PA1120 Light and Matter 1

PA1120 Light and Matter

Handbook 2021-22

Contents

1 Module Outline 2

2 Module delivery 2

3 Expected workload 4

4 Assessment 4

5 Feedback 6

6 How to complete core exercises 7

7 Reading list 8

8 Workshop questions 9

9 Core Exercises 13
PA1120 Light and Matter 2

1 Module Outline
In this module you will study the physics of heat (thermodynamics) and the physics of light (optics).
We will discuss thermal equilibrium and how an absolute temperature scale can be defined in terms of
the properties of simple gasses. We will investigate heat, work, entropy and the first and second laws of
thermodynamics – the physics behind machines from refrigerators to jet engines. We will also explore
the basic properties of light and geometric optics – the description of light propagation in terms of
rays. We will study wave effects such as interference and diffraction, and examine applications such as
diffraction gratings.

1.1 Topics covered:

• Thermal equilibrium and temperature scales

• Ideal gases
• First law of thermodynamics, heat capacities
• Second law of thermodynamics, heat engines, entropy change, thermal conduction and radiation
• Wave-particle duality
• Geometric optics
• Interference and diffraction

1.2 Teaching staff:

• Rhaana Starling (rlcs1@le.ac.uk; office F19A) – module leader

• Tim Yeoman (yxo@le.ac.uk; office F67)
• Andrew Blain (ab520@le.ac.uk; office G18)

The School operates an open door policy. If you have any questions about the module, please do speak
to us. Use email or MS Teams to arrange a meeting.

2 Module delivery
The timetabled sessions for this module are as follows:

• 16 lectures [1 hr]
• 4 workshops [2 hr]
• 4 feedback lectures [1 hr]
• 1 revision workshop [2 hr]

There are 4 units in PA1120 Light and Matter, with the lectures, workshops and core exercises divided
equally among them.

2.1 Lectures

Lectures are used for introducing and discussing the scientific content of the module. But lectures
should not be relied upon as the only source of material. There is a textbook for this module (see
section 7) – you should be reading the textbook and reviewing online lectures and making notes to
have the best chance of understanding the material and performing well in the module.

Each lecture should last no more than 50 minutes, starting on the hour (e.g. 10.00am). Attend on time,
pay close attention, and make detailed notes in real time. While lectures are recorded and will be made
PA1120 Light and Matter 3

available on Bb, the recording quality in a live event is understandably not as good as for a pre-recorded
lecture and the ability to make accurate notes is a key transferrable skill that it is important to develop.
If you have questions about content, please raise them during the lecture or speak to the lecturer after
the session.

All the lecture recordings will be shared through links in the Blackboard Learning Materials section.
Any slides will also be shared through this Blackboard folder.

If you have any questions about the course material, structure or assessment, please do raise these with
the module team.

2.2 Workshops

Workshops are live, problem-solving classes. They give you the opportunity to practise problem-solving
in a team, with staff available to offer feedback.

Communication and problem solving are important skills for all physics students and graduate physi-
cists. Discussing physics and mathematics problems with students and staff, and solving them within
your team, will help you to develop as a physicist and help you to gauge your understanding of the
material covered. You should use workshops to practise your problem solving and develop your under-
standing of the relevant concepts; to find out which areas you are good at, and in which areas you need
to improve.

Time Management: To make the most of the workshop you should come prepared: attend the session
on time and make sure you and your team are ready to work on the exercises. The exercises are typically
designed so that you should be able to complete them within 60 min.

Marking: During the workshop you will be able to check your answers by completing on online test.

2.3 Core exercise feedback sessions

Each unit has one set of core exercises. These provide you with an opportunity to practise problem
solving and develop your conceptual understanding of the material. Problem solving is an essential
part of the learning process as it is only through repeated practice that you will develop the skills you
need to excel as a student and as a graduate physicist. Core exercises are also your chance to gain
experience with exam-style questions.

You should work on the core exercises for each unit steadily, as the lectures proceed, writing out all
your working and solutions. Shortly before the exercises deadline an online test will open. In order to
complete a set of core exercises you must submit two items:

• A PDF scan of your written working, and

• Your answers to the online test – based on your written working.

