Learning Physics through Simple experiments

Quiz 4
(Correct answers are marked in red color)

1. Which of following oscillate(s)as a function of time

A. Electric field of a charged particle placed at rest
B. Electric field in green laser light
C. Electric current in the filament of a bulb in a typical Indian house
D. Position of a particle going in a circular path

2. A particle makes simple harmonic oscillations between the positions x = -A and

x = +A. The restoring force can be represented by a potential energy function V(x).
Then V(x) is
A. minimum at x = -A
B. minimum at x = +A
C. minimum at x = 0
D. maximum at x = 0

3. A particle oscillates under a force for which the potential energy is V(x) = ½ k( x
- x0 )2. The mean position of the oscillation is at

A. (a)
B. (b)
C. (c)
D. (d)
4. The equation of motion of a particles moving on the x-axis is given by ma = -kx -
bν. Here -kx is the restoring force (call it F1 ) and -bv is the damping force (call it
F2 )

A. (a)
B. (b)
C. (c)
D. (d)

5. The variation of the potential energy corresponding to the forces between two
molecules in a solid is shown as a function of separation between them. Initially
the separation between them is close to r0.
The separation will change in time approximately as

A. (a)
B. (b)
C. (c)
D. (d)
6. An oscillating system has the equation

In steady state, the equation for position would be close to

A. (a)
B. (b)
C. (c)
D. (d)

7. Consider the head massager experiment during the Lecture “Let us resonate”.
When a longer rod was plucked and released, it started oscillating. Other longer
rods too started oscillating with sizeable amplitude but the shorter rods were
almost stationary. In this part of the experiment
A. The base (where all the rods were fixed) provided external periodic force to
the longer rods only and not to the shorter rods.
B. The base had a frequency same as the frequency of the first longer rod
(which was plucked).
C. The frequency of the base vibrations was too different from the natural
frequency of the shorter rods.
D. I was shaking my hand (holding the massager) at the natural frequency of
the longer rods.

8. Consider the experiment during the Lecture “Let us resonate” in which a

magnet M1 was moved in and out in a solenoid A and another magnet M2 was
oscillating in another solenoid B.
A. There was no current in A or B as there was no battery attached anywhere.
 B. M2 started oscillating because the force between M1 and M2 kept
changing due to change in their separation
C. An alternating current was produced in the solenoids and at large
amplitudes of M2, the frequency of the alternating current was close to the
natural frequency of the spring-M2system.
D. An alternating current was produced in the solenoids and the frequency of
the alternating current was close to the frequency with which M1 was
oscillated.

9. The time period of oscillation of a simple pendulum is given by

which is good for small oscillations. A simple pendulum is oscillated with an

amplitude of about 11 degrees (say 1/5 radian). The deviation of time period T
from the calculated value T0 is likely to be (only amplitude effect)
A. <2%
B. Within 5% to 10%
C. 10% to 15%
D. >15%

10. A pendulum is pulled aside and is released from there with a small velocity
transverse to the vertical plane in which it was pulled. The path of the bob will be
A. An ellipse with its major axis rotating.
B. An ellipse with a fixed major axis.
C. A circular arc in a fixed vertical plane
D. A straight line segment

11. A simple pendulum is made by tying a bob at one end of a string whereas the
other end of the string is tied to a horizontal fixed rod by wrapping it several
times on the rod and making a knot. The bob is pulled on one side and gently
released with zero velocity.
 A. The pendulum must oscillate as a conical pendulum (the bob going in a
horizontal circle)
B. The pendulum must vibrate in the same vertical plane
C. The pendulum cannot vibrate in the same vertical plane
D. The nature of the oscillation depends on the initial direction of the string
with respect to the knot

12. A coupled pendulum is made by connecting a soft spring between two

identical pendulums. When the pendulum oscillates with phase difference zero,
the frequency of oscillation is n1 and when the phase difference is π, the
frequency of oscillation is n2.
A. n1 is less than n2
B. n1 is greater than n2
C. n1 is equal to n2
D. n1 and n2 are not equal

