1

ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS, JUNE - 2011 (H.C.U.)

M.Sc. PHYSICS

SECTION - A

 sinh x  x 
1. lim   is equal to
x  0  sin x  x cos x 

1 1 1
(a) 0 (b)  (c) (d)
2 2 3
2. If A and B are n × n matrices, which of the following does not equal ( A  B)2 ?

(a) A2  2 AB  B 2 (b) A2  AB  BA  B 2

(c) ( A  B ) A  ( A  B ) B (d) ( B  A)2

3. Which of the following functions represents the graph shown below ?

Y

1 1
(a) y  (b) y   (c) y  e  x 1 (d) y   x 2  1
x x
1  x 2 /2 Dt
4. The function u ( x, t )  e satisfies
t

 2u 1  2u u  2u u  2u u  2u
(a)  (b) 2 D 2 (c)  D (d)  D 0
t 2 D x 2 t x x t 2 t x 2
5. Which of the following can represent a conservative force ? ( iˆ, ˆj , kˆ are unit vectors)
ˆ)
ˆ  ˆjz  kz
(a) C (iy ˆ )
ˆ  ˆjy  ky
(b) C (ix (c) C  xyz (iˆ  ˆj  kˆ ) (d) C (ix ˆ)
ˆ  ˆjy  kz

6. Consider a body of mass 500 gm connected to two springs as shown in the figure below. The springs are of
equal length and spring constant. The body is displaced vertically upward by a small distance x and then left.
Which of the following statements is true about the oscillations executed by the body ?

X
500 gm

(a) Motion is simple harmonic and periodic (b) Motion is simple harmonic but not periodic
(c) Motion is not simple harmonic but periodic (d) Motion is neither simple harmonic nor periodic

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7. A particle moves in a potential V  A/r 2 . The corresponding force is given by

  
2 Ar Ar Arˆ Ar
(a)  4 (b) 2 4 (c) (d) 3
r r r r
8. A wave traveling on a string is given by y ( x, t )  10 sin (0.1x  22t ) . The wavelength and frequency of the
wave are given by
(a)   62.9 cm,   3.5 Hz (b)   31.4 cm,   7 Hz
(c)   0.002 cm,   0.3 Hz (d)   6.28 cm,   35 Hz
9. Lissajous figure produced by two sine waves of equal frequency  and equal amplitude A but 90º out of phase
will be
(a) a diagonal line of length A (b) a circle with radius A
(c) an ellipse with major axis A (d) a sine wave
10. As temperature increases, the viscosity of a liquid in general
(a) decreases
(b) increases
(c) initially decreases, passes through a minimum and then increases
(d) remains constant
11. Blood flows through our arteries of radius R with a flow rate Q. If the arteries become clogged so that the
radius is reduced by a factor of two, the flow rate Q is reduced by
(a) a factor of two (b) a factor of four (c) a factor of eight (d) a factor of sixteen

12. A gas has an equation of state PV   , where P denotes pressure, V denotes volume and  is a constant.
Workdone W is obtained by integrating  PdV between the initial volume, Vi and the final volume, V f . W is
proportional to

1 1 V  Vi  V f
(a)  (b) (Vi V f )1/2 (c) n  i  (d)
V f Vi  Vf  Vi  V f
 
13. Let W be the work done during a reversible process. Then W is
(a) a perfect differential for any process
(b) a perfect differential only for an isothermal process
(c) a perfect differential only for an adiabatic process
(d) not a perfect differential for any process
 T 
14. The partial derivative of temperature (T) with respect to volume (V) keeping entropy (S) constant,   ,
 V  S
equals
 V   P  V   P 
(a)    (b)    (c)   (d)  
 S  P  S V  P  S  V  S
15. Helmholtz free energy, usually denoted by the symbol F or A is a natural function of
(a) temperature T and volume V (b) entropy S and pressure P
(c) entropy S and volume V (d) temperature T and pressure P
16. A plane electromagnetic sinusoidal wave of frequency 40 MHz travels in the X-direction. At some point and at

some instant, the electric field ( E ) has its maximum value of 750 N/C and is along the Y-axis. What is the
 
magnetic field B in magnitude and direction when E  ˆj 750 N/C ?