Shortly after the submission deadline for the exercises there will be a feedback session. These are
lectures providing feedback and help with the exercises. You should use this feedback to gauge your
understanding of the material – to find out which areas you are good at, and in which areas you need
to improve.
PA1120 Light and Matter 4

2.4 Team working

Team working is an important skill for all professional physicists. During the module you will have
opportunities to work in a team, but you will also be expected to complete some tasks on your own.

Workshops: Team work is an important part of a workshop. You should discuss problems, problem
solving techniques, and the underlying concepts with fellow students and with staff.

Core exercises: Although you may work together on core exercises, we encourage you to work individ-
ually. It is important that you always write up your answers in your own words to gauge your own
understanding of the material.

Term tests: You must work individually on term tests. Team working is not permitted.

Final exam: You must work individually on the final assessment (Jan or May). Team working is not
permitted.

Plagiarism and collusion are expressly forbidden in individual assessed work. Any submitted work for
Term tests or final exams that is in breach of University Senate regulations on plagiarism and collusion
may result in a mark of zero for the assessment, the module, or the year depending on the severity of
the breach and any past record of regulation breaches.

3 Expected workload
The module is worth 15 credits, and therefore the expected total workload is 150 hours. As a guideline,
we expect these hours to be allocated roughly as follows:

activity hours description

lectures 50 attending lectures, reading ahead of lectures and making notes afterwards
core exercises 15 completing core exercises, watching the feedback session
workshops 10 preparing ahead of workshops, organising notes afterwards
term test 15
exam prep. 60 private revision and taking summer assessment.
total 150

4 Assessment
The module mark is built from the following elements:

• 30% coursework
– 10% engagement (5% from core exercises, 5% from workshop engagement)
– 20% term test
• 70% summer assessment (May)

The pass mark for the module is 40%. The above elements are designed to assess you against the
following intended learning outcomes (ILOs). By the end of the module you should be able to:

• state the laws of thermodynamics and the basic laws which describe the behaviour of light;
• give an account of the origins of the laws studied and show how they are derived;
• state the laws in mathematical form and define all the terms used;
PA1120 Light and Matter 5

• describe some key properties of heat and light;

• derive mathematical relationships which describe the properties and behaviour of heat and light;
• solve problems relating to thermodynamics and optics at an appropriate level;
• organise appropriate private study time, obtain new information from text books, communicate
physics concepts and ideas to your peers and to staff.

4.1 Engagement marks

Engagement marks are derived from contributions to core exercises and workshops: workshop engage-
ment contributes 5% and core exercises contribute 5% to the final module mark.

Core exercises

For each unit there will be one set of core exercises for you to attempt during private study time.
Core exercises are designed to assist your learning and understanding of the material, and are often
similar to the problem-solving parts of section B exam questions. To solve the core exercises you may
need to read new material and study example problems in the course text or other text books. Such
self-directed study is a valuable part of your learning and a key skill that is important to develop.

The core exercises are assessed by engagement. To obtain a full engagement mark for each set of core
exercises you must attempt the exercises to the best of your ability, and submit clear and competent
working for the exercises by the deadline.

To make sure you obtain full credit for your work your answers should be legible, they should be set
out logically with any diagrams clearly labelled and variables properly defined. In long mathematical
derivations it is good practice to add some words to help explain what you are doing. Please check the
marking criteria for CE submissions in the Assessment and Feedback area of the PA1010 Bb site to
make sure you know what is expected of you in the handwritten submission.

The marks and feedback you receive for core exercises are formative. This means they should be used
as a guide to help you see where to focus your efforts in the future.

The core exercise engagement mark is made up from 50% from the attempt at the electronic exercises
and 50% from the clarity and style of your scanned handwritten submission.

Workshops

For each unit there will be one set of workshop exercises to be attempted and discussed during a
workshop session.

