Question Bank for IDC Physics , Session 2023-2024

1. What is a Scientific Observation? What is Pseudoscience?

Scientific Observation is anything which can be reproduced in experiments. It has proper
logical explanation and reasoning.
Pseudoscience is anything which can not be reproduced in experiments. It is based on
believes and not logical reasoning. Example : Astrology.
2. How do we deduce Natural Laws?
We deduce Natural Laws by doing experiments.
3. Describe how you would deduce Coulomb’s Laws?
We can take two charged objects and keep them at some fixed distance ‘d’. We would see,
they would either attract or repel. This means the nature of the charge in the objects can
have two possibilities, positive or negative. More over since similarly charged objects
would repel, and differently charged objects would attract, we can deduce the force depends
on product of two charges, i.e. 𝐹 ∝ 𝑄1 𝑄2 . Now keeping the charges fixed and varying the
distance we can see that the force changes as invers of 𝑑 2 . Hence we can finally write 𝐹 ∝
𝑄1 𝑄2
𝑑2
4. State the Newton’s Laws.
First law : A body remains at rest, or in motion at a constant speed in a straight line, unless
acted upon by a force.
Second law: The net force on a body is equal to the body's acceleration multiplied by its
mass or, equivalently, the rate at which the body's momentum changes with time.
Third law: If two bodies exert forces on each other, these forces have the same magnitude
but opposite directions.
5. State the Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.
First law: The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
Second law: The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
Third law: The square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of the length
of the semi-major axis of its orbit.
6. How can one deduce the Law of Gravity from Kepler’s law using Newton’s Laws?
The nature of the force of gravity can be deduced by plugging in the trajectory for the
𝑑2 𝑟⃗(𝑡)
motion of the planets into Newton’s second law and solve for the force, that is ⃗
2 = 𝐹 ,
𝑑𝑡
where 𝑟⃗(𝑡) is the trajectory of the planet at every instant in time. Plugging in the trajectory
𝑚 𝑚
for each planets (of different masses) we can deduce the law of gravity 𝐹 ∝ 1𝑟 2 2.
7. What device is used to look at objects at large distances?
A telescope is used to look at objects at large distances, especially celestial objects.
8. What is the Big Bang and when did it occur?
It is observed from astronomical objects that the universe is expanding, i.e. they are moving
away from us in all directions. Thus on extrapolating backwards in time one expects the
universe to start from a single dense point. This singular point is called the Big Bang. The
estimated time period of the Big Bang is 13.8 billion years ago.
9. Write briefly about the first few moments of the Big Bang.
 The Big Bang occurs in which ordinary space and time develop out of a primeval state. All
matter and energy of the entire visible universe is contained in a hot, dense point. The infant
universe cools as it begins expanding outward. While still at an infinitesimal size, the
universe cools down to 1032 kelvin. Gravity begins to operate in the universe. When the
Universe cools to 1028 kelvin, strong nuclear forces and electroweak forces start acting
separately. These events occur within 10−33 seconds from the Big Bang. At 10−33 seconds
after the Big Bang inflation occurs, as the universe expands by a factor of 1026 . The
universe cools to order 1022 Kelvin. After inflation ends, Familiar elementary particles
form, by pair production and other fundamental processes. After roughly 10−12 seconds,
Electroweak phase transition occurs, the four fundamental forces, we are familiar with
operates distinctly. Around 10−6 seconds , the universe cools to 1010 Kelvin, and finally
quarks bind to form other sub-atomic particles like protons and neutrons.
10. Describe how stars came to existence after the Big Bang.
After protons and neutrons came into existence, and protons and electrons bounded to form
Hydrogen, leading to formation of Hydrogen gas, and protons and neutrons combined to
form other lower elemental isotopes like, Deuterium and Helium, gravity started acting on
this gaseous clouds to converge to clusters. Thus primordial Nebulas came into existence.
Due to the attractive force of gravity, this gaseous clusters slowly collapsed inwards, which
caused temperature and pressure to rise at the center of these objects to increase. When the
temperature reached the order of 1106 Kelvin, fusion started, and energy started getting
produced at the core of these gaseous objects. These became the very first stars of the
universe.
11. Describe the life cycle of a star.
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending
on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive
to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the current age
of the universe.

The table shows the lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses.

All stars are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust, often called nebulae or
molecular clouds. Over the course of millions of years, these protostars settle down into a
state of equilibrium, becoming what is known as a main-sequence star.