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(a) 2.5  106 Wb/m 2 and along Z-axis (b) 2.5  106 Wb/m 2 and along X-axis
(c) 2.5  106 Wb/m 2 and along Y-axis (d) 2.5  1011 Wb/m2 and along Z-axis
17. Dominated by diffraction effects, what is the angular resolution of a normal human eye (of pupil diameter 2 mm)
at a wavelength 600 nm and what is the separation between two points that the human eye can resolve from a
distance of 20 m ?
(a) 0.3 rad and 6 µm (b) 3 mrad and 6 µm (c) 3 rad and 60 µm (d) 3 × 10–4 rad and 6 mm
18. Which of the following optical components is critical to differentiate between an unpolarized light and a circu-
larly polarized light ? Understand the Reason
(a) Half wave plate (b) Quarter wave plate (c) Polarizer (d) Half wave plate and polarizer
19. A cylindrical of
 radius R with the right side cut at an angle 30º as shown in the figure below is kept in a uniform
electric field E , with its axis along the direction of electric field.

30º E

The total electric flux linked with the entire cylinder is

(a) 0 
(b)  R 2 E 3  2 (c)  R 2 E /2 (d) R 2 E

20. A parallel plate capacitor is filled with two dielectrics of dielectric constant k1 and k2 as shown in the figure
below. A is the area of each plate and d is the separation between the plates.

k1 k2 d

The capacitance of the capacitor is given by

0 A  k1  k 2  0 A
(a) C  
d  2 
 (b) C   k1  k2 
d
0 A  k1  k2  0 A
(c) C  
d  2 
 (d) C   k1  k2 
d
21. An electron travelling horizontally enters a region as shown in the figure below where a uniform magnetic field
is applied perpendicular to the plate of the paper and directed into. Which one of the following phrases most
accurately describes the motion of the electron after it enters the field ?

X X X X
electron X X X X
X X X X
X X X X

(a) Helical (b) Circular clockwise

(c) Circular anticlockwise (d) Elliptical clockwise

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22. What is the equivalent resistance for the figure given below ?

3 9
1 1.5 
A B

5 15 

(a) 5  (b) 10  (c) 15  (d) 20 

23. An alternating voltage V  50 sin (30t ) is applied to the primary of a 10 : 1 stepdown transformer and the
secondary of this transformer is connected to the input of a half-wave rectifier. The average output voltage
(VDC ) of this rectifier is
(a) 5 V (b) 5/ V (c) 10/ V (d) 5 2V
24. The ground state energy of a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator is 6.2 eV. If the oscillator undergoes a
transition from its n  3 level to n  2 level by emitting a photon, what is the wavelength associated with the
photon ?
(a) 50 nm (b) 62 nm (c) 100 nm (d) 200 nm
25. The de-Broglie wavelength of a neutron (kinetic energy 3/2 kT) at 0 ºK is
(a) 1.5 Å (b) 2 Å (c) 0 Å (d) 273 Å
SECTION - B
26. Let m and n be positive integers with m  n . When 8m  7 n is divided by 5, we get remainder 1. When
7m  8n is divided by 5, we get remainder 2. If m  n is divided by 5, the remainder has to be necessarily
equal to
(a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 4 (d) 1

27. If (log 2 x) (log 4 x ) (log 6 x )  (log 2 x ) (log 4 x)  (log 4 x ) (log 6 x )  (log 6 x ) (log 2 x) and x  1 , then x is
equal to
(a) 12 (b) 24 (c) 44 (d) 48

dy
28. The solution of the differential equation  x  xy is to be obtained under the condition that y  0 at x  0 .
dx
The solution is given by
x2 2 2 ex
(a) y  (b) y  e  x /2
1 (c) y  e x /2
1 (d) y  1
2 2
29. What should be the value of a such that the straight line x  y  a will be a tangent to the circle x 2  y 2  4?
1
(a) (b) 2 (c) 2 2 (d) 4
2

30.  2 (ln r ) is equal to

1 1 1 1 1
(a) (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 
r r r r r2

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 1 1 
31. At very small x, the expression  2    behaves as
 1 x 1 x 
3 x x
(a)  x 2 (b) 1  (c) 1  (d) x
4 2 2
32. z  2 , where z  x  iy , represents a
(a) straight line (b) circle (c) ellipse (d) parabola
Determinant of a orthogonal matrix is +1
1 0 0  or -1
33. What should be the value of  so that the matrix  0     can become orthogonal ?
0   