The workshops are assessed by engagement. To obtain a full engagement mark for each workshop you
must attend the session and attempt the exercises to the best of your ability. If you are unable to attend
a workshop for good reason, let us know by submitting an application for mitigating circumstances. In
this case we will typically ask you to complete the Blackboard workshop test to gain your engagement
mark.

As with core exercises, to complete the workshop exercises and develop your background knowledge
and understanding you may need to read new material and study example problems in the course text
or other text books.
PA1120 Light and Matter 6

4.2 Term test

The term test is a set of questions released (through Blackboard) at the start of the module. Work
through these questions steadily as the module progresses. You submit your final answers using an
electronic test on Blackboard (go to the Assessment and Feedback area of the Blackboard page) near
the end of term.

To obtain full credit for term test questions you must upload a scanned copy of your working out (which
should be clearly laid out, in a manner similar to that for core exercises) in addition to submitting the
electronic test. Late penalties will apply if either your electronic test and/or your scanned working are
submitted late.

4.3 Exam

There is a final assessment (‘exam’) to be sat during the exam period. The exam paper will contain
two sections:

• Section A: three shorter questions, worth 10 marks each.

• Section B: three longer questions, worth 20 marks each.

The maximum exam score is 90 marks. To aid your revision, the three most recent past papers are
accessible through Blackboard (go to the Information Repository > Year 1 > past papers). To do well
in the exam it is important to revise all the topics covered in PA1120; the exam questions will assess a
mixture of material from throughout the module.

The exams will be open-book, meaning you can consult your notes and textbooks, and the paper will
include the standard sheets of mathematical formulae and physical constants. You will submit your
full working and solutions online.

5 Feedback
Our programme is designed to provide you with the feedback you need to succeed.

Your primary source of feedback for PA1120 is through workshops, marks for core exercises, feedback
lectures, and discussions with module staff as part of our open door policy. You will also receive a
percentage mark for the term test which you can use to gauge your progress and, finally, an overall
module mark following the final assessment.

5.1 Core exercise feedback

You will receive marks for the online tests, and during the feedback sessions the instructor will outline
the model answers. The marks are purely formative: they will not contribute to your engagement mark
for the module, but are there to help you measure your progress. Use the feedback from core exercises
to find out which areas you are good at, and which areas you need to improve.

The core exercise answers you produce, together with your marks and the notes you make on the
model answers delivered during feedback session are an extremely valuable revision aid. You should
keep detailed records of these and refer back to the questions and answers during revision.
PA1120 Light and Matter 7

5.2 Workshop feedback

Workshops are a good opportunity to get detailed feedback on your work from a member of staff and
from your peers: speak to staff and fellow students for real-time feedback as you work through the
exercises.

Each set of workshop questions is supported with a Blackboard test – accessible through the Assessment
and Feedback section on the Blackboard module site. You can attempt the test as many times as you
like. Use the test to gauge your understanding of the material, and use the feedback on incorrect
answers to stimulate discussion and aid your learning.

Towards the end of the workshop the instructors give some further hints and tips. It is a good idea to
keep your working and marks, and take notes on the feedback, as they will make a useful revision aid.

Often instructors will not reveal the full answers. This is deliberate! The best way for you to develop
your ability as a physicist is to actively engage with problem solving where you do not know the right
answer. After the feedback, re-try any problems that you could not complete and use the Blackboard
tests to determine if your answers are correct. If, after this, you are still stuck - speak to us!

5.3 Term test and final exam

You will receive an overall percentage mark for the term test and for the final assessment (Jan or May).

6 How to complete core exercises

As explained above (section 2), you should write out your complete working and solutions to the core
exercises before attempting to submit answers using the online test. This section describes details of
the online answer submission once you have a complete set of answers to upload.

You access each set of exercises through Blackboard, go to the Assessment & Feedback section. Each
set of exercises comprises a series of questions (usually 5 − 10 exercises) that can be attempted in any
order. There is one set of exercises for each unit of PA1120. Details of the deadlines are published on
Blackboard.

Please ensure you have a stable internet connection and power supply before beginning a set of exercises.
We recommend using a PC or laptop computer, rather than attempting the exercises using a mobile
phone (this can lead to loss of data).