Nuclear fusion powers a star for most of its existence. Initially the energy is generated by
the fusion of hydrogen atoms at the core of the main-sequence star. Later, as the
preponderance of atoms at the core becomes helium, stars like the Sun begin to fuse
 hydrogen along a spherical shell surrounding the core. This process causes the star to
gradually grow in size, passing through the subgiant stage until it reaches the red-giant
phase. Stars with at least half the mass of the Sun can also begin to generate energy through
the fusion of helium at their core, whereas more-massive stars can fuse heavier elements
along a series of concentric shells. Once a star like the Sun has exhausted its nuclear fuel,
its core collapses into a dense white dwarf and the outer layers are expelled as a planetary
nebula. Stars with around ten or more times the mass of the Sun can explode in a supernova
as their inert iron cores collapse into an extremely dense neutron star or black hole.
Although the universe is not old enough for any of the smallest red dwarfs to have reached
the end of their existence, stellar models suggest they will slowly become brighter and
hotter before running out of hydrogen fuel and becoming low-mass white dwarfs.
12. How did matter form from energy in the beginning of the universe?
Matter is formed from energy by fundamental processes like pair production, where a
photon , which is a quantum of light, split into a particle and antiparticle pair. If the energy
of the photon in sufficiently large then particle pairs with large rest mass are created
(example heavy quarks like charm, top, bottom, strange, and leptons like tauon and their
anti-particles), while for lower energy photons the lighter particle pairs are produced (like
up and down quarks and electrons, muons).
13. What are the sub-atomic particles which constitute the world around us?
The subatomic particles that constitute the world around us are the protons, neutrons and
electrons. They fundamentally form an atom. There are other sub-atomic particles like
neutrinos and pions which play a role in interaction among neutrons, protons and electrons.
14. What are the constituents of the nucleus ?
The nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons and also pions, which play the role of
force carrier of interacting particle between the proton and neutrons.
15. What are protons and neutrons made of?
Proton and neutrons are more fundamentally composed of up and down quarks and their
anti particles.
16. What are the four fundamental forces in nature.
The four fundamental forces in nature are a) Electromagnetic force, b) Weak Nuclear force,
c) Strong Nuclear Force, d) Gravitational Force.
17. What are the length scales at which each force acts ?
The Electromagnetic and Gravitational forces, are long ranged and act at objects separated
at arbitrarily large distances. The Strong nuclear force acts between sub-atomic particles
inside the nucleus and is ranged around 10−15 m. The Weak nuclear force acts between
sub-atomic particles as well but is ranged around 10−18 m.
18. What are the carriers of the above forces.
The carrier of the Electromagnetic force is the photon. The carrier of the Weak nuclear
force are the 𝑊 and 𝑍 bosons. The carrier of the Strong nuclear force are the gluons. The
carrier of the Gravitational force is the hypothesized particle Graviton.
19. What is the Higgs Boson?
The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the
Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field,
 one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Standard Model, the Higgs particle is a
massive scalar boson with zero spin, even (positive) parity, no electric charge, and no
colour charge that couples to (interacts with) mass. It is also very unstable, decaying into
other particles almost immediately upon generation.
20. What is the Standard model of Particle Physics?
The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known
fundamental forces (electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions – excluding gravity) in
the universe and classifying all known elementary particles. It was developed in stages
throughout the latter half of the 20th century, through the work of many scientists
worldwide, with the current formulation being finalized in the mid-1970s upon
experimental confirmation of the existence of quarks. Since then, proof of the top quark
(1995), the tau neutrino (2000), and the Higgs boson (2012) have added further credence
to the Standard Model. In addition, the Standard Model has predicted various properties of
weak neutral currents and the W and Z bosons with great accuracy.
21. What is Dark matter?
In astronomy, dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter that appears not to interact with
light or the electromagnetic field. Dark matter is implied by gravitational effects which
cannot be explained by general relativity unless more matter is present than can be seen.
Such effects occur in the context of formation and evolution of galaxies, gravitational
lensing, the observable universe's current structure, mass position in galactic collisions, the
motion of galaxies within galaxy clusters, and cosmic microwave background anisotropies.
22. What is Dark Energy?
In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is an unknown form of energy that
affects the universe on the largest scales. Its primary effect is to drive the accelerating
expansion of the universe. According to standard cosmological models, dark energy is the
dominant component of the universe, contributing 68% of the total energy in the present-
day observable universe while dark matter and ordinary matter contribute 26% and 5%,
respectively, and other components such as neutrinos and photons are nearly negligible.
Dark energy's density is very low: 6 × 10−10 𝐽/𝑚3 (≈7 × 10−30 𝑔/𝑐𝑚3), much less than
the density of ordinary matter or dark matter within galaxies. However, it dominates the
universe's mass–energy content because it is uniform across space.
The first observational evidence for dark energy's existence came from measurements of