1 1
(a) 1 (b) (c) (d) 2
2 2

 1 0 1
34. The eigenvalues of the matrix  0 1 0  are given by
 
 1 0 1
 
(a) 1, 0, 1 (b) 0, 1, 2 (c) 1, 2, 1 (d) 1, 1, 1
35. The commutator of two hermitian matrices is
(a) hermitian (b) unitary (c) anti-hermitian (d) orthogonal
36. A mouse of mass m jumps on the outside edge of a freely turning ceiling fan of rotational inertia I and radius R.
The ratio of the new angular velocity to the old one is given by
I I  mR 2 I  mR 2 I
(a) (b) (c) (d)
mR 2 I I  mR2 I  mR 2
37. A particle of mass m has a speed v  A/x , where x is the displacement at time t. Then the force on the particle
at time t is proportional to
(a) t1/3 (b) t 1/2 (c) t 2/3 (d) t 3/2

38. A boat of mass m with initial speed vo is launched on a lake. The boat is slowed by the water by a force
F   mev /A , where A is a constant. What is the distance the boat sails before it stops ?
(a) A (b) Less than A (c) Greater than A (d) A (1  vo )

39. A projectile is fired with a velocity vo such that it passes through two points P and Q both a distance h above
the horizontal. The gun has been adjusted for maximum range. The separation of the points P and Q is given by
v v v02
(a) 0 v02  4 gh
g
(b) 0 2 gh
g
(c)  v02  2 gh  g (d)
g
40. A particle of mass m starts from rest in a constant gravitational field under a frictional force equal to kmv 2 ,
where k is a constant and v is the instantaneous velocity. The distance the particle falls in accelerating from the
velocity v1 to v2 is given by

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1  g ( v2  v1 )2 1  g  kv12 
(a) e (b) ln  
k 2k  g  kv22 

1 g ( v  v )2
ek 2 1 g  g  kv12 
(c) kg (d) ln  
ln  g (v22  v12 )  2kv12  g  kv22 
 
41. A particle at rest is attracted towards a center of force F according to the relation F   m /x 3 , where x is the
distance from the center of force and  is a constant. The time required for the particle to reach the force center
from a distance d is proportional to
(a) d 1/2 (b) d 2 (c) d (d) d 3

x2
42. The density of a thin rod of length l varies with the distance x from one end as   0 . The center of mass
l2
is at a distance
3l 4l l l
(a) (b) (c) (d)
4 3 3 2

43. ˆ 2  ˆj 2 x 2 ) , where A is a constant ?
How much work is done around the path shown by the force F  A(iy
Y

X
d
(a) Ad 3 (b) Ad 2 (c) Ad (d) 0

44. A spring-mass system of mass M suspended from a spring of spring constant k, and equilibrium stretching h, is
equivalent to a simple pendulum of mass m and length
h h 4 2
(a) (b) h (c) (d)
4 2 2 h
45. If a pendulum bob is suspended by a string of length L inside a fluid (the bob is  times more dense than the
fluid), the period of small oscillations of the pendulum will be given by
L L (  1) L L
(a) 2 (b) 2 (c) 2 (d) 2
g g (n  1) g g
46. The dispersion relation for drop water waves is given approximately by
T 3
2  gk 
k

The phase velocity and the group velocity can be equal only when
T 2 T
(a) g and k are equal (b) g is greater than
 
2T 2 T 2
(c) g is equal to k (d) g is negligible compared to k
 

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47. Standing waves are generated in a pipe with one end closed while the other being open. If the length of the pipe
is l and speed of sound in air is given by vs , the fundamental frequency of the standing wave pattern is given by
vs v v v
(a) (b) s (c) s (d) s
2l 2l l 4l
48. A metallic cube of length l  1 m is stretched out uniformly by a force F normal to each of its faces. If Y and 
are the Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio for the material, the deformation of the cube is given by
V 3F V F
(a)  (1  2) (b)  (1  2)
V Y V Y
V 3F V F
(c)  (1  2) (d)  (1  2)
V Y V Y
49. A soap bubble of radius R has a uniformly distributed charge q on its surface. The excess pressure inside the
bubble is
4T q2 4T q2 4T q2 2T q2
(a)  (b)  (c)  (d) 
R 3220 R 4 R 3220 R 4 R 162 R 2 R 3220 R 4
50. Water has a surface tension of 0.4 N/m. In a 3 mm diameter vertical tube if the liquid rises 6 mm above the
liquid outside the tube, what is the contact angle ?
(a) cos(11) (b) sin(11) (c) cos–1(0.11) (d) sin–1(0.11)