After finishing each exercise you must remember to

• submit your answer(s) to each exercise,

• then click the End Exam button to confirm your mark.

Failure to submit the solutions and close the test properly may result in your marks not being recorded.

The online exercises use an input style similar to that found in scientific programming languages. When
writing your answers in the boxes provided, you will see a preview mathematical translation of what
you have typed beside it. This is a good way to check you have entered your answer correctly.

For basic mathematical expressions, note the following:

• For cos, sin, tan and other trigonometric functions, use brackets for the argument, i.e. cos(x)
not cos x.
PA1120 Light and Matter 8

• Multiplication is written with a * symbol. Use this between each of your arguments to ensure
clarity, i.e. 3*x+2*tan(x) rather than 3x+2tan x.
• Division is written with a / symbol. Write fractions with brackets, e.g. (3/5)*x.
• Use exp(x) for ex , ln(x) for the natural log (log base e) and log(x) for log base 10.
• For inverse trigonometric functions like sin−1 (2x) use arcsin(2*x), similarly arccos and arctan.
• Use ^ to indicate a power, i.e. x3 should be input as x^3. If you require a larger argument to the
power, use brackets, e.g. x5y+4 should be written as x^(5*y+4) not x^5y+4 as this is likely to be
parsed as x5 y + 4.
• You may use lower and upper case Greek letters, e.g. alpha for α, and Gamma for Γ

In some questions you will need to pay attention to the notation for subscripts, vectors. etc.

• Use _ to indicate a subscript, i.e. V0 should be input as V_0. If you require a larger argument to
the power, use brackets, e.g. Fi,j,k should be written as F_{i,j,k}.
• Vectors (e.g. V) have their own special notation, e.g. vec:V. Do not use V as this is a scalar, not
a vector. For a vector, use the vec: prefix; for components of a vector, you would normally use
subscripts, e.g. Vx as above. A unit vector can be written using unit:x as x̂.
• The scalar (dot) and vector (cross) products of two vectors also have special notation. Enter
a scalar product such as a · b as dot(vec:a, vec:b) and a vector product such as E × B as
cross(vec:E, vec:B).
• Differentials (e.g. dx) have their own special notation, diff:x. Do not use dx as it will not be
recognised as a differential. E.g. for T dS − pdV use T * diff:s + p * diff:V.
• There is a similar notation for partial derivatives (e.g. ∂x/∂y) have their own special notation,
partial:x. E.g. for ∂f /∂t use partial:f / partial:t.
• If you need more complicated expressions, the notation should be explained within the question.

Examples:

• 2x cos(2πx/3) should be written 2*x*cos(2*pi*x/3) - use the multiplication sign * between parts
of a product.
• 43 x−4/3 should be written (3/4)*x^(-4/3) - ensure you put the exponent in brackets.
1 −x2 /2s2
• 2πs e should be written exp(-x^2/(2*s^2))/(2*pi*s) - use exp() for the exponential,
and use brackets to ensure the multiplication and division operate as you want.
• (1/2) sin−1 (y) should be written (1/2)*arcsin(y).
• πr2 should be written pi * r^2.
• r2 dr sin(θ)dθdφ should be written as r^2 * diff:r * sin(theta) * diff:theta * diff:phi.

7 Reading list
The textbook for PA1120 is

• Physics for Scientists and Engineers: with Modern Physics, P. A. Tipler and G.P Mosca, W. H.
Freeman.

This textbook is provided to all Physics students. Additional copies may be found in the library.
PA1120 Light and Matter 9

8 Workshop questions

Workshop 1.
Exercise 1.1. The length of the column of mercury in a thermometer is 4.0 cm when the thermometer
is immersed in ice water and 24.0 cm when the thermometer is immersed in boiling water.
a) What should be the length at room temperature, 22.0 ◦ C?
b) If the mercury column is 25.4 cm long when the thermometer is immersed in a chemical solution,
what is the temperature of the solution?