supernovae. Certain supernovae have constant luminosity, which means they can be used
as accurate distance measures. Comparing this distance to the redshift (gravitational
Doppler shift, which measures the speed at which the supernova is receding) shows that
the universe's expansion is accelerating. Prior to this observation, scientists thought that
the gravitational attraction of matter and energy in the universe would cause the universe's
expansion to slow over time. Since the discovery of accelerating expansion, several
independent lines of evidence have been discovered that support the existence of dark
energy.
23. What is Einstein’s theory of General Relativity?
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of
gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is
 the current description of gravitation in modern physics. General relativity generalises
special relativity and refines Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified
description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time or four-dimensional
spacetime. In particular, the curvature of spacetime is directly related to the energy and
momentum of whatever matter and radiation are present. The relation is specified by the
Einstein field equations, a system of second order partial differential equations.
24. What is the photo electric effect ?
The photoelectric effect is the emission of electrons when electromagnetic radiation, such
as light, hits a material. Electrons emitted in this manner are called photoelectrons. The
phenomenon is studied in condensed matter physics, solid state, and quantum chemistry to
draw inferences about the properties of atoms, molecules and solids. The effect has found
use in electronic devices specialized for light detection and precisely timed electron
emission.
25. State briefly the beginning of Quantum Mechanics via the hydrogen atom spectrum?
A hydrogen atom consists of an electron orbiting its nucleus. The electromagnetic force
between the electron and the nuclear proton leads to a set of quantum states for the electron,
each with its own energy. These states were visualized by the Bohr model of the hydrogen
atom as being distinct orbits around the nucleus. Each energy level, or electron shell, or
orbit, is designated by an integer, ‘n’. The Bohr model was later replaced by quantum
mechanics in which the electron occupies an atomic orbital rather than an orbit, but the
allowed energy levels of the hydrogen atom remained the same as in the earlier theory.
Spectral emission occurs when an electron transitions, or jumps, from a higher energy state
to a lower energy state. To distinguish the two states, the lower energy state is commonly
designated as n′, and the higher energy state is designated as n. The energy of an emitted
photon corresponds to the energy difference between the two states. Because the energy of
each state is fixed, the energy difference between them is fixed, and the transition will
always produce a photon with the same energy. These photons produce lines at those
energies i.e. frequencies when dispersed through a prism, hence giving the name spectral
lines.
The spectral lines are grouped into series according to n′. Lines are named sequentially
starting from the longest wavelength/lowest frequency of the series.
26. How does Quantum Mechanics describe the world around us ?
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that describes the behavior of
nature at and below the scale of atoms. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including
quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information
science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum
mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not
sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in
classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at
large (macroscopic) scale.
In Mathematical language, the dynamics of a particle is described by its wave function,
which by itself satisfies the Schrodinger equation, the fundamental equation for quantum
 mechanics. The wave function has all the necessary information, that predicts the outcome
of a measurement on the particle, which is allowed inside the quantum theory. More over
the outcomes of measurements appear randomly with certain probabilities and often take
discrete values, and hence the name ‘quantum’.
27. What is the Uncertainty principle ?
The uncertainty principle, also known as Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle, is a
fundamental concept in quantum mechanics. It states that there is a limit to the precision
with which certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, can be
simultaneously known. In other words, the more accurately one property is measured, the
less accurately the other property can be known.
More formally, the uncertainty principle is any of a variety of mathematical inequalities
asserting a fundamental limit to the product of the accuracy of certain related pairs of
measurements on a quantum system, such as position, x, and momentum, p.
28. What are the laws of thermodynamics :
The first law of thermodynamics is a version of the law of conservation of energy, adapted
for thermodynamic processes. In general, the conservation law states that the total energy
of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but
can be neither created nor destroyed.
The second law states: when two initially isolated systems in separate but nearby regions
of space, each in thermodynamic equilibrium with itself but not necessarily with each other,
are then allowed to interact, they will eventually reach a mutual thermodynamic
equilibrium. The sum of the entropies of the initially isolated systems is less than or equal
to the total entropy of the final combination. Equality occurs just when the two original
systems have all their respective intensive variables (temperature, pressure) equal; then the
final system also has the same values.
The third law states: A system's entropy approaches a constant value as its temperature
approaches absolute zero