51. One thousand water droplets with radius r  106 m coalesce to form a single droplet. If the surface tension
of water is T  7.5  102 Nm 1 , how much energy is liberated when the droplets coalesce ?
(a) 8.5  1010 J (b) 8.5  102 J (c) 8.5  105 J (d) 8.5  107 J

52. A given quantity of gas is taken from state A to state C quasi-statically and reversibly by two paths: A  C
and A  B  C (see figure below).
P
A

C B
V

During the process A  C , work done by the gas is 60 J and the heat absorbed equals 90 J. During the
process A  B  C , the workdone by the gas equals 45 J. The heat absorbed in this process equals
(a) 105 J (b) 75 J (c) 15 J (d) 45 J
53. Which of the following is a correct statement of the second law of thermodynamics ?
(S = entropy; dQ = energy gained by the system in the form of heat; dW = energy gained by the system in the
form of work; T = temperature; F = Helomholtz free energy).
dQ
(a) dS  (b) dS  0 (c) dU  dQ  dW (d) dF  W
T
54. Consider the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of the velocity of a molecule of an ideal gas. Let the most prob-
able value of the speed of the molecule be denoted by vm . Let the root-mean-square velocity of the molecule

be denoted by vrms  v 2  . The ratio vm /vrms is given by

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2 3 2
(a) (b) (c) 1 (d)
3 2 3
55. The entropy S of a system at fixed volume V depends on the absolute temperature as S   aT 3  bT 2  S0 ,
where a, b, S0 are constants. The heat capacity at constant volume Cv is then given by
(a)  (aT 2  bT )  S0 /T (b) 3aT 2  2bT

(c)  3aT 3  2bT 2 (d)  6aT  2b

56. An insulated chamber is divided into two equal volumes by a partition. The left half contains an ideal gas at
temperature T0 and the right half is executed. A small hole is then opened between the two halves, allowing the
gas to flow through, and the system comes to equilibrium. What is the final temperature of the system ?
T0 T0 T0
(a) T0 (b) (c) (d)
2 2 2
57. A quantity q of energy is transferred in the form of heat from a reservoir at absolute temperature T1 to another
reservoir at absolute temperature T2 , quasi-statically and reversibly. The change in entropy of the ccombined
system is
1 1  1 1 q T  1 1
(a) q    (b) q    (c) log  2  (d) q   
 T1 T2   T2 T1  T1 T2  T1   T1 T2 
58. What is the group velocity for an electromagnetic wave in water if the refractive index of water at 20 ºC is
1.3311 for  = 656.3 nm and is 1.3314 for  = 643.8 nm ?
(a) 2.28 × 108 m/sec (b) 1.14 × 108 m/sec (c) 4.56 × 108 m/sec (d) 7.60 × 107 m/sec
59. An electromagnetic wave is obtained by superposition of two waves having the same amplitude and right and
left-hand circular polarization as given below:
If the initial phase difference between the waves is  , what are the characteristic of the resultant wave ?

(a) Linearly polarized with E forming angle  with the x-axis

(b) Linearly polarized with E forming angle   /2 with the x-axis

(c) Linearly polarized with E forming angle  /2 with the x-axis
(d) Right circularly polarized

60. The ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of quartz are no  1.54424 and ne  1.552335 at   589.3
nm. What should be the thickness of the quartz plate if it has to function as a quarter wave plate ?
(a) 64.68 µm (b) 32.34 µm (c) 8.085 µm (d) 16.17 µm
61. A 633 nm He-Ne laser light passes through a narrow slit and the resulting diffraction pattern is observed on a
screen kept 6 m away from the source. If the distance between the centers of the first minima on either side of
the central maximum on the screen is 32 mm, how wide is the slit ?
(a) 0.24 mm (b) 0.12 mm (c) 0.36 mm (d) 0.48 mm

62. A cylindrical glass rod of refractive index ng  1.52 is immersed in water (refractive index nw  1.33 ). One
end of the glass rod has a polished hemi-spherical surface with radius R = 2 cm. A small object is placed at a
distance 8 cm to the left of the vertex of the hemi-spherical surface. The image distance ( s) and the magnifi-
cation (m) are given by