Exercise 1.2. A constant–volume gas thermometer has a pressure of 30 torr when it reads a tem-
perature of 373 K.
a) What is its triple-point pressure P3 ?
b) What temperature corresponds to a pressure of 0.175 torr?

Exercise 1.3. A pressure as low as 1 × 10−8 torr can be achieved using an oil diffusion pump. How
many molecules are there in 1 cm3 of a gas at this pressure if its temperature is 300 K?

Exercise 1.4. In the 2018 Tour de France, champion bicyclist (and subsequent tour winner) Geraint
Thomas expended an average power of about 400 W, 5 hours a day for 20 days. What quantity of
water, initially at 24◦ C, could be brought to the boiling point by harnessing all of that energy?

Exercise 1.5. A diatomic gas does 300 J of work and also absorbs 600 cal of heat. What is the
change in internal energy of the gas?

Exercise 1.6. One mole of the ideal gas is heated while its volume changes, so that T = AP 2 , where
A is a constant. The temperature changes from T0 to 4T0 . Find the work done by the gas.
PA1120 Light and Matter 10

Figure 1: Exercise 2.2 – an ideal gas cycle

Workshop 2.
Exercise 2.1. An engine absorbs 400 J of heat and does 120 J of work in each cycle.
a) What is its efficiency?
b) How much heat is rejected in each cycle?
Exercise 2.2. An ideal gas (γ = 1.4) follows the cycle shown in Figure 1. The temperature of state
1 is 200 K. Find
a) The temperatures of the other three states of the cycle, and
b) The efficiency of the cycle.

Exercise 2.3. A Carnot engine works between two heat reservoirs at temperatures Th = 300 K and
Tc = 200 K.
a) What is its efficiency?
b) If it absorbs 100 J from the hot reservoir during each cycle, how much work does it do?
c) How much heat does it give off during each cycle?
d ) What is the COP of this engine when it works as a refrigerator between the same two reservoirs?
Exercise 2.4. A steel ruler has a length of 30 cm at 20 ◦ C. What is its length at 100 ◦ C?
Exercise 2.5. A copper bar 2 m long has a circular cross section of radius 1 cm. One end is kept at
100 ◦ C and the other end is kept at 0 ◦ C. The surface of the bar is insulated so that there is negligible
heat loss through it. Find
a) The thermal resistance of the bar,
b) The thermal current I,
c) The temperature gradient ∆T /∆x, and
d ) The temperature of the bar 25 cm from the hot end.
Exercise 2.6. Two metal cubes with 3-cm edges, one copper (Cu) and one aluminium (Al), are
arranged as shown in Figure 2. Find
a) The thermal resistance of each cube,
b) The thermal resistance of the two–cube system,
c) The thermal current I, and
d ) The temperature at the interface of the two cubes.
PA1120 Light and Matter 11

Figure 2: Exercise 2.6 – heated Copper and Aluminium bars

Workshop 3.
Exercise 3.1. The distance from a point on the surface of the Earth to one on the surface of the
moon is measured by aiming a laser light beam at a reflector on the surface of the moon and measuring
the time required for the light to make a round trip. The uncertainty in the measured distance ∆x is
related to the uncertainty in the time ∆t by ∆x = c∆t. If the time intervals can be measured to ± 1
ns, find the uncertainty in the distance in metres.

Exercise 3.2. A point source of light is located 5 m below the surface of a large pool of water. Find
the area of the largest circle on the pool’s surface through which light coming directly from the source
can emerge.

Exercise 3.3. As an object is moved from a great distance toward the focal point of a concave mirror,
the image moves from (select one answer from the following):
a) a great distance toward the focal point and is always real.
b) the focal point to a great distance from the mirror and is always real.
c) the focal point toward the center of curvature of the mirror and is always real.
d ) the focal point to a great distance from the mirror and changes from a real image to a virtual
image.

Exercise 3.4. A laser beam is incident on a plate of glass of thickness 3 cm. The glass has an index of
refraction of 1.5 and the angle of incidence is 40◦ . The top and bottom surfaces of the glass are parallel
and both produce reflected beams of nearly the same intensity. What is the perpendicular distance d
between the two adjacent reflected beams?

