BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, Pilani

Hyderabad Campus
Second Semester 2015-2016

Test-I (Closed Book)

Course No: PHY F110 Total Marks: 90

Course Title: Physics Laboratory Weightage: 30%
Date: 7th April, 2016 Max. Time: 60 mins.

 Do the calculations (if any) in the supplementary sheet provided to you and write the final answer in the box
provided below each question.
 Overwriting/rewriting will not be considered.
 Question 6 carries 12 marks. All other questions carry 6 marks.
1. A student records the position of an object moving along a straight line at various instants of time.
He plots a graph of position along y axis and time along x axis and finds that the observations fit a
straight line having a slope of 2 m/sec. The scale used by him on the graph sheet is: x axis: 1 cm = 1
sec, y axis: 1 cm = 2 m. What is the angle made by the line of best fit with the x axis?

2. While performing the experiment to calibrate a diffraction grating, a student forgot to make one of
the initial adjustments required for the experiment, due to which he obtained a non-zero y-intercept
when he plotted sin  vs . What was the initial adjustment he forgot to make?

3. When a string of length L is stretched and set into a transverse vibration with both ends fixed, the
differential equation that governs its transverse displacement y ( x ,t ) is given by

4. List all the quantities which are used to determine the frequency of the oscillator driving the string in
the vibrating string experiment.

5. The radii of the Newton’s rings (rn) are used to determine the radius of curvature (R) of a
plano-convex lens. How does the fractional error in R (i.e R/R) depend on rn and error
in rn? Assume that  is known without any error.

6. a) Consider the experiment for determining the moment of inertia (I) of the fly wheel.
Suppose the friction can be neglected altogether. Attach a mass m to the thread, wind the thread n
times around the axle and let the system free. Calculate the angular frequency of the wheel at the
moment the thread detaches from the axle, ω final. Radius of the axle is r.

b) Suppose you can measure the angular frequency ω final. Express the moment of inertia in terms of
ω final and all the other relevant quantities.
7. In the Newton's rings experiment, the path difference between the reflected rays from the
centre (the point of contact of the convex surface of the lens and the glass plate) is zero.
But still the central spot as observed in the microscope is dark. Why?

8. Light consisting of two wavelengths 5000 Å and 5010 Å are sent through a diffraction grating of
grating constant 10-6m. Find out the angular separation (in radians) between the two colors for the
second order spectrum between the two wavelengths.

9. A rod of mass mrod was attached to the bottom of two springs each of mass ms and spring constant k,
so that the springs can vibrate together (in parallel). A mass M is also attached at the bottom of each
of the springs. Write the expression for the angular frequency of the combination of springs in terms
of the quantities given here.

10. A student performed the coupled pendulum experiment and measured the frequency (2 ) of mode 2
(phase difference of  between the pendulums) as a function of the distance of the spring (l) from the
2
pivot. He drew a graph of ω 2 vs l2. He did not measure the frequency of the pendulums in the other
normal mode (). How can he determine the frequency of the coupled pendulum in the ‘in-phase’
mode from the graph?

2
11. A student performed the coupled pendulum experiment and obtained the graph of ω 1 vs l2. He found
that in contradiction to the theory given in the manual his observations could be fit to a straight line
with non-zero slope. What is the explanation for the non-zero slope if he did not commit any error
while doing the experiment? 1 is the frequency of the ‘in-phase’ normal mode.

12. Write down the expression for the angular frequency of oscillation of a mass M which is hung at the
bottom of a spring with mass m. The spring has a spring constant k.

13. The angle of diffraction of a particular line in the first order spectrum of some source was found to
be  = 600 using a grating with d = 10-6 m as the spacing between adjacent slits. Calculate the
estimated error in the determination of the wavelength, if the least count of the spectrometer is 1
minute.

14. A mercury vapour lamp was used to calibrate a grating, i.e, the spacing between adjacent slits d was
determined using the linear relationship between the sine of the angle of diffraction  of a particular
colour in the first order spectrum and the corresponding wavelength . Write down the expression
for the fractional error (d/d) in the determination of d. Assume that  is known without any error.