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object
R = 2 cm
8 cm
C

(a) s    10.65 cm ; m   4.66 (b) s    21.3 cm ; m   2.33

(c) s    31.95 cm ; m   3.50 (d) s    21.3 cm ; m   2.33
63. A glass plane-convex lens has its flat side toward the object. The convex side has a radius of curvature of 30.0
cm. The index of refraction of the glass for violet light (  400 nm) is 1.537, and that for red light (  700 nm)
is 1.517. The colour purple is a mixture of red and violet. If a purple object is placed 80.0 cm from this lens,
where are the red ( Sr ) and violet ( S) images formed ?
(a) S r   211 cm ; Sv   185 cm (b) S r  185 cm ; Sv  211 cm
(c) S r  211 cm ; Sv  185 cm (d) S r  15.96 cm ; Sv  13.88 cm

64. What is the equivalent capacitance between A and B ?

2µF
A
4µF
2µF
4µF

3µF

B
3µF

(a) 2 µF (b) 3 µF (c) 4 µF (d) 6 µF

65. The equivalent resistance ( Req ) between the two points A and B is given by

R
R R R
A R
R B
R R
R R

6 5 1
(a) Req  R (b) Req  R (c) Req  3R (d) Req  R
5 6 3
66. A 5 µF capacitor is charged by a 12 V battery through a resistance of 104 . The total amount of heat
dissipated by the resistance by the resistance during the charging process is equal to
(a) 36 mJ (b) 3.6 mJ (c) 360 mJ (d) 0.36 mJ
67. A parallel circular plate capacitor with radius 10 cm is getting charged by an increasing voltage. The displace-
ment current density ( J D ) is 0.5 µA/m2. The magnetic field at a distance of 5 cm from the axis (point A ) of the

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capacitor plate is approximately
A R

(a) 1.6  1014 T (b) 0.5  1014 T (c) 10  1014 T (d) 0 T

68. The electric potential in the xy-plane in a certain region of space is give by V ( x, y)  C (6 x 2 y  2 y 3 ) , where
x and y are in meters and V is in volts and C is a constant. What is the magnitude of the y-component of the
electric field at the point (–1, 2) ?
(a) 0 V/m (b) 18C V/m (c) 24C V/m (d) 30C V/m

69. A circular ring of radius a has a line charge density   0 sec 2  , where  is measured with respect to a fixed
radius. The potential at the center is equal to
0 0
(a) (b) (c) 0 (d) 0
a a
70. A particle of mass M at rest decays into two particles of masses m1 and m2 having non-zero velocities. The
ratio of de-Broglie wavelengths (1 / 2 ) of the particle is

m1 m2 m1
(a) m (b) m (c) 1 (d)
2 1 m2
71. For large principle quantum number (n), the spacing between two neighbouring energy levels of a hydrogen
atom is proportional to
1 1 1 (1  n)
(a) (b) 2 (c) 3 (d)
n n n n2
72. A particle is confined in a one-dimensional box of length l. Its ground state wave function is given by

 2  x 
 sin   ; for 0  x  l
 ( x)   l  l 
 0 ; for 0  x  l

The expectation value of the momentum operator with respect to the above wave function is equal to
(a) 1 (b) 0.5 (c) l /2 (d) 0

73. The current I D flowing through the silicon diode shown below is given in the first approximation by

10 k 10 k

ID

11.4 V 10 k

(a) 0 mA (b) 0.33 mA (c) 0.38 mA (d) 0.43 mA

South Delhi : 28-A/11, Jia Sarai, Near-IIT Hauz Khas, New Delhi-16, Ph : 011-26851008, 26861009
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 11
74. The current flowing through the zener diode shown in the figure below (with the Zener breakdown voltage
equal to 6 V) is
R1 = 1 k

V1 Vz
Vout
13 V 8V

(a) 0 mA (b) 7 mA (c) 8.3 mA (d) 13 mA

75. The half life of thorium is 1.4 × 1010 years. What is the time required for 10% of a sample of thorium to
disintegrate ?
(a) 2.13 × 109 years (b) 2.13 × 107 years (c) 2.13 × 106 years (d) 2.13 × 105 years

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