ENGINEERING

PHYSICS

PH3151

TWO MARKS
 Unit I: Mechanics
1. Define torque.
The moment of the applied force is called torque. It is represented by the symbol ‘τ’.
If F is the force acting on a body at a distance r, then
Torque = Force × distance
i.e., τ = F × r
The rotational motion comes into picture only when the torque acts on the body.

2. What is meant by nonlinear oscillations ?

A nonlinear oscillator will oscillate with different frequency in the same time interval or in
terms of least integer fraction.
Example:
Torsional pendulum, Double pendulum.

3. Mention the characteristic about the energy and momentum of a body at the centre of mass.?
Momentum
The total momentum of a system is zero in the center of mass (CM) frame because the
momentum of the CM is zero in this frame.
Kinetic energy
The momentum and kinetic energy of a body of mass m are related to 𝑃=2𝑚𝐸

4. If the force of an oscillation is given by F (x)=-kx-bx2-cx3,what kind of an oscillation is this?

The oscillation described by the force F (x)=-kx-bx2-cx3is an harmonic because it

includes nonlinear terms (X2 and X3) in addition to the linear term (-K2)

5. Define Center of Mass.

A point in the system at which whole mass of the body is supposed to be concentrated is
called centre of mass of the body.

6. State law of conservation of angular momentum.

The law of conservation of angular momentum states that in the absence of an external
torque, the angular momentum of a body or a system of bodies remains conserved.
𝑑𝐿
If there is no torque i.e. τ= 0 = 0 i.e., angular momentum (→) is conserved.
𝑑𝑡 𝐿

7. Define the terms :rotational kinetic energy and moment of ineritia.

The moment of inertia of a particle about an axis is defined as the product of the mass of the
particle and square of the distance of the particle from the axis of rotation.

8. What is a torsional pendulum ?

A circular metallic disc suspended using a thin wire that executes torsional oscillation is
called torsional pendulum.
9. The classroom door is if width 50cm.if the handle of the door is 20cm from the edge and the
force of 5 N is applied on the handle, compute the torque .

10. State parallel axis theorem.

The moment of inertia of a body about any axis is equal to the sum of its moment of inertia
about a parallel axis passing through its centre of gravity of the body and the product of its
mass of the body with the square of the distance between the two axes.

11. How center of mass is determined for rigid body and reqular shape?
Centre of mass of some regular objects.
 For a rigid body, the centre of mass is a point at a fixed position with respect to the body as
a whole. Depending on the shape of the body and the way the mass is distributed in it, the
centre of mass is a point may or may not be within the body.
 If the shape is symmetrical and the mass distribution is uniform, we can usually find the
location of the centre of mass quite easily.
12. A clock is mounted on the wall .What is the value of the angular acceleration of the second
hand of the clock ?
A clock is mounted on the wall what is the value of the angular acceleration of the second
of the clock. The seconds hand of a clock completes one rotation in 1 minute i.e 60
seconds.
angle swept by the radius vector
Angular speed=
time taken

Angle swept for one complete rotation is 2π radians.Therefore, 2π/60=π/30

13.What are the differences between linear and nonlinear oscillations ?

Linear oscillations Nonlinear oscillations

Frequency is not dependent on amplitude Frequency is dependent on amplitude
Linear oscillators produce sine wave Nonlinear oscillators produce non-
outputs sinusoidal outputs
Linear oscillations are predictable and Nonlinear oscillations are more complex
stable
Linear differential equations are valid for Nonlinear differential equations are valid
linear oscillations for nonlinear oscillations
In linear oscillations, the restoring force is In nonlinear oscillations, the restoring force
directly proportional to the displacement is not proportional to the displacement
 UNIT - II Electromagnetic Waves
1. Give Any Properties Of EM Waves.
 Electromagnetic waves are produced by accelerated charges.
 They do not require any material medium for propagation.
 In an electromagnetic wave, the electric and magnetic field vectors are at right angles
to each other and to the direction of propagation. Hence, electromagnetic waves are
transverse in nature.
 Variation of maxima and minima in both occur simultaneously (in phase).
 They travel in vacuum or free space with a speed 3 × 108 ms-1.
 The energy in an electromagnetic wave is equally divided between electric and
magnetic field vectors.
 The electromagnetic waves being chargeless, they are not deflected by electric and
magnetic fields.

2. What is meant by radiation pressure. How do EM waves have momentum.

The force per unit area on an object due to EM radiation is the radiation pressure Pr,

Electromagnetic (EM) waves have momentum because they carry energy and propagate as
oscillating electric and magnetic fields that are perpendicular to each other

3. Write the significance of maxwells equation div.B=0

The significance of the equation div B = 0, which represents the divergence of the magnetic
field B, is that it states that the magnetic field is solenoidal or "source-less." In simpler terms, it
means that the magnetic field lines do not originate or end at any particular point in space.