Exercise 3.5. Find the focal length of a glass lens of index of refraction 1.62 that has a concave
surface with radius of magnitude 100 cm and a convex surface with a radius of magnitude 40 cm.

Exercise 3.6. An astronomical telescope has a magnifying power of 7. The two lenses are 32 cm
apart. Find the focal length of each lens.

Exercise 3.7. A fish is 10 cm from the front surface of a fish bowl of radius 20 cm.
a) Where does the fish appear to be to someone viewing the fish from in front of the bowl?
b) Where does the fish appear to be when it is 30 cm from the front surface of the bowl?
PA1120 Light and Matter 12

Figure 3: Exercise 4.1 – light incident on two slits.

Workshop 4.
Exercise 4.1. Light is incident at an angle φ with the normal to a vertical plane containing two
slits of separation d (Figure 3). Show that the interference maxima are located at angles θm given by
sin θm + sin φ = mλ/d.

Exercise 4.2. Suppose that the central diffraction maximum for two slits contains 17 interference
fringes for some wavelength of light. How many interference fringes would you expect in the first
secondary diffraction maximum?
Exercise 4.3. The telescope on Mount Palomar has a diameter of 200 inches. Suppose a double star
were 4 light–years away. Under ideal conditions, what must be the minimum separation of the two
stars for their images to be resolved using light of wavelength 550 nm?
Exercise 4.4. What is the longest wavelength that can be observed in the fifth–order spectrum using
a diffraction grating with 4000 slits per centimetre?
Exercise 4.5. Measuring the distance to the moon (lunar ranging) is routinely done by firing short–
pulse lasers and measuring the time it takes for the pulses to reflect back from the moon. A pulse is
fired from the Earth; to send it out, the pulse is expanded so that it fills the aperture of a 6-in-diameter
telescope.
a) Assuming the only thing spreading the beam out to be diffraction, how large will the beam be
when it reaches the moon, 382,000 km away?
b) The pulse is reflected off a retroreflecting mirror left by the Apollo 11 astronauts. If the diameter
of the mirror is 20 in, how large will the beam be when it gets back to the Earth?
c) What fraction of the power of the beam is reflected back to the Earth?
d ) If the beam is refocused on return by the same 6 in telescope, what fraction of the original beam
energy is recaptured? Ignore any atmospheric losses.
Exercise 4.6. A thin film having an index of refraction of 1.5 is surrounded by air. It is illuminated
normally by white light and is viewed by reflection. Analysis of the resulting reflected light shows that
the wavelengths 360, 450, and 602 nm are the only missing wavelengths in or near the visible portion
of the spectrum. That is, for these wavelengths, there is destructive interference.
a) What is the thickness of the film?
b) What visible wavelengths are brightest in the reflected interference pattern?
c) If this film were resting on glass with an index of refraction of 1.6, which wavelengths in the
visible spectrum would be missing from the reflected light?
PA1120 Light and Matter 13

9 Core Exercises

Core exercises 1
Exercise 1.1. A room is 6 m by 5 m by 3 m.
a) If the air pressure in the room is 1 atm and the temperature is 300 K, find the number of moles
of air in the room. [2]
b) If the temperature rises by 5 K and the pressure remains constant, how many moles of air leave
the room? [3]

Exercise 1.2. A scuba diver is 40 m below the surface of a lake, where the temperature is 5 ◦ C. He
releases an air bubble with a volume of 15 cm3 . The bubble rises to the surface, where the temperature
is 25 ◦ C. What is the volume of the bubble right before it breaks the surface? Hint: Remember that
the pressure also changes. [10]

Exercise 1.3. A lead bullet initially at 30 ◦ C just melts upon striking a target. Assuming that all of
the initial kinetic energy of the bullet goes into the internal energy of the bullet to raise its temperature
and melt it, calculate the speed of the bullet upon impact. [10]

Exercise 1.4. One–half mole of helium is expanded adiabatically and quasi–statically from an initial
pressure of 5 atm and temperature of 500 K to a final pressure of 1 atm. Find
a) the final volume, [2]
b) the final temperature, [3]
c) the change in the internal energy of the gas, and [5]
d ) the work done by the gas. [5]

