Physics test 2
To be affordable without subsidy or carbon credits, the cost of a billion-watt solar plant must be not much more then
$1 billion
Carbon credits (read all answers)
-could be sold to other countries if the country came in below their allowed value -were allocated to countries based on their projected use -were also known as "cap and trade"
Approximately how much carbon dioxide do nuclear power plants produce (in tons per year)?
0
About how much unpolarized light will pass through two perpendicular polarizers that are back to back?
0%
Light in a vacuum goes 1 foot every nanosecond (billionth of a second). In water, in one nanosecond it will go about!
0.66 feet
Semiconductors have energy gaps of around
1 eV
If you travel at 50% of the speed of light, your mass is increased by a factor of (useful math: 0.52 =0.25, square root of 0.75 = 0.87)
1.15
If GPS didn't correct for relativity, within a day positions could be off by closest to
10 miles
Cooling in the last big ice age, which ended about 12000 BC, was approximately
11F
The first photograph was taken closest to
1800
An octave refers to two frequencies that differ by a factor of
2
Sea level rise, tracked by satellite, from 1993 to 2014 (~20 years) was closest to!
2 inches
How many types of color cones does the human eye have?
3
The greenhouse effect currently warms the earth by approximately (careful: this may be a trick question)
35 F
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased over the past 100 years by about (when the book was published: 2010)
36%
A radioactive particle has a half-life of 1 second. If it moves at 3/5 the speed of light, its new half life will be (useful numbers: 32 /52 = 0.36, square root of 0.64 = 0.8)Cor
5/4 second
X-rays are generated by slamming electrons into tungsten or other metals with energies between
50 - 100 keV
The IPCC now (as of 2020) believes that humans are responsible for what percentage of the ~2 F temperature increase since 1951?
50%
The average temperature of the earth (including the poles and equator) is now about (at the time of book publication: 2010)!
57 F
Since the publication of the book (average solar cost per watt of $7.53 in 2010) prices have decreased by how much per watt?
66%
In France, nuclear power produces what percentage of the electricity?
80%
Which of the following has the lowest frequency?
AM radio
A few years ago, a certain kind of spray can was banned. These were the cans that used
CFCs
Which of the following is not a major greenhouse has?
CFCs (such as freon)
Which of the following exposes a person to the kind of radiation that can cause cancer, even if a very small amount (choose all correct answers)?
Computer-aided tomography (CAT) scans Positron-emission tomography (PET)
The organization that studies climate change is
IPCC
The greenhouse effect involves atmospheric emission of
IR
Pit vipers and mosquitos can sense
IR radiation
Hurricane Katrina (2005, New Orleans) was used as "proof" of global warming. Why is this an incorrect assertion?
It is impossible to directly relate a single isolated event to a small global change in temperature
A treaty that was signed by the United States but not ratified by the Senate is
Kyoto
Most damage from an earthquake usually comes from the
L wave
The name nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been changed to
MRI
To image hydrogen in the body, use
MRI
To image hydrogen in the brain, the best technique is
MRI
The fastest earthquake wave is
P wave
Which of the following is statements about earthquakes is true?
P waves are the fastest, and L waves cause the most destruction
Which of the following uses antimatter?
PET scan
Computer circuits are based on which material?
Silicon
The best kind of radiation to purify water is
UV
Sunburn is usually caused by
UV radiation
A transistor is
a device that can amplify or turn AC to DC
The quantum chain reaction (stimulated emission) refers to
a laser
The wavelength of visible light is closest to the diameter of
a red blood cell
SOSUS refers to
a system for detecting submarines
Antimatter engines would be very efficient because
all of the mass is converted to energy
An electron is in orbit around a proton. What is the maximum number of orbits it can be in at the same time?
any number
As electron is in orbit around a proton. What is the maximum number of orbits it can be in at the same time?
any number
Inertial reference frames
are non-accelerating
Electrons orbiting an atom
are restricted to certain energies/frequencies
A successful fisherman will throw the spear
below the fish image
Which color of light would give the highest number of bits per second would in fiber optics?
blue
Which of the following is polarized!
