FINAL EXAMINATION IN SPECIAL TOPICS IN PHYSICS

Short answer questions.

Mechanics

1. You press your physics textbook flat against a vertical wall with your hand. What is the
direction of the friction force exerted by the wall on the book?

Ans: the direction of friction force is against the pressure exerted by the textbook.

2. A ball is held in a person’s hand. (a) identify all the external forces acting on the ball and
the reaction to it. (b) If the ball is dropped, what force exerted on it while it is falling?

Ans. A. applied force is being exerted by the hand to the ball that is against the gravitational
force.
B. If the ball is dropped, the external force is gravitational force.

3. If the velocity of a particle is nonzero, can it acceleration be zero? Explain.

Ans. No, it will will also be a nonzero. Because there Is an amount of motion.

4. A child throws a marble into the air with an initial speed v 0 . Another child drops a ball at
the same instant. Compare the accelerations of the two objects while they are in flight.

Ans. The velocity of an upward motion in throwing is initially zero, while the velocity of the
dropping ball is much quicker because of the gravity acting of the free fall object

5. Two child, Nathan and Kaitlyn, are playing on a hill, rolling automobile tires down the
slope. Nathan claims that the tire will roll faster if one of them curls up inside the tire
and rides down inside it. Kathlyn claims that this will cause the tire to roll m0re slowly.
Which child is correct? (a) Nathan (b) Kathlyn (c) not enough information is given.
Assume that the children release the tires form rest.

Ans. b. KAITHLYN is correct because the greater the mass , the lower the accelaration

Waves and Optics

1. How does air temperature affect the tuning of a wind instrument?

Ans. The air temperature rise faster than liquid and gas state. The turning of wind instrument
is sharper.
2. If one of a heavy rope is attached to one end of a light rope, the speed of a wave will change
as the wave goes from the heavy rope to the light one. Will the speed increases or
decreases? What happens to the frequency? To the wavelength?

Ans. Decreases. Lesser frequency. Bigger wavelengths.

2. You are a passenger on a hot-air balloon that is rising with constant velocity, and you
are carrying a buzzer that emits a sound frequency f. If you accidentally drop the
buzzer from the balloon, what can you conclude about the sound you hear as it falls
towards the ground? (a) The frequency and intensity increase (b) the frequency
decreases and the intensity increases (c) the frequency decreases and the intensity
decreases or (d) the frequency remains the same but the intensity decreases

Ans. B
Thermodynamics
4. Why does an ordinary glass usually break when placed on a hot stove? Dishes made with
Pyrex glass do not break so easily. What characteristics of Pyrex prevents this from
occurring?

Ans. The pyrex is resistant to heat and it is an insulator. Common glass is brittle and not
resistant

5. What is wrong with statements? “Given any two objects, the one with the higher
temperature contains more heat”

Ans. Nothing is wrong. That is correct. Direct proportion of temperature and heat.

6. Can energy transfer into a system by heat even though the temperature of the system
decreases?

Ans. Yes, the heat is from higher temperature to lower temperature but both eventually
decreases if no outside supply of heat sustains two objects.

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

7. If a metal object receives a positive charge, does its mass precisely increase, decrease, or
stay the same. What happens to its mass if the object receives a negative charge?

Ans. Decrease slightly because it loses electron.

8. Is the direction of current through a battery always from the negative terminal to the
positive one? Explain

Ans. No. the direction is always from the negative terminal. The basis of electricity is electron,
electron is negativity charged.
9. Given three lightbulbs and a battery, sketch as many different circuits as you can.

Just add 1 bulb to become 3, drawing skills is not good.

10. Suppose you are flying a kite when it strikes a high-voltage wire (a very situation). What
factors determine how great a shock you will receive?

Ans. A. thickness of cable, B. insulating medium of cable C. conductor size and type.

Quantum Mechanics

1. Is a light a wave or a particle? Support your answer by citing specific experimental

evidences

Ans. Both, can be classified as wave and a particle. When it is a particle, it is a photon.

2. Why does existence of a cutoff frequency in the photoelectric effect favor a particle
theory of light rather than a wave theory.

Ans. There is no logical way the wavelength or frequency of a wave is related to energy of the
wave.

Prepared by:

DR. VILMA M. GERONIMO Noted:

GSAR Faculty
ROSARIO G. CATAPANG
Assoc. Dean, College of Teacher Educat