Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

Modern Physics Worksheet 1

1. Let’s say the USS Enterprise’s 1/3 impulse speed is one-quarter the speed of light. If Spock, in the ship,
says the planet will blow up in 10 minutes, how long does the away team have to beam up?

2) Picard is on Rigel 7 and needs to go to Earth 776.6 lightyears away, but the Enterprise’s warp drive is
broken. If full impulse is ¾ the speed of light, how long will a Rigelian think it will take the Enterprise to get
to Earth?
b) How long will the Enterprise’s crew think it will take?

3) When the Starship Enterprise travels at impulse (v = 0.7c), a ground based observer measures the ship
as 707 ft long. How long does the crew measure the ship?

4) The starship Enterprise moves at 0.9c relative to the earth and a Klingon Bird-of-Prey moves the same
directions at 0.7c relative to the earth. What does the navigator of the Bird-ofPrey report for the speed of
the Enterprise?
B) If the Enterprise has blue (𝜆 = 475 nm) lights, what wavelength does the Klingon ship see as it leaves?

5) In a game of Pool, a small ball (0.5 kg) is hit across a table. If the ball moving at 3 m/s and the speed of
light in a vacuum is 4 m/s, what is the relativistic momentum of the ball?
b) The nonrelativistic momentum?

6) How much energy is in a 5-gram pen at rest?

b) How long will that run a 60-W light bulb?

7
7)  The sun radiates electromagnetic energy at 3.92 × 1026 W. How much mass does the sun lose in 1
year?

8) A spaceship is travelling at 0.94c. It has been gone from the Earth a total of 10 years as measured by the
people of the Earth. How much time passes on the spaceship during its travel?

9) A spaceship has been gone from the Earth for a total time of 5 years ship time. The people on the Earth
have measured the time for the ship to be away to be 25 years. How fast was the ship travelling?
10) A certain star is 10.6 light-years away (A light-year is the distance that light travels in one year. 1 Lt-y =
9.5 x 1015 m!)How long would it take a spaceship travelling at 0.96c to reach the star:
a. As measured by stationary observers on Earth?

b. As measured by observers on the spaceship?

c. What is the distance travelled according to observers on the spaceship?

11) A friend borrows your red “Ferrari Spaceship Model X-119” capable of travelling at 0.85c. The Ferrari is
measure to be 5.6 m high and 18 m long in a stationary reference frame.
 a. How long would you say the Ferrari is as it sped by you at maximum speed?

b. Your friend has been gone for 2.0 h your time. How much time does he say has elapsed?

12) The Enterprise is travelling at 0.80c when it fires a missile at 0.95c relative to itself. How fast would
the missile approach an asteroid as measured by a stationary probe?
13) What energy is carried by a photon of electromagnetic radiation that has a frequency of 1.55 x 1017
Hz?

14) A photon has a wavelength of 550 nm. How much energy does this represent in Joules?

15) What is the velocity of a photoelectron that has been liberated from a zinc metal surface by a
photon that has a wavelength of 275 nm?
Consulting the table, we find that the work function for zinc is 4.31 eV. We can use this and the
wavelength of the incident photons to find the kinetic energy of the ejected electrons. We can then
solve for their velocity.
16) 500.0 nm light is incident on a metal surface. The stopping potential is found to be 0.440 V. (a)
Find the work function for this material and (b) the longest wavelength that will eject electrons
from the metal.
(a) work function:

Now, when we plug in our values, we will stick in the symbol “e” for the charge of an electron. This will
get us eV as a unit, eventually
 (b) longest wavelength Set the maximum kinetic energy equal to zero to get the longest wavelength.

17) sodium photoelectric surface with work function 2.3 eV is illuminated by electromagnetic radiation
and emits electrons. The electrons travel toward a negatively charged cathode and complete the circuit
shown above. The potential difference supplied by the power supply is increased, and when it reaches 4.5
V, no electrons reach the cathode.
(a) For the electrons emitted from the sodium surface, calculate the following.

i. The maximum kinetic energy.

ii. The speed at this maximum kinetic energy.

(b) Calculate the wavelength of the radiation that is incident on the sodium surface
(c) Calculate the minimum frequency of light that will cause photoemission from this sodium surface.