13. A particle oscillates in simple harmonic motion. Its phase is completely fixed if
A. Its position is given
B. Its speed is given
C. Its velocity is given
D. Its position and velocity are given

14. Two particles oscillate on the x-axis according to the equations x1 = A cos ωt,
x2 = A cos 2ωt
A. At t = 0, they are in the same phase
 B. At t = π⁄2ω′ they are in the same phase
C. At t = π⁄ω′ they are in the same phase
D. At t = 2π⁄ω′ they are in the same phase

15. Consider the experiment in which a bulb and a lens were oscillated and the
image of the bulb on the board oscillated. In a part, only the bulb was oscillated
and the lens was stationary. The image oscillated with the same frequency as that
of the bulb. The phase difference between the oscillations of the bulb and the
image was
A. 0 degree
B. 60 degree
C. 90 degree
D. 180 degree

16. Consider the Lecture “Let us create waves”. In the first experiment, a glass
tumbler filled with water was placed on the table and the table was gently
pressed and released at a distance. A wave was generated in
A. the table and the tumbler but not in water
B. the water but not in the table or in the tumbler
C. the tumbler and in the water but not in the table
D. the table, in the tumbler and in the water

17. A string is stretched to keep it along the x-axis. Its particles move in the y-
direction. The displacement of the particle at x at time t is given by y = A sin kx cos
ωt
A. Only one wave is travelling on the string and that is in the positive x-
direction
B. Only one wave is travelling on the string and that is in the negative x-
direction
C. Only one wave is travelling on the string and that is in the in y-direction
D. Two waves are travelling on the string, one is the positive x-direction and
the other in the negative x-direction
18. A wave travelling on a string is given as

The shape of the string at t = 0 is given in the diagram (Figure A). With the
same origin, which of the shapes a, b, c, d represents closely the shape of the
string at a slightly later time?

A. (a)
B. (b)
C. (c)
D. (d)

19. A long spring is stretched and kept on the ground. A small jerk is given at the
right end so that some of the turns of the spring are displaced sideways making a
hump as suggested in the figure below.

When the wave reflects from the fixed end at left, the hump moves towards right.
Which of the four figures (a), (b), (c), (d) represents the shape of the spring closely
in this situation?
 A. (a)
B. (b)
C. (c)
D. (d)

20. Consider the situation of the previous problem (Problem 19). The wave has
A. a definite wavelength equal to the width of the hump
B. a definite wavelength equal to double the width of the hump
C. a definite wavelength equal to the average separation between the
consecutive turns of the spring
D. does not have a unique wavelength

21. The electric field in a light wave is given by

A. Its wave length is 400nm

B. Its frequency is 2 * 1015 Hz
 C. It is travelling in a medium with refraction index 1.5
D. Its speed is 300,000 km/s

22. The figure shows the screen shot at a particular instant during the experiment
in which an oscillating bead created waves on water surface with a particular
frequency. Assume that the grayish areas represent roughly the minimum
displacement and the whitish areas represent the maximum displacement (this
assumption may be very very poor because of optics involved). The shadow of a
2-rupee coin is also shown in the figure. The wavelength of the wave is in the
range

A. 0.1 cm - 1.0 cm
B. 2.0 cm - 4.0 cm
C. 5.0 cm - 6.0 cm
D. 7.0 cm - 8.0 cm

23. The figure shows a screenshot of a string fixed at the ends and vibrating at a
certain frequency. Near the antinode, the edges seem to be much brighter and
sharper as compared to the middle parts. This is because
A. the string spends much more time near the edges as compared to that in
the middle region
B. the string becomes thicker when it reaches the edge positions
C. the light arrangement is such that its intensity is more in the edge region as
compared to that in the middle region
D. the black background is not uniform and so the apparent brightness is
different in the edge region and middle region