blue sky light
Jane and Tom synchronize their watches on earth. Jane remains on the earth while Tom takes a round-trip to Pluto at near light speed. When they get back together, whose clock is correct?
both clocks are correct
Water waves are
both transverse and longitudinal
The country that produces the most carbon dioxide each year is
china
Microwave ovens use radiation with a wavelength
close to radar
Which fossil fuel produces the most CO2 , per pound, when burned?
coal
Which fossil fuel produces the most CO2, per pound, when burned?
coal
Sound tends to bend toward the side with
colder air
The energy of a photon depends on
color
The energy of photon depends on
color
Sound waves are
compressional (longitudinal)
Solar-thermal power plants use
concentrated sunlight to boil water
We can deduce the thickness of a thin oil layer on water by the color it appears to be. This is because of
constructive interference
Since the book was written the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere has
continued
Two soap bubbles from the same soap appear to be different colors. They probably have...
different thickness
Lorentz contraction has been observed in
distant galaxies
At very high speed, all of these change except
electric charge
If you sleep under a tree instead of open sky, you won't get wet from morning dew. That's because the tree
emits infrared radiation
The advertising slogan "whiter then white" means the material
emits visible light
Transistors use semiconductors with different
energy gaps
A rise in the average sea level of only 3 feet would have very little effect on humanity.
false
Energy conservation is violated in quantum physics.
false
Tachyons would violate relativity by going faster than the speed of light. (careful, this may be a trick question)
false
The speed of light in space changes if you are already moving.
false
We can measure the exact position and velocity of a particle simultaneously
false
What technology uses the same principle as the "sound channel" from chapter 7 to guide light?!
fiber optics
As you move to higher altitude, the temperature of the air
first gets cooler then warmer
To make clothes appear extra clean, manufacturers apply
fluorescent dyes
Which of the following has the highest frequency
gamma rays
General relativity is a theory of
gravity
Sunlight is brightest in which color?
green
The human eye has cones that detect
green, blue, red
A magnitude 9 earthquake, compared to a magnitude 8 earthquake
has 10 to 30 times the energy
Why do you see mirages (blueish blobs) on hot, sunny days in the distance on asphalt roads?
hot air above the road bends the sky's light
MRI maps the distribution of which element to produce an image?
hydrogen
A piece of glass is shaped like a pyramid. The side of the pyramid is tilted at 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal (i.e. facing upwards at 45 degrees). A beam of light is inside the glass, moving horizontally. When it emerges from the tilted side of the glass, it will be moving
in a direction that is tilted downward (so it will eventually hit the ground)
Thanks to humans, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has
increased by about 36%
As the wavelength of light decreases, the frequency
increases
When a radioactive rock travels near the speed of light, its mass
increases and there are fewer decays
The speed of sound in air
increases as air temperature increases
If you double the absolute temperature, the total radiation power
increases by 16
When a particle is approaching the speed of light, its mass approaches
infinity
Because of their warmth, humans emit primarily
infrared radiation
Heat radiation is also called
infrared radiation
In total darkness, you can see people if you have a camera that is sensitive to
infrared radiation
The Lorentz contraction says that a football thrown past your face
is shorter by Einsten Factor
The speed of a massless particles (careful: this may be a trick question)
is the same to all observers
The ocean sound channel
is very quiet
Why is laser light particularly dangerous
it is very collimated and focused by a lens
We don't notice time dilation in every day life because
it is very small for the speeds we encounter
The ocean dissolves much of the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Why is this not necessarily a good thing?
it makes the ocean more acidic which effects marine life
The L wave is often the most damaging because
it stays on the surface, so it doesn't spread out very much
Stimulated emission is important for
lasers
Supermarket scanners use both
lasers and holograms
Diamonds sparkle in many colors because
light velocity depends on color
Which of the following quantities do not depend on velocity?
m0
Ice in Antartica is
melting, contradicting global warming predictions
Being nearsighted can result from
misshaped cornea
How does a TV screen create "white" light?
mixes blue, red, and green light
Laser light is (choose all correct answers)
monochormatic (single frequency) collimated (single direction)
The Lorentz contraction refers to the fact that
moving objects get shorter
Which of the following is not a zero-mass particle?
