Phys 151L

Fall 2014

Assignment 1
due Friday, September 5

Dr. Pilch
Dr. Warner

Randall Knight, Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics, 3rd ed.
(Pearson/Addison Wesley, 2013), Chapters 1-19.
Important! Assignments are due by 5:00 pm in the course mailboxes marked as 151 Pilch
and 151 Warner, respectively, on the 2nd floor in SSC (NW side of the corridor). Students
in Dr. Pilchs section can also turn in their solutions in class before the lecture on Friday.
Please, do not forget to write your name, the course number (Phys 151) and the section
(Pilch or Warner) on the front page and to staple multiple pages. Do not write any of your
ID numbers!
I. Reading assignment
Read Preface to the Student in the course textbook.
Review the following sections (pages) from the course textbook:
1.1-1.7
The content of these sections is an elementary exposition of ideas made more precise
in Chapters 2-4. Go back to those section if and as needed.
Read the following sections (pages) from the course textbook:
1.8, 2.1-2.4
Reading means that you work carefully through the material until you understand the
concepts, all worked out examples and can solve similar problems at the end of the
chapter. If you do not understand something, try a couple more times. If it is still
unclear, seek help immediately.
II. Conceptual Problems
Chapter 1: 1, 2;
Chapter 2: 4, 7, 9, 10
These conceptual problems will not be graded, but you should think about them. They
indicate what we think is important and they may show up on an exam.
III. Written Assignment
The written assignment consists of textbook questions (exercises, problems and challenge problems) and additional problems marked as A.#. Written solutions are due as
indicated above.
It is very important that your solutions are written legibly with enough details so that
anybody, not just the author, can understand what is going on. Specifically, be sure to show
intermediate steps and use words, not just equations, to explain the solution. A solution
consisting of a string of equations with no comments, a figure if required, or some minimal
explanation will be considered unsatisfactory and graded accordingly.
Exercises (3 pts each)
Chapter 2: 3, 8, 12

Phys 151L
Fall 2014

Assignment 1
due Friday, September 5

Dr. Pilch
Dr. Warner

Problems (4 pts each)

Chapter 2: 27, 44, 48, 52
Challenge Problems (5 pts each)
Chapter 2: 78, 83
Problem A.1 (4 pts)
Estimate how much lemonade could have been made from the lemons in this lemon
truck.1
Problem A.2 (3 pts)
The speed of light is 3.00 105 km/s. How many feet does light travel in a microsecond?
Problem A.3 (4 pts)
A chain is a unit of length that used to be used in surveying. A chain is equal to 22
yards, and is also the official length of a cricket pitch. The distance between the Earth and
the Sun is 1.496 108 km. How many cricket pitches, placed end-to-end would stretch from
the Earth to the Sun?
Problem A.4 (4 pts)
Newtons gravitational constant, G, is equal to 6.671011 kg1 m3 s2 . Using dimensional
analysis alone write an expression for the radius of a black hole (a star that can stop light
from escaping its gravitational field) in terms of G, the mass M of the star and the speed
of light, c. Given that the mass of the Sun is 2.0 1030 kg and that the speed of light is
3.00 105 km/s, what would you estimate for the radius of a one-solar-mass black hole?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqyqjgyqCHw.