @) 73 ©) 3 8 He, A 80. A string consists of two parts attached at x = 0. ‘The right part of the string (x>0) has mass ip per unit length and the left part of the string (x <0) hhas mass up per unit length. The string tension is T. Ifa wave of unit amplitude travels along the lft part ofthe string, as shown in the figure above, what is the amplitude of the wave that is transmitted to the right part ofthe string? wt 2 pce 7 ta uelny (© Deer, Lela p Mera) Nerstr #1 ® 0 81. A piano tuner who wishes to tune the note D, cor- responding to a frequency of 73.416 hertz has tuned Ay to a frequency of 440.000 hertz, Which har- ‘monic of Dz (counting the fundamental as the first harmonic) will give the lowest number of beats per second, and approximately how many beats will this be when the two notes are tuned properly? Number of Beats 5 05 ol 0372 43 ® 82, Consider two horizontal glass plates witha thin film of air between ther For what values of the thickness of the film of air wall the film, as seen by reflected light, appear bright if itis illuminated normally from above by blue light of wavelength 488 nanometers? (A) 0, 122 nm, 244 nm (B) 0, 122 nm, 366 nm (© 0, 244 nm, 488 xm (D) 122 om, 244 nm, 366 nm (B) 122 am, 366 nm, 610 nm GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.50 3, dq _ ~—— 3 — Consider a particle moving without friction on a rippled surface, as shown above. Gravity acts down in the negative. h direction. The elevation h(x) of the surface is given by (x) =d cos(kx). Tf the particle starts at x=0 with ‘speed > inthe x direction, for what values of ® will the particle say on the surface at all times? (A) vs ea @ ose © 0 see Ovsyy ©) 2>0 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE,52 84, ‘Two pendulums ate attached to a massless spring, 08 shown above. The arms of the pendulums are of identical lengths , but the pendutum balls have tunequal masses my and tz. The initial distance between the masses isthe equilibrium length of the spring, which has spring constant _K. What is the highest normal mode frequency of this system? A) Ge GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE,54 85. Small-amplitude standing waves of wavelength % occur on a string with tension 7, mass per unit length 1, and length L. One end of the string is fixed and the other end is attached to a ring of mass M that slides on a frictionless rod, as shown in the figure above, When gravity is neglected, which of the following conditions correctly determines the wavelength? (You might want to consider the limiting cases M +0 and M — =.) (a) win =2E ce 28 2h san 2RL a © wi 228 an 28h ® pm (D) A= 2Lin, n=1,2,3, ® =2LMntg), 121,23, GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE,86. A positively charged particle is moving in the 2y-plane in a region where there is a non-zer0 uniform magnetic field B in the +z-direction and @ non-zero uniform electric field E in the +y-diree- tion. Which of the following is a possible trajectory for the particle? @ : ® 7 © y 7 f © y 56 87, ‘Two small pith balls, each carrying a charge q, are attached to the ends of alight rod of length'd, Which is suspended from the ceiling by a thin torsion-ftee fiber, a8 shown in the figure shove. ‘There is a uniform magnetic straight down, in the cylindrical around the fiber. The system is initially at rest. IE the magnetic field is tamed off, which of the (A) It rotates with anguler momentum gBR™ (B) erates with angler momenum 2 9B (© tenses wi angler momentum gd (D) It does not rotate because to do so would Violate conservation of angular momentum, B) It does not move because magnetic forces do no work. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE,58 88, ‘A cosxial cable has the cross section shown in the figure above. The shaded region is insulated, The regions in which rn-= 3 transition, which energy level or levels would have to be metastable? (A) n= 1 only (B) n=2 only (©) n= 1 and n= 3 only nai, n=2, and n= 3 ©) None 100, The operator a= | BOE + igBy, when 2 Cy ‘operating on a harmonic energy eigenstate Vp with energy E,,, produces another energy cigen- state whose energy is En — #i@. Which of the following is true? 1. @ commutes with the Hamiltonian. IL & isa Hermitian opcrator and therefore en observable. ' ML, The adjoint operator & (A) Lonly (B) only (C) Il only (D) Land II only (EB) [and Il only ea. IF YOU FINISH BEFORE TIME IS CALLED, YOU MAY CHECK YOUR WORK ON THIS TEST.Scoring Your Subject Test Physics Test scores typically range from 450 to 950. ‘The range for different editions of a given test may vary because different editions are not of precisely the same difficulty. The differences in ranges among different editions ofa given test, however, usually are small. This should be taken into account, especially when comparing two very high scores. The score conversion table on page 73 shows the score range for this edition of the test only. The worksheet on page 72 lists the correct answers to the questions, Columns are provided for you to mark whether you chose the correct (C) answer or an incorrect (I) answer to each question, Draw a line across any question you omitted, because it is noe ‘counted in the scoring. Ac the bottom of the page, enter the total number correct and the total number incorrect. Divide the total incorrect by 4 and suberact, the resulting number from the total correct. This is the adjustment made for guessing. Then round the result to the nearest whole number. This will give you your raw total score. Use the total score conversion table to find the scaled total score that corresponds to your raw total score. Example: Suppose you chose the correct answers to 44 questions and incorrect answers to 30, Dividing 30 by 4 yields 7.5. Subtracting 7.5 ftom 44 equals 36.5, which is rounded to 37. The raw score of 37 corre- sponds to a scaled score of 650. PHYSICS TEST 71 PRACTICE BOOKWorksheet for the Physics Test, Form GR9677 Answer Key and Percentage* of Examinees ‘Answering Each Question Correctly same] [==] (eee amare, [et] [ee [2 Ele gb g a RoE |e out ans oma rena Test Seat Sco (65) = “Tho Pe cone nates the peerage of Physics Test raminoes tat revered son alan cometh ts bated on sano of Decor 1890 ‘Srarnees eae fo rgrasny al Pry Test exsminos ened btvoan (Gricber 909, and Superior 3, 1008, ern 8 as nat coed whan fo ho tas was ogra aire, 74 PHYSICS TEST PRACTICE BOGKScore Conversions and Percents Below* for GRE Physics Test, Form GR9677 ‘TOTAL SCORE Rawiore Seabssooe _% | Rawéieo Seakdseon vom | tm Be me | eos? 6 m6 | oS 6 or 88 @ 0 |e ot 8 oot | soma oo 0 8] 2 mo 4s 8 wo | 2 m8 a ot a 0 % of | 0m os ww |B 036 s a 9 | 7 5g cy a a) 528 5 we sa 27 # eo 5 | BO wea | te 508 a ew o8 | on so 2 8 a #2] w 8 4% sat 9 6 “4 oa] 78 wo 8 on om 7 6 on rn 0% 5 a 8 0 m4 4 m 7 2 mo 8 8 6 33 m ont 12 m4 sv 4D 0 mw 8 8 m6 3 m8. 3 m0 2 7m ot “Proetage scoring bow to sceled scores aod on he pefrmanca ot [ia22 serine wo coe he Phydos Tes Osteen Octobe f 1993, ard Seater 30,1995 PHYSICS TEST PRACTICE BOOK 75