Exercise 1.5. In an isothermal expansion, an ideal gas at an initial pressure P0 expands until its
volume is twice its initial volume.
a) Find its pressure after the expansion. [2]
b) The gas is then compressed adiabatically and quasi-statically back to its original volume, at which
point its pressure is 1.32P0 . Is the gas monatomic, diatomic, or polyatomic? [5]
c) How does the translational kinetic energy of the gas change in these processes? [3]

Total [50]
PA1120 Light and Matter 14

Core exercises 2
Exercise 2.1. One mole of an ideal monatomic gas at an initial volume V1 = 25 l follows the cycle
shown in Figure 4. All the processes are quasi-static. Find
a) The temperature of each state of the cycle, [5]
b) The heat flow for each part of the cycle, and [5]
c) The efficiency of the cycle. [5]

Figure 4: Exercise 2.1 – an ideal gas cycle

Exercise 2.2. A Carnot engine works between two heat reservoirs at temperatures Th = 300 K and
Tc = 77 K.
a) What is its efficiency? [2]
b) If it absorbs 100 J from the hot reservoir during each cycle, how much work does it do? [3]
c) How much heat does it give off in each cycle? [2]
d ) What is the coefficient of performance of this engine when it works as a refrigerator between these
two reservoirs? [3]
Exercise 2.3. A 1500 kg car travelling at 100 km/h crashes into a concrete wall. If the temperature
of the air is 20◦ C, calculate the entropy change of the universe. [5]
Exercise 2.4. A container is filled to the brim with 1.4 l of mercury at 20 ◦ C. When the temperature
of container and mercury is raised to 60 ◦ C, 7.5 ml of mercury spills over the brim of the container.
Determine the linear expansion coefficient of the container. [5]
Exercise 2.5. For a boiler at a power station, heat must be transferred to boiling water at the rate of
3 GW. The boiling water passes through copper pipes having a wall thickness of 4.0 mm and a surface
area of 0.12 m2 per metre length of pipe. Find the total length of pipe (actually there are many pipes
in parallel) that must pass through the furnace if the steam temperature is 225 ◦ C and the external
temperature of the pipes is 600 ◦ C. [5]

Exercise 2.6. One way to construct a device with two points whose separation remains the same
in spite of temperature changes is to bolt together one end of two rods, both of which have different
coefficients of linear expansion, α, as in the arrangement shown in Figure 5.
PA1120 Light and Matter 15

Figure 5: Exercise 2.6 – a system of materials with different linear expansion coefficients

a) Show that the distance L will not change with temperature if the lengths LA and LB are chosen
such that LA /LB = αB /αA . [5]
b) If material B is steel, material A is brass, and LA = 250 cm at 0◦ C, what is the value of L? [5]

Total [50]
PA1120 Light and Matter 16

Core exercises 3
Exercise 3.1. In Figure 6, light is initially in a medium (e.g. air) of index of refraction n1 . It is
incident at angle θ1 on the surface of a liquid (e.g. water) of index of refraction n2 . The light passes
through the layer of water and enters glass of index of refraction n3 . If θ3 is the angle of refraction in
the glass, show that n1 sin θ1 = n3 sin θ3 . That is, show that the second medium can be neglected when
finding the angle of refraction in the third medium. [5]

Figure 6: Exercise 3.1 – light travelling through 3 different media.

Exercise 3.2. An optical fibre allows rays of light to propagate long distances through total internal
reflection. As shown in Figure 7, the fibre consists of a core material with index of refraction n2 and
radius b, surrounded by a cladding material of index n3 < n2 . The numerical aperture of the fibre is
defined as sin θ1 , where θ1 is the angle of incidence of a ray of light impinging the end of the fibre that
reflects off the core–cladding interface at the critical angle. Using the figure as a guide, show that the
numerical aperture is given by q
n22 − n23
assuming the ray is incident from air. (Hint: Use of the Pythagorean theorem may be required.) [5]

Figure 7: Exercise 3.2 – light in an optic fibre.

