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P 1B P P M 2: Hysics Ractice Roblems For Idterm (1.) Short Answer Questions (A)

This document provides practice problems for a Physics 1B midterm exam. It includes short answer questions about (1) changes in molecular velocity during an isobaric expansion, (2) estimating electric field values near a charged disk, and (3) comparing the thermal efficiency of two heat engine cycles. It also provides problems involving (4) the force between charged spheres and (5) calculating properties of an electric field setup involving a charged sphere and concentric conducting shells. The final problem involves analyzing the thermodynamic cycle of an ideal gas undergoing steps of fixed heating, free expansion, and cooling.

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Chengz Cheng Cheng
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51 views

P 1B P P M 2: Hysics Ractice Roblems For Idterm (1.) Short Answer Questions (A)

This document provides practice problems for a Physics 1B midterm exam. It includes short answer questions about (1) changes in molecular velocity during an isobaric expansion, (2) estimating electric field values near a charged disk, and (3) comparing the thermal efficiency of two heat engine cycles. It also provides problems involving (4) the force between charged spheres and (5) calculating properties of an electric field setup involving a charged sphere and concentric conducting shells. The final problem involves analyzing the thermodynamic cycle of an ideal gas undergoing steps of fixed heating, free expansion, and cooling.

Uploaded by

Chengz Cheng Cheng
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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P HYSICS 1B

P RACTICE P ROBLEMS FOR M IDTERM 2


[1.] Short answer questions.
(a) A gas undergoes an isobaric expansion. During this process, what happens
to the root mean square velocity of the molecules in the gas (does it increase,
decrease, stays the same)? Explain.
(b) A very thin insulating circular disk of radius 10 cm is positively charged with
Q = 2C; the charge is spread uniformly on the disc. Estimate the value of the
electric field at a distance of 5 mm above the center of the disk and at a distance
of 50 m above the center of the disk. Briefly justify your estimates.
(c) The figure below shows two cyclic processes which are heat engines. Both include processes on the same two isotherms, but cycle A includes isovolumetric
processes and cycle B includes adiabatic processes. Both cycles include only
reversible steps. To help you compare the processes, cycle A is superimposed
on cycle B (cycle A is the dotted line). Which of the two cycles has the largest
thermal efficiency? Why?

Cycle A

Cycle B
Isotherms

Isotherms

(Cycle A)

adiabats
V

(d) Consider two scenarios. Scenario 1: two plastic spheres, each having radius a,
are both given charge + Q (spread uniformly over their surfaces) and placed
so that the center of the spheres are a distance x apart. You measure the force
that one sphere exerts on the other and find it to be F. Scenario 2: Now the two
spheres are conductors. They are given total charge + Q and placed the same
distance apart as in Scenario 1. The force measured now is F 0 . How does F 0
compare to F? Explain briefly.

[2.] A nonconducting sphere of radius Ro is charged with charge density given by the
following function (o is a positive constant):

(r ) = o

r2
1 2
Ro

(r Ro only)

Surrounding the sphere is a grounded conducting spherical shell of inner radius R1


and outer radius R2 .

Ro

R1

(r)

R2

(a) What is the total charge on the nonconducting sphere? What charges are on the
inner and outer surfaces of the conducting shell? (b) Find the electric field at all
points in space; plot this as a function of r. (c) What about your answers for (a) and
(b) would be different if the conducting shell was not grounded (and was not given
any charge)?

[3.] A cylinder with a piston contains 2 mol of an ideal monatomic gas ( = 5/3) at 1
atm and 300K. The gas is put through the following cyclic process: (1) The piston
is fixed in place and the cylinder is heated until the pressure triples. (2) The piston
is then released, and the gas expands quickly but stops on its own. (3) The gas
then cools, exchanging heat with the surrounding air until the gas reaches its initial
temperature. The process then repeats.
(a) Draw the process on a p V diagram, being as explicit as possible about the
type of process involved in each step.
(b) What use is the process? In other words, could I use this as a heat engine, a
refrigerator, or a heat pump?
(c) Find the temperature and volume of the gas after step 2.
(d) Find the total work done by the gas and the total heat transferred to the gas
during one cycle.
(e) If your answer to (b) was heat engine, what is the efficiency? If your answer to (b) was heat pump or refrigerator, what is the coefficient of performance?

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