Problem Set Format: Homework is a critical part of any physics class.
Homework is due at the beginning of lecture on the date specified. Once the lecture has begun, homework is officially late. For each problem, I would like you to hand in a solution, not just an answer. The distinction is that a solution explains how the answer is obtained. For very simple problems (like most of this first homework set), very little explanation will suffice. This will be less true later on. Part of the goal of every physics course, beyond teaching mastery of the particular material, is teaching clear thinking. To help you learn to present your solutions effectively, I will give you two grades on each problem: a content grade (did you do the problem correctly?), but also a communication grade, based on the Homework Rubric on the website (basically: is your solution intelligible?). Please read this rubric carefully and make sure you understand it. For each problem, the content grade is 0 to 10 points. The communication grade will be 0 to 3 points, but will be rescaled at the end of the semester so that the communication grade is 10% of your total homework grade. Since the communication grade will be unfamiliar, for the first two assignments, I will have the grader assign a communication grade, but I will not record it. After that, it will count. To satisfy the requirement of including the problem statements, you may attach this assignment sheet to your solutions. 1. (Problems will be numbered consecutively throughout the semester.) Astronomers tend to make heavy use of exponential notation and prefixes for very large or very small quantities. In the problems below, an “electron volt” (eV) is a unit of energy; 1 eV = 1.6 × 10−19 J (Joules). For the numbers below, quote answers to three significant figures. (a) How many meV are there in a MeV? (b) The Sun’s luminosity (total power radiated) is 3.83 × 1027 W (Watt ≡ J/s). How many eV/s is that? If the Sun gets 26.7 MeV for every atom of He created by nuclear reactions from four protons, how many He atoms/s are created in the Sun? (c) Calculate (to three significant figures) the number of seconds in a year. (d) Observing time on the Chandra X-ray Observatory satellite is measured in kiloseconds (ks). How long is a kilosecond, in minutes? Days? Years? How long is a Ms, in minutes, days, and years? (e) Recall from high-school geometry that there are 2π radians in a full circle. There are 360⁰ (degrees) in a circle, 60′ (arcminutes) per degree, and 60′′ (arcseconds) per arcminute. How many arcseconds in a radian? 2. (a) An object on the end of a string moves in a circle. The force exerted by the string has dimensions of ML/T2 and depends on the mass m of the object, its speed v, and the radius of the circle r. What combination (product of powers) of these variables gives the correct dimensions? (b) All forces have the dimensions given in (a) above. Find the dimensions of Newton’s constant G in Newton’s law of gravitation F = Gm1m2/r2 for the force between masses m1 and m2 separated by a distance r. 3. Let To be the time it takes some planet at a distance r to orbit the Sun. Use the result from 2(b) to find a combination of G, r, and the mass of the Sun Ms that has dimensions of time. (To must be proportional to that combination.) 4. Calculate the following, round off to the correct number of significant figures, and express your result in scientific notation: (a) (200.9)(569.3), (b) (0.000000513)(62.3 × 107), (c) 28,401 + (5.78 × 104), (d) 63.25/(4.17 × 10−3). 5. (a) The diagram below tracks the path of an object moving in a straight line along the x axis. Assume that the object is at the origin (x0 = 0) at t0 = 0. Of the five times shown, which time (or times) represents the instant the object is (a) farthest from the origin, (b) at rest for an instant, (c) in the midst of being at rest for a while, and (d) moving away from the origin? (e) Using the same figure, rank in order of increasing size the velocity of the particle at each of the points A, B, C, D, and E. (Negative velocities are less than positive velocities.) The velocity may be equal at two or more of the points. Explain your reasoning. 6. One busy air route across the Atlantic Ocean is about 5500 km in distance. (a) How long does it take for a supersonic jet flying at 2.0 times the speed of sound to make the trip? Use 340 m/s for the speed of sound. (b) How long does it take a subsonic jet flying at 0.85 times the speed of sound to make the same trip? (c) Allowing 2.5 h at each end of the trip for ground travel, check-in, and baggage handling, what is your average speed, door to door, when traveling on the supersonic jet? (d) What is your average speed taking the subsonic jet?