SRI LANKAN PHYSICS OLYMPIAD

COMPETITION – 2008
Time Allocated : 02 Hours
Calculators are not allowed to use.

Date of Examination : 12 – 07 – 2008 Index No. : ……………….

Time : 9.30 a.m. - 11.30 a.m.

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INSTRUCTIONS
• Answer all questions
• There are two parts (A and B) in this paper.
• Part A contains 20 multiple choice questions. Your answer
to each question must be marked on the body of the
question paper itself.
• Select the single answer that provides the best response to
each question. Please be sure to use a pencil and underline
the response corresponding to your choice. If you change
the choice of an answer, the previous underline mark must
be completely erased.
• Your score on this multiple choice section will be your
number of correct answers. There is no penalty for
guessing. It is to your advantage to answer every question.

• Part B contains two semi – structured type questions.

• Use the paper provided to do all the calculations in part A
as well as in part B.
• Write down the corresponding final expressions or the final
numerical answers for part B questions on the last page
attached in the question paper.
• At the end of the exam, handover the question paper with
your marked responses together with the final answer
sheet.
• Handover the papers used to workout the problems in Part
B separately with your index number written on each paper.
• Do not detach any sheet from the question paper.

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g = 10 m s-2
PART A

1. An object has a mass of 10 kg on Earth. The gravitational acceleration on the moon is

1/6 to that on the Earth. What is the object's mass on the moon?

(1) 60 kg (2) 10kg (3)1.67 kg (4) 10 6 kg (5) 10/ 6 kg

2. A body of mass m has kinetic energy E. The magnitude of its momentum is

2E 4E 2
(1) Em (2) (3) (4) 2Em (5) 2Em
m m

3. A box is held at rest by pressing it against a vertical wall. Which of the following is
generally true?

(1) It will be easier to hold the box if the surfaces in contact are smooth.

(2) Force required to hold the box is smaller than the weight of the box.

(3) Force required to hold the box is greater than the weight of the box.

(4) Force required to hold the box is equal to the weight of the box.

(5) Force required to hold the box is independent of friction between surfaces in
contact.

4. One mole of hydrogen gas and one mole of oxygen gas are at the same temperature.
r.m.s velocity of hydrogen molecules
The ratio is equal to
r.m.s velocity of oxygen molecules

(1) 1:1 (2) 1:4 (3) 4:1 (4) 16:1 (5) 32:1

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5. A uniform electric and uniform magnetic fields are setup along the same direction in a
certain region. An electron is projected in this region along the same direction as the
fields. Which of the following statements is true?

(1) The velocity of the electron will decrease in magnitude.

(2) The velocity of the electron will increase in magnitude.

(3) The electron will turn to its right.

(4) The electron will turn to its left.

(5) The electron will travel with the same velocity.

6. For the network shown, the effective resistance between points P and Q is

(1) 15 Ω (2) 40 Ω (3) 60 Ω (4) 80 Ω (5) 100 Ω

7. The speed of sound in a perfect gas is v. The r.m.s. speed of molecules of this gas is c.
cp v
If γ = , then the ratio is equal to
cv c

3 3 γ 2γ
(1) (2) 0.33 γ (3) (4) (5)
γ γ 3 3

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8. Two factories are sounding their sirens at 800 Hz each. A man walks from one factory
towards the other at a speed of 2 m s-1. The velocity of sound is 320 m s-1. The number
of beats heard by the person in one second will be

(1) 10 (2) 8 (3) 6 (4) 4 (5) 2

9. Figure shows positions of the image “I” of an object “O” formed by a lens. This is
possible if

(1) a convex lens is placed to left of O.

(2) a concave lens is placed to left of O.

(3) a convex lens is placed between O and I.

(4) A concave lens is placed to right of I.

(5) A concave lens is placed in between O and I.

10. A, B, C, and D are points on a vertical straight line such that AB = BC = CD. If a
body is released from position A at rest, the time of descent through AB, BC and CD
respectively are in the ratio

(1) 1: 3 − 2 : 3+ 2 (2) 1: 2 – 1: 3− 2

(3) 1: 2 – 1: 3 (4) 1: 2 : 3 −1

(5) 1: 2: 3

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11. When pure distilled water is taken in a clean capillary tube of silver, the surface of
water is found to be exactly horizontal. This is because

(1) in a silver container, the surface tension of water becomes zero.

(2) in a silver container, the surface tension of water becomes infinity.

