College Physics : Electromagnetics, Waves, and Optics

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for College Physics

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Example Questions

Example Question #21 : Electromagnetics, Waves, And Optics

Figure 3

The figure shows four Gaussian surfaces surrounding a distribution of charges. Which Gaussian surfaces have an electric flux of  through them?

Possible Answers:

A

C

B and D

B

Correct answer:

B

Explanation:

Gauss' laws states that the the electric flux through a Gaussian surface will be proportional to the net total charge inside the Gaussian surface. By inspection of the figure, we see that Gaussian surface B is the correct answer.

Example Question #22 : Electromagnetics, Waves, And Optics

Figure 3

The Figure shows four Gaussian surfaces surrounding a distribution of charges. Which Gaussian surfaces have no electric flux through them

Possible Answers:

A

C

B

B and D

Correct answer:

C

Explanation:

According to Gaussian law, the electric flux will be zero when the net electric charge inside the Gaussian surface is zero. By inspection, we see this is Gaussian surface C.

Example Question #23 : Electromagnetics, Waves, And Optics

Gaussian surfaces A and B enclose the same positive charge +Q. The area of Gaussian surface A is three times larger than that of Gaussian surface B. The flux of electric field through Gaussian surface A is __________.

Possible Answers:

nine times larger than the flux of electric field through Gaussian surface B

equal to the flux of electric field through Gaussian surface B

unrelated to the flux of electric field through Gaussian surface B

three times smaller than the flux of electric field through Gaussian surface B

Correct answer:

equal to the flux of electric field through Gaussian surface B

Explanation:

According to Gauss's law, the total electric flux is equal to the net total electric charge inside the a Gaussian surface. If the Gaussian surface is three times larger, the electric flux will be the same if both Gaussian surfaces contain the same amount of total electric charge.

Example Question #24 : Electromagnetics, Waves, And Optics

Figure 4

Which of the arrows shown in the figure represents the correct direction of the electric field between the two metal plates?

Possible Answers:

B

D

C

A

Correct answer:

A

Explanation:

The direction of electric field describes the trajectory of a positive test charge. Since a positive test charge would want to move away from the positive metal plate and towards the negative metal plate, the direction would be A.

Example Question #25 : Electromagnetics, Waves, And Optics

An x-ray machine emits electromagnetic photons carrying a frequency of . What is the approximate energy carried by each photon?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The energy of a photon of a given frequency is determined by the equation

, where  is Plank's constant 

So plug in Plank's constant and the frequency of the x-ray photons to get an energy of very near 

Example Question #26 : Electromagnetics, Waves, And Optics

You are given three resistors with known values:

You are asked to create a circuit with a total resistance of between  and . How should you arrange the resistors to accomplish this?

Possible Answers:

, , and  in series

 and  in parallel, connected to  in series

 and  in parallel;  is not necessary

 and  in parallel, connected to  in series

, , and  in parallel

Correct answer:

 and  in parallel, connected to  in series

Explanation:

This question requires no math to correctly answer! You should not need to 'brute force' it. Although it is designed to appear time consuming, it should be relatively easily once the principle of resistors in parallel is understood. Whenever two resistors are connected in parallel, the net resistance must be less than the resistance of either of the two alone. When resistors are connected in series, the net resistance must be more than the resistance of either alone.

Explanation of correct answer:

 and  in parallel, connected to  in series - It is possible to 'eyeball' this to see that this is at least feasible.  and  in parallel must make a network with an overall resistance less than . When added in series with  (), the overall may fall between  and . To confirm, one could do the math to calculate the overall resistance, but the point of this question is to use general principles to quickly eliminate the other, incorrect answer choices.

Explanations of incorrect answers:

, , and  in parallel - This combination cannot possibly work since the overall resistance must be less than  (the smallest resistor in parallel).

 and  in parallel, connected to  in series - Regardless of the overall resistance of  and  in parallel, the connection with  in series makes the total resistance more than .

 and  in parallel;  is not necessary - Placing  and  in parallel must result in a resistance less than .

, , and  in series - Connecting resistors in series results in an overall resistance greater than that of any one alone. Since  and  are included in series, the sum of the resistances is obviously much greater than what we are asked to produce and this choice can be immediately eliminated.

Example Question #1 : Capacitors

Which of the following expressions gives the capacitance for a capacitor in a circuit in which the only factors known are a) the current through the circuit, b) the resistance of the circuit, and c) the charge that has accumulated on the capacitor?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

In this question, we're given a number of parameters of a circuit and are asked to find how we can use these various parameters to show the capacitance of the circuit's capacitor.

First, recall what a capacitor is; something that stores charge for a given voltage difference. In other words, when there is a voltage difference between the two plates of a capacitor, a certain amount of charge can be stored on these plates. The more charge that can be stored for a given voltage difference, the greater that capacitor's capacitance. This can be shown by the following equation.

From the above expression,  is the capacitance which we are trying to find a proper expression for.  is the charge accumulated on the plates, which is one parameter we're given. Voltage, , on the other hand, is not provided.

To put the voltage into different terms, we'll need to use Ohm's law, which states the following.

In other words, the voltage is proportional to both the current and the resistance of the circuit.

Since we are given both current and resistance as known parameters in the question stem, we can use these for our final answer. By substituting the  in the capacitance expression with , we obtain the following answer.

Example Question #1 : Capacitors

A parallel plate capacitor with no dielectric has capacitance . The distance between the capacitor plates is halved. What is the new capacitance?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is proportional to the inverse of the distance between the plates. If the distance is halved, the capacitance is doubled.

Example Question #3 : Capacitors

An RC circuit is connected to a  power supply. If the resistance of the resistor is  and the capacitance is , how long will it take for this capacitor to become fully charged?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The formula for finding the voltage of a simple RC circuit is 

, where  is the capacitor voltage,  is the source voltage,  is the resistance, and  is the capacitance.

We want to know when the capacitor will reach the voltage of the power source  so 

 and thus 

Using the properties of natural logs yields

Solving for  yields 

Example Question #1 : Power

A resistive heating element can be modeled as a resistor connected across the terminals of a battery.

If the battery is selected to be , what should the resistance of the heating element be if the radiated power is to total ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We are asked to calculate the power dissipated through a resistor connected to a battery. We know that . Substituting the values given above, . Solving for R yields .

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