Exercise 3.3. An object located 100 cm from a concave mirror forms a real image 75 cm from the
mirror. The mirror is then turned around so that its convex side faces the object. The mirror is moved
so that the image is now 35 cm behind the mirror.
a) How far was the mirror moved? [5]
b) Was it moved toward the object or away from the object? [5]

Exercise 3.4. A very long glass rod of 2 cm diameter has one end ground to a convex spherical
surface of radius 5 cm. Its index of refraction is 1.5.
a) A point object in air is on the axis of the rod 20 cm from the surface. Find the image and state
whether the image is real or virtual. [5]
b) Repeat this analysis for an object 5 cm from the surface. [3]
c) Repeat this analysis for an object very far from the surface. [2]
PA1120 Light and Matter 17

Draw a ray diagram for each case.

Exercise 3.5.
a) Show that to obtain a magnification of magnitude m with a converging thin lens of focal length
f , the object distance must be given by s = (m − 1)f /m. [5]
b) A camera lens with a 50–mm focal length is used to take a picture of a person 1.75 m tall. How
far from the camera should the person stand so that the image size is 24 mm? [5]

Figure 8: Exercise 3.6 – Bessel’s method for determining f .

Exercise 3.6. In Bessel’s method for finding the focal length f of a lens, an object and a screen are
separated by distance D, where D > 4f . It is then possible to place the lens at either of two locations,
both between the object and the screen, so that there is an image of the object on the screen, in one
case magnified and in the other case reduced. Show that if the distance between the two lens locations
is given by L, that
D2 − L2
f=
4D
(Hint: Refer to Figure 8.) The two lens locations are such that the object distance with the lens in the
one setting is equal to the image distance with the lens in the other setting and vice versa. [10]

Total [50]
PA1120 Light and Matter 18

Core exercises 4
Exercise 4.1. Two narrow slits are separated by a distance d. Their interference pattern is to be
observed on a screen a large distance L away.
a) Calculate the spacing ∆y of the maxima on the screen for light of wavelength 500 nm, when L = 1
m and d = 1 cm. [5]
b) Would you expect to be able to observe the interference of light on the screen for this situation? [5]
c) How close together should the slits be placed for the maxima to be separated by 1 mm for this
wavelength and screen distance? [5]

Exercise 4.2. Plane microwaves are incident on a thin metal sheet with a long, narrow slit of width
5 cm in it. The first diffraction minimum is observed at θ = 37◦ . What is the wavelength of the
microwaves? [5]

Exercise 4.3. A two–slit Fraunhofer interference–diffraction pattern is observed with light of wave-
length 500 nm. The slits have a separation of 0.1 mm and a width of a.
a) Find the width a if the fifth interference maximum is at the same angle as the first diffraction
minimum. [5]
b) For this case, how many bright interference fringes will be seen in the central diffraction maximum?
[5]

Exercise 4.4. The spectrum of neon is exceptionally rich in the visible region. Among the many
lines are two lines at wavelengths of 519.313 nm and 519.322 nm. If light from a neon discharge tube is
normally incident on a transmission grating with 8400 lines per centimetre and the spectrum is observed
in second order, what must be the width of the grating that is illuminated, so that these two lines can
be resolved? [5]

Exercise 4.5. A mica sheet 1.2 µm thick is suspended in air. In reflected light, there are gaps in the
visible spectrum at 421, 474, 542, and 633 nm. Find the index of refraction of the mica sheet. [5]

Exercise 4.6. In a pinhole camera, the image is fuzzy because of geometry (rays arrive at the film
after passing through different parts of the pinhole) and because of diffraction. As the pinhole is made
smaller, the fuzziness due to geometry is reduced, but the fuzziness due to diffraction is increased. The
optimum size of the pinhole for the sharpest possible image occurs when the spread due to diffraction
equals the spread due to the geometric effects of the pinhole. Estimate the optimum size of the pinhole
if the distance from the pinhole to the film is 10 cm and the wavelength of the light is 550 nm. [10]

Total [50]