(3) adhesive force between silver and water molecules is zero.

(4) for a molecule of water in contact with silver, the resultant cohesive force due to
water molecules is 2 times the resultant adhesive force due to atoms of silver.

(5) the angle of contact is zero for water in a silver container.

12. Twelve identical resistances are placed at edges of a cube and are connected in the
way as the following figure indicates. If a current I is introduced as shown in the
figure, what is the current that flows from point A to point B? (negative sign indicates
opposite flow direction)
(1) –I/6

(2) –I/3 B

(3) I/6
I
(4) I/3 A

(5) I/12

13. A 10 g bullet moving on a horizontal straight line at 500 m s-1 penetrates a 1.0 kg block
moving along the same line at − 1 m s-1 on a frictionless surface. Right after being
penetrated by the bullet, the block moves with a velocity of 2 m s-1. What is the velocity
of the bullet right after it emerges from the block?

(1) 100 m s-1 (2) 200 m s-1 (3) 300 m s-1 (4) 400 m s-1 (5) 500 m s-1

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14. When 0.1 kg of metal A at 52 °C is dropped in 0.3 kg of some liquid B at 10 °C , the
maximum final temperature is found out to be 16 °C . What is the final maximum
temperature when 0.2 kg of metal A at 60 °C is dropped in 0.5 kg of liquid B at 12 °C ?
(Assume that there is no heat loss and neglect the heat capacity of the container)

(1) 42 °C (2) 36 °C (3) 28 °C (4) 24 °C (5) 20 °C

15. The following table shows how the saturated vapour density varies with temperature.

Temperature ( °C ) 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
saturated vapour
3.66 6.33 8.21 10.57 13.70 17.12 21.54 26.93
density (g m-3)

Suppose that the initial temperature inside a closed room is 28 °C and the relative humidity is
80%. When the temperature inside the room decreases, at what temperature does the
dew start to form?

(1) 4 °C (2) 8 °C (3) 12 °C (4) 16 °C (5) 24 °C

16. As shown in the following figure, a monochromatic ray of light traveling in the air is
incident perpendicular to the side a of an equilateral prism with index of refraction 1.5.
Which side will the light ray emerge and what is the angle θ between the incident ray
and the emerging ray?

E me r g e n t s i d e θ
a b θ = 60o
(1) b
(2) b θ = 30o
c (3) c θ = 60o
(4) c θ = 30o
(5) b θ = 120o

17. A rubber string of length 0.75 m is fixed at one end to the ceiling. It is found that the
string extends by 10.0 cm after a small ball of mass 0.10 kg is attached to the other
end of the string and reaches equilibrium. Now if the ball is raised to the ceiling and
released from rest, what will be the maximum length of the string?
(1) 1.25 m (2) 1.55 m (3) 1.65 m (4) 1.75 m (5) 1.85 m

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18. When a single battery is used to power a light bulb, the battery can last for a time t.
If two such identical batteries are used to power two such identical light bulbs, which
one of the following statements is correct?
(1) If the batteries are in parallel and the light bulbs are in series, the batteries can
power for a time of t/2.

(2) If the batteries are in series and the light bulbs are in series, the batteries can
power for a time of 2t.

(3) If the batteries are in parallel and the light bulbs are in parallel, the batteries can
power for a time of t.

(4) If the batteries are in series and the light bulbs are in parallel, the batteries can
power for a time of 4t.

(5) If the batteries are in parallel and the light bulbs are in parallel, the batteries can
power for a time of 2t.

19. The graph shows the variation of activity of a

decaying radioactive nucleus with time. The
vertical axis shows the activity in a log scale.
The half life of the nucleus is

(1) 2 min (2) 7 min (3) 11 min

(4) 18 min (5) 20 min

20. The figure shows a small mass connected to a

inextensible string which is attached freely to
a vertical hinge. If the mass is released at rest
when the string is horizontal as shown, the
magnitude of the total acceleration of the mass
varies with θ as

(1) g sin θ (2) 2 g cos θ (3) 2 g sin θ (4) g 3cos 2 θ + 1

(5) g 3sin 2 θ + 1

{sin 2 θ + cos 2 θ = 1}

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PART B

1. As shown schematically in the figure, centrifuges are apparatus in which samples are
being rotated rapidly to perform many tasks in biological and medical laboratories.
Samples often consist of biological molecules in water.

axis of rotation

sample sample

(i) First consider a test tube filled with water. It is held vertically and stationary and
protein molecules are released at rest at the surface of water. Assuming that a protein
molecule can be regarded as a sphere with radius R, derive an expression for the
terminal speed ( v1 ), attained by a protein molecule in terms of R, density ρ of

proteins, density of water 1.0 × 103 kg m-3, the viscosity η of proteins in water and
acceleration g due to gravity.

