PhysicsLAB AAPT Quiz
PhysicsBowl 2019 (Part 1)
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All Division I students, START HERE.
All Division II students – skip the first 10 questions, begin on #11.
*** Treat g = 10 m/s2 for ALL questions.
 
 
1. Select the smallest value from the choices below
 
2. Related to the historical development of understanding gravity, which is the proper chronological order for the work of these three scientists, from earliest to latest?




 
3. An isolated solid metal sphere with a radius R is given a positive charge Q. The electric potential at the surface of the sphere is V. What is the electric potential at a distance of 0.5R from the center of the sphere?
 
4. Consider a situation where the acceleration of an object is always directed perpendicular to its velocity. This means that




 
5. The acceleration due to gravity on the Moon is less than the acceleration due to gravity on the Earth. Which of the following is true about the mass and weight of an astronaut on the Moon's surface, compared to Earth?




 
6. Which one of the following is not equivalent to 2.50 miles?  Use the conversions: 1.00 mi = 1.61 km = 5280 ft and 1.00 yd = 3.00 ft = 12.0 in.
 
7. A 100 kg person travels from sea level to an altitude of 5000 m. By how many Newtons does their weight change?
 
8. A candle, a converging lens and a white screen are placed in a line with the lens between the candle and the screen. A distance of 72 cm separates the candle and screen. As the lens is moved to all points between the candle and the screen, only one focused image of the candle can be made on the screen. What is the focal length of the converging lens?
 
9. Standby power (sometimes called vampire power) is the power used by a device that is off but plugged in and in a standby mode. Regulations typically limit this power to 1 Watt. If electricity costs $0.10 per kilowatt hour, then to the nearest order of magnitude, and assuming 1 Watt, how much does it cost to leave a device in standby mode for one year?
 
10. A student generates a transverse periodic wave on a string. The wave travels away from the student at a constant speed v. Which of the following changes by itself will increase the speed at which the wave travels away from the student?




 
 
All Division II students, START HERE. Numbers #1-#10 on your answer sheet should be blank. Your first answer should be #11.
*** Treat g = 10 m/s2 for ALL questions.
 
 
11. You throw a ball at angle, θ, and measure its horizontal range, R. You now throw the same ball again at the same angle, but with twice the original speed. Its horizontal range, compared to your first throw (in both cases, the ball lands at the same height from which it was thrown) would be
 
12. A horizontal disk has a spring and a mass attached to a rod passing through its center. The spring has a spring constant of k and the attached mass is m. When the disk is not rotating, the equilibrium length of the spring is d. The disk is now angularly accelerated until it reaches a constant angular velocity of ω. At this angular velocity the length of the spring is now 2d. What is the angular velocity of the disk?
 
 
13. You measure that 4000 kcal of heat conducts through a window in your house in one hour when the house is kept at 20oC. The window is a 4.0 m2 pane of 0.30 cm thick glass [k = 2.0 × 10-4 kcal/(s∙m∙C°)]. What is the outside temperature?
 
14. The red glow in the neon tube of an advertising sign is a result of
 
15. Which of the following people was a recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics?
 
16. Water flows out of a horizontal drainpipe at the rate of 120 kg per minute. Its initial vertical velocity is zero and it falls 3.20 m to the ground. What is the average force it exerts when it hits the ground?
 
17. A sphere has a radius of 1.96 ± 0.01 𝑚. What is the approximate uncertainty in its volume?
 
18. A block slides up and back down a rough incline. Which of the following graphs could represent the velocity of the block as a function of time? All graphs use the same scale and uphill as the positive direction.
 
19. A ball with a mass of 0.500 kg traveling at 4.80 m/s strikes a wall and rebounds in the opposite direction at 3.60 m/s. What is the magnitude of the impulse that acted on the ball during the collision with the wall?
 
 
 
20. A string, fixed at both ends, vibrates at a frequency of 12 Hz with a standing transverse wave pattern containing 3 loops (antinodes). What frequency is needed if the standing wave pattern is to contain 4 loops (antinodes)?
 
21. Let M represent the magnification of an image. For which of the following arrangements of an object and an optical device would -1 < M < 0?




 
22. An Atwood machine is shown in the diagram at the right with m1= 0.60 kg and m2= 0.40 kg. What is the magnitude of the acceleration of m2? Ignore friction and the mass of the pulley.
 
23. A 30.0-N block falls straight down from a height of 10.0 m, and strikes the ground with a velocity of 7.00 m/s. What average force of air friction acts on it as it falls?
 
Questions 24 and 25 refer to Circuit 1.
 
 
24. The capacitor is initially uncharged. Which of the following choices best represents the current at Point X immediately after the switch is closed?
 
25. If the capacitor has a capacitance of 15 μF and is uncharged prior to closing the switch, what is the steady-state charge on the capacitor?
 



 
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