4. Estimate the radiation pressure ‘R’ for a reflected EM waves if the electromagnetic
waves intensity is T.
Radiation pressure is 2I/c if the wave is totally reflected.

5. What is polarization?
Polarisation is a phenomenon generated by the oscillation of light waves restricted to single
plane. In an ordinary beam of light with millions of waves, the light vectors of component
waves will remain in all possible directions on a plane drawn at right angles to the direction of
propagation.

6. Why do polarized sunglasses do the light entering your eyes.

Polarized sunglasses filter light by applying a chemical coating to the lenses that blocks
horizontal light waves while allowing vertical light to pass through it.
7. Write the general EM wave equation in terms of magnetic field vectorin free spaces.

8. Write down the wave equation

9. What is the physical meaning of Gauss law of magnetostatics.

The total magnetic flux through any closed surface in a magnetic field is zero.

10. A light pulse with a power of 100 mW has a duration of 10 -5 S. If it is absorbed completely
by an object at rest. Find the final momentum of the object.

Energy of the light pulse:

The energy (EEE) of the light pulse can be calculated as

Relationship between energy and momentum: The momentum (p) of the absorbed light is given
by:

Final momentum of the object: Since the light pulse is completely absorbed, the final
momentum of the object is equal to the momentum of the absorbed light

11. What is poynting vector?

The cross product of electric field vector and the magnetic field vector is called poynting
vector. It is denoted by
 UNIT-3 Oscillations, Optics And Lasers

1. State Doppler effect.

The change in wave frequency during the relative motion between a wave source and its
observer.

2. Mention any four applications of lasers in various industries.

1. Laser cutting.
2. Laser welding.
3. Laser drilling.
4. Laser marking.
5. Laser cleaning.
6. Laser cladding.
7. Photolithography.

3. How will you differentiate travelling and standing wave with respect to energy ?

Standing wave Travelling wave

Wave amplitude is constant at all points along Wave amplitude depends upon the position
the wave along the wave
Energy is always transfered Energy is not transfered
The wavelength is twice the distance between The wavelength is the distance between
consecutive nodes. consecutive crest
Phase varies continuosely along the wave Phase is constant between consecutive crests

4. Identify any two properties of laser useful for communication applications.

 Laser light is used in optical fiber communications to send information over large distances
with low loss.
 Laser light is used in underwater communication networks.
 Lasers are used in space communication, radars and satellites.

5. Define total internal refelction .

The phenomenon which occurs when the light rays travel from a more optically denser
medium to a less optically denser medium.
Following are the two conditions of total internal reflection:
The light ray moves from a more dense medium to a less dense medium.
The angle of incidence must be greater than the critical angle.

6. Differentiate between laser and ordinary light.

 7. Define the term simple harmonic motion .
When the acceleration of particle is directly proportional to its displacement from its
equilibrium position and it is always directed towards equilibrium position, then the motion
of the particle is said to be simple harmonic motion.

8. What is spontaneous emission and stimulated emission.

The process of induced emissions of photons caused by the incident photons is called
stimulated emission.

An atom in the ground state with energy E 1 absorbs a photon of energy hv and go to an
excited state (higher state) with energy E 2 provided that the photon energy hv is equal to the
energy difference (E2 - E1). This process is called stimulated absorption

9. Distinguish between progressive waves and stationary waves.

10. Calculate the wavelength of light emission from GaAs whose band gap is 0.8 eV.

11. What are standing waves ?

When two progressive waves of same amplitude and wavelength travelling along a straight
line in opposite directions superimpose on each other, stationary waves are formed.

12. Why is population inversion necessary for lasing action?

Number of atoms in higher energy state is more than that in lower energy state is called
population inversion. Hence, population inversion is needed in the production of laser.
 UNIT IV-BASIC QUANTUM MECHANICS

1. State Compton effect.

When a beam of X- rays is scattered by a substance of low atomic number, the scattered
radiation consists of two components. One has the same wavelength λ as the incident ray and
the other has a slightly longer wavelength λʹ. This phenomenon of change in wavelength of
scattered X -rays is known as compton effect.

2. What is normalization of wave function in quantum mechanics?

In quantum mechanics, normalization of a wave function is the process of adjusting the wave
function of a quantum system so that the total probability of finding a particle in all space
is equal to one.

3. Define matter waves .

The waves associated with moving particles of matter (e.g., electrons, photons, etc) are
known as matter waves or de-Broglie waves.

