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CUHK PHYS1111 HW01

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CUHK PHYS1111 HW01

Uploaded by

carsonacademic1128
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© © All Rights Reserved
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PHYS1111A University Physics I

PHYS1111A Homework Assignment 1 (Kinematics in 1D)


(Due: 20/9/2024, 12:30 pm, Submission to Blackboard, TA: Chan Ying)

Part A (reading)

Read HRW (9th edition), Chapter 1, Sections 3,4 (The International System of Units, Changing
Units); Chapter 2, Sections 8-10 (Another Look at Constant Acceleration, Free-fall
Acceleration, Graphical Integration of Motion Analysis)

Part B (no need to submit)

1. The period of the pendulum P may depend on the length l of the suspension, the mass m of
the bob, and the acceleration due to gravity g. We can write

P  C l  g  m

where C is a dimensionless constant. Find the constants  ,  and  . Look up C on the


Internet or in a physics textbook.

Differentiate the following functions: (a) cos  t , (b) sin 2  t , (c) e  t sin  t , (d) e   t , (e)
2
2.
t / 1   t 2  , where  ,  , and  are positive constants. Sketch their graphs for t  0 .

3. Find an approximate expression of x 2   2  x for x    0, up to the first order of


 2 / x 2 . [Hint: Use the Taylor series: 1     1    ..., for   1 .]

Part C (need to submit, 80%)

4. British physicist G. I. Taylor


could estimate the energy E
released in an atomic bomb
explosion by the following
formula and some data obtained
from a photograph:

E  k   R t  ,

where  is the density of air, t is


the time after the explosion, R is
the radius of the blast, and k is a
Fig. 1 Part of the sequence of photographs of the Trinity nuclear
dimensionless constant. test.
PHYS1111A University Physics I

(a) Find the constants  ,  and  by dimensional analysis.


(b) Assuming k = 1,   1.2 kg m 3 , t  0.006 s as shown, and estimating R using the
photograph in Fig. 1 (with the scale of 100 m shown at the bottom), find E.
(c) Express the energy E released in terms of the energy equivalence of kilotons of TNT
explosives, given that the energy released by 1 kiloton of TNT is 4.184 1012 J .

5. Make an order of magnitude estimation of the


(a) number of water molecules in a cup of coffee in the University canteen; and hence
(b) the distance between neighboring water molecules.

6. Find the second derivative of the function e  t sin  t with respect to t, where  and 
are constants.

7. If a particle is moving at a speed close to the speed of light, its momentum is given by the
relativistic formula
1
p   mv,  
1  v2 / c2
where c is the speed of light in a vacuum, and m is the rest mass of the particle.
(a) Find the force F  dp / dt in terms of the velocity v and the acceleration a  dv / dt .
[Remarks: Some books refer to  m as the effective mass in motion; this practice is
not recommended.]
(b) For an electron moving at 0.1 the speed of light, what is the percentage error in using
the Newtonian formula p  mv to calculate the momentum? What about an ant
crawling at 3 cm per second ( v / c  10 10 )?
[Hint: Find an approximate expression of  1  1 for v / c  1 first, otherwise you
will not be able to calculate the percentage error for v / c  10 10 with a calculator.
Use the Taylor series: 1     1    ..., for   1 .]

8. The position x of a particle as a function of time t is given by (all quantities in SI units)

1
x (t )  t 3  2t 2  3t , t  0
3

(a) Find the velocity v(t ) and acceleration a (t ) as functions of time.


(b) In which direction does the particle move (i) when the motion just starts, (ii) after a
long time?
(c) Find the time(s) and position(s) where the particle changes the direction of motion.
(d) Sketch the x  t , v  t , and a  t graphs.
PHYS1111A University Physics I

Part D (need to submit, 20%)

9. By using the Taylor series, show that, for small  (up to  3 ,  in radian),

2
cos   1 
2

10. An observer A lying on the ground saw


the Sun set on the horizon a certain day.
An observer B standing up at the same
location saw the Sun set 10 s later than A,
after the Sun has moved an angle  in the
sky (Fig. 1). The difference in height
between the eyes of A and B is h  1.7 m .
For simplicity, assume that the observers
were located at the equator on Earth and
the Sun set exactly in the West point in
Spring. Neglect atmospheric effects.
(a) Find an exact expression for the Fig. 1

radius of the Earth R in terms of h


and  .
(b) Find an approximate expression of R for small  .
[Hint: Use the approximate formula derived in Question 9.]
(c) Using the given data, find the angle  in radians, and estimate the radius of the Earth
with the expression you found in (b).
(d) If B was on the top of a tower and his eyes were 20 m above A, when would he see the
sunset?
[Remarks: So in principle you can estimate the radius of the Earth just by measuring the
difference in time between the sunset observed when you lay down and stand up! This is
quite unexpected, if you haven’t done a calculation, you couldn’t have imagined it. Of
course the experiment is quite difficult to do in practice. For a more complete discussion
on this problem, see Am. J. Phys. 47(2), 1979]

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