(ii) (a)Now consider the same test tube with protein molecules at the surface of water is
placed in the centrifuge. Then the centrifuge is rotated on a horizontal plane with
a high angular frequency. Assuming that the centripetal acceleration experienced
by protein molecules can be considered as a constant and is 105 times g, draw
and label all the horizontal forces acting on a protein molecule in water relative
to the non – inertial (accelerating) frame of reference. (Hint: The centrifugal
force is acting on a molecule can be considered as a strong gravitational force.)
(b) Hence derive an expression for the terminal speed ( v2 ), attained by a protein
molecule in terms of the relevant parameters mentioned above.

(c) If there are two types of protein molecules A ( ρ A = 1.3 ×103 kg m-3) and B
( ρ B = 1.6 × 103 kg m-3) with the same radius ( R = 3.0 × 10−6 m) present in water,
calculate the corresponding terminal speeds v A and vB . (η = 6.0 ×10−3 N m-2 s)

(d) Hence deduce which protein (A or B) would settle first at the edge of the test tube.

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2. Two stars rotating around their center of mass (center of gravity) form a binary star
system. Almost half of the stars in our galaxy are binary star systems.
Consider two stars moving on a circular orbit around their common center of mass with
a constant angular frequency ω . Assume that we are exactly on the plane of motion of
the binary system. If the surface temperatures and the radii of the stars are different,
then when one star passes in front of the other, the total intensity of light, measured on
earth, show two different minima for each complete rotation. This is plotted in the
following figure as a function of time.

(i) By evaluating the time difference between two similar consecutive minima, find the
period (T) of the orbital motion of the binary system.
Hence calculate the angular frequency ( ω ) of the system in rad s-1?
(Take π = 3 and 1 day = 8.0 ×104 s )

(ii) Atoms absorb or emit radiation at certain characteristic wavelengths. Consequently,

the observed spectrum of a star contains absorption lines due to the atoms in the
star’s atmosphere. Sodium has a characteristic yellow line spectrum (D1 line) with a
wavelength λ0 = 5896 Å (10 Å = 1 nm). The absorption spectrum of atomic sodium
at this wavelength for this binary system could be examined. The spectrum of the
light that we receive from the binary star is Doppler-shifted, because the stars are
rotating with respect to us. Each star has a different speed. Accordingly the
absorption wavelength for each star will be shifted by a different amount. The speed
of the center of mass of the binary system in this problem is much smaller than the
orbital velocities of the stars. Hence all the Doppler shifts can be attributed to the
orbital velocity of the stars.

(a) When one of the stars is moving away from us (look at the following figure) with
an orbital velocity v , write down an expression for the measured wavelength
λ ′ of the sodium D1 line observed by a stationary observer on the earth, in
terms of λ0 , v , and the velocity of light c. (Since the orbital speeds of the starts
are much smaller than the velocity of light, normal Doppler-shift formulae can
be used. Use speed of light instead of speed of sound.)

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 CM

(b) If the measured maximum Doppler-shifted wavelengths for the two stars are
0 0
λ1′ = 5898 A and λ2′ = 5899 A respectively, calculate the orbital speeds v1 and
v2 for the two stars. ( c = 3.0 × 108 m s-1)
m1
(iii) If the masses of the two stars are m1 and m2 respectively, find the mass ratio
m2
(iv) If r1 and r2 are the distances of each star from their center of mass respectively
calculate r1 and r2 .

(v) Let r be the distance between the starts. Find r.

(vi) Derive expressions for m1 and m2 in terms of r, r1 , r2 , v1 , v2 , and G (universal

gravitational constant).

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ANSWER SHEET FOR PART B

QUESTION ANSWERS MARKS

NUMBER (examiner’s use)
1 (i)

v1=

(ii) (a)

(b)

v2=

(c)

vA =

vB =

(d)

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2. (i)
T =

ω=

(ii) (a)

λ′ =

(b)
v1=

v2=

(iii)
m1
=
m2

(iv)
r1 =

r2 =

(v)
r=

(vi)
m1 =

m2 =

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