neutrino
We know that part of the interior of the earth is liquid because
no S waves move across it
Quantum computers are
not yet very good at anything
Stealth bombers are undetected by radar, in part because
of the absence of corner reflectors
An astronaut Alice makes a round-trip at 3/5 the speed if light. Her twin Bob stays on earth. When Alice returns, Bob is
older than Alice
The clouds in thunderstorms rise until they reach
ozone layer
Xerox machines make use of
photoelectric effect
A laser operates on the principle of
photon avalanche
Stress in plastic can be detected by looking at
polarized light (crossed polaroids)
The photoelectric effect is important for all of the following except
polarized sunglasses
Present-day 3-D movies make use of which technology?
polarizers
Nuclear fission requires
quantum tunneling
The name for a bit in a quantum computer is a
qubit
The original name of the microwave oven was
radar range
According to the text, wind power is...
rapidly growing, with wind turbines delivering twice the power they did four years ago
A key disadvantage of current quantum computers over ordinary computers is that they
require extremely low temperatures
Laser eye surgery uses the beam to
reshape the cornea
A moving object is
shorter and younger
The first integrated circuits were made of
silicon
A stop sign is bright when you shine the headlamps of your car on it. It most likely is covered with
small glass spheres
The very center of the earth (inner core, not outer core) is
solid iron
Beats demonstrate that
sound is a wave
The ozone layer is created by
sunlight
You are more likely to hear distant sounds when
the air near the ground is cool and the air above it is warm
Shannon infamous for having invented or discovered (among other things):
the bit
Around 1016 to 1017 grams of CO2 is processed by the natural carbon cycle every year (as it has for many thousands of years). Humanity's yearly carbon output is only about 1015 grams (so about 1-10% of the natural cycle). Why should this make any difference?
the carbon cycle is relatively slow, so it cannot compensate for it as fast as it changes
Quanta are not observed from water waves because
the energy of the quanta are too small
Multispectral refers to
the many colors in visible light
Solar cells utilize
the photoelectric effect
A pianist plays two keys: middle C, and the C above middle C (i.e. an octave higher). The speed of sound for the higher frequency, compared to that for the lower frequency, is (careful, this may be a trick question)
the same
SOFAR took advantage of
the sound channel in the ocean
You can measure the distance to the epicenter of an earthquake by
the time between P and S Waves
Superconducting materials allow electrons to move without loss of energy because
there is an energy gap
The fastest sound wave is:
they all travel at the same speed
Polaroids are used for 3D movies because
they give a different image to each eye
Landfill is dangerous because
they slow down and focus earthquake energy
The fourth dimension refers to
time
Light waves are
transverse
Tachyons are particles that
travel faster than c
Very long wavelength water waves
travel faster than short ones
All matter has both wave and particle properties, even if we can't see it (according to quantum mechanics).
true
Earth's orbit is quantized
true
If a particle decays, it cannot have zero mass. (hint: do zero mass particles age?)
true
It is fundamentally impossible to determine whether two events are simultaneous, because it depends on which reference frame you use.
true
Massless particles do not age.
true
Your eye has...
two lenses-the lens and the cornea
Bats navigate in caves using
ultrasound
The atmospheric sound channel would not exist, if not for
ultraviolet light
Cancer is most likely to be caused by
ultraviolet radiation
The ozone layer is created by and absorbs
ultraviolet radiation
Beta, i.e. your "light speed" is written as (v=velocity, c= speed of light, m = mass)
v/c
Based on how much fossil fuel humans have burned in our history, we have released about 1,000,000,000,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere (approaching half in the last 20 years). Based on the density of CO2 gas (~1,000,000 tons/cubic mile), this would cover an area, from the ground to the top of the atmosphere, about the size of
vermont
Light is polarized when it bounces off (choose all correct answers):
water glass
A computer screen does not have spots that are colored
white
Waves tend to bend in to the side
with slower wave velocity
Which is the best for seeing calcium in bones
x-ray
Which of the following are electromagnetic waves? (choose all correct answers)
x-rays radar UV visible light
Light can travel at the speed of light because it has
zero rest mass