4. State the correspondence principle.

The correspondence principle in physics states that the predictions of quantum physics will
be the same as the predictions of classical physics when quantum numbers are large. This is
also known as the "correspondence limit"

5. What is the physical siginificance of a wave function?

(i) The wave function (Ψ) relates the particle and wave nature of matter statistically.
(ii) It is a complex quantity and hence we cannot measure it.
(iii) If the particle is certainly to be found somewhere in a space of dimensions dx, dy, dz,
then the probability value is equal to one.

6. What is Compton effect? compton effect is not observable in the visible region of
electromagnetic spectrum,justify it.
Compton effect refers to the change in the wavelength of scattered X-rays by a material.
The Compton effect is not observable in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum
because the energy of visible light photons is not high enough to cause a Compton shift.

7. What are eigen values and eigen function?

Energy of a particle moving in one dimensional box of width a is given by

For each value of n, there is an energy level. Each value of E, is called an eigen value.
For every quantum state (i.e., for different 'n' values), there is a corresponding wave
function Ψn. This corresponding wave function is called eigen function. Eigen function
associated with dimensional box is given by
8. Define Compton effect and comton shift . Statement
When a beam of X -rays is scattered by a substance of low atomic number, the scattered X-
ray radiation consists of two components.
One component has the same wavelength λ as the incident ray and the other component has
a slightly longer wavelength λ.
The change in the wavelength of scattered X- rays is known as Compton shift. The
phenomenon is called Compton effect.

9 . An electron trapped in a one dimensional infinite potential well has a ground .state energy
of 1 eV. What is the width of the box ?
 UNIT V: APPLIED QUANTUM MECHANICS

1. Define harmonic oscillator.

A particle undergoing simple harmonic motion is called a harmonic oscillator.
Familiar examples are; a simple pendulum, an object floating in a liquid, a diatomic
molecule and an atom in a crystal lattice.

2. Define quantum tunneling .

The phenomenon of transmission of a particle through a potential barrier of finite width and
height, even when its energy is less that the barrier height is called quantum tunneling.

3. Brief about on quantum tunneling .

Quantum tunnelling is defined as a quantum mechanical process where wavefunctions can
penetrate through a potential barrier. The transmission through the potential barrier can be
finite and relies exponentially on the barrier width and barrier height.

4. Give the expression for bloch function and explain the terms.
The expression for a Bloch function is
Bloch function:
𝜓(𝑟)=𝑒𝑥𝑝(𝑖𝑘⋅𝑟)𝑈(𝑟)
 k is the wave vector
 r is a position vector
 u(r) is a periodic function that satisfies

For all vectors R of the Bravais lattice

5. State the principle of resonant diode.

The principle of a resonant tunneling diode (RTD) is that electrons can tunnel through a
potential barrier when they have the right energy. This allows for fast switching and
amplification, making RTDs essential for high-frequency applications.

6. What is quantum harmonic oscillator?

The quantum harmonic oscillator is a model system in quantum mechanics that represents
the quantum-mechanical analog of the classical harmonic oscillator.

7. Give a note on the origin of energy bands.

The origin of energy bands in materials is due to the arrangement of electrons in atoms and
their interactions with neighbouring atoms. When atoms come together to form a solid, their
orbitals overlap, leading to the formation of molecular orbitals.

8. Why does quantum tunneling occur?

Quantum tunneling occurs because particles can behave like waves in the quantum world,
and their wave function can pass through a barrier that would be impassable in classical
mechanics.

9. What meant by tunneling effect ?

In quantum mechanics tunneling effect is particles penetration through the potential barrier
even if particle total energy is less than the barrier height.
10. What is finite potential well in quantum mechanics?
The finite potential well (also known as the finite square well) is a concept from quantum
mechanics. It is an extension of the infinite potential well, in which a particle is confined to
a "box", but one which has finite potential "walls".

11. Mention some differences between the classical and quantum harmonic oscillators.
The energies of a classical harmonic oscillator are continuous, while the energies of a
quantum harmonic oscillator are discrete and quantized. In classical mechanics,a
harmonic oscillator can be a spring undergoing motion, while in quantum mechanics, a
harmonic oscillator can be the bond between two atoms in a diatomic molecule.
A classical harmonic oscillator is confined to a finite region of space, while a quantum
harmonic oscillator has a nonzero probability of being found anywhere.

12. State bloch’s theorem.

If an electron in a linear lattice of lattice constant 'a' characterised by potential function V (x) =
V (x + a) satisfies the Schoredinger equation.

then the wave functions Ψ (x) of electron (with energy E) obtained as a solution of Schrodinger
equation are of the form