1B23 MODERN PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY AND COSMOLOGY

NUMERICAL ANSWERS TO 1999 PHYSICS EXAM QUESTIONS

SECTION A

  1. Six types of quark in standard model. Proton is uud and thus has charge 2/3 + 2/3 - 1/3 = 1; neutron is udd and thus has charge 2/3 - 1/3 - 1/3 = 0/
  2. N/A
  3. N/A
  4. Energy of each photon is E=4.32 x 10^-19 J or 2.70 eV. Work function is 0.2 eV.
  5. Peak wavelengths are 1.202 x 10^-7 m for HD36956 and 10935 x 10^-6 m for epsilon Indi. Ratio of energies is 5488.
  6. N/A
  7. Recession velocity is 2606 km s^-1; d = 43.4 Mpc.
  8. N/A

SECTION B

  1. N/A
  2. Momentum uncertainty greater than or equal to 5.3 x 10^-20 Ns, so kinetic energy 2.1 x 10^-13 J or 1.3 MeV. (OK to use non-relativistic formulae because p/m is only about 0.03 c.)
  3. Momentum is 6.63 x 10^-19 Ns. Total energy (including rest-mass energy) is 1.99 x 10^-10 J or 1.24 GeV. Total energy in lab frame after collision is 3.98 x 10^-10 J or 2.48 GeV.
  4. Show that r proportional to m^-1/3, so mass increases as radius decreases.
  5. N/A.