Choose the correct alternative:

(a) If the zero of potential energy is at infinity, the total energy of an orbiting satellite is negative of its kinetic/potential energy.

(b) The energy required to launch an orbiting satellite out of earth’s gravitational influence is more/less than the energy required to project a stationary object at the same height (as the satellite) out of earth’s influence.

State the number of significant figures in the following:

(a) 0.007 m²

(b) 2.64 x 10²⁴ kg

(c) 0.2370 g cm^-3

(d) 6.320 J

(e) 6.032 N m^-2

(f) 0.0006032 m²

Fill in the blanks by suitable conversion of units:

(a) 1 kg m²s^–2= ....g cm² s^–2

(b) 1 m =..... ly

(c) 3.0 m s^–2=.... km h^–2

(d) G = 6.67 × 10^–11 N m² (kg)^–2=.... (cm)3s^–2 g^–1.

A physical quantity P is related to four observables a, b, c and d as follows :

The percentage errors of measurement in a, b, c and d are 1%, 3%, 4% and 2%, respectively. What is the percentage error in the quantity P ? If the value of P calculated using the above relation turns out to be 3.763, to what value should you round off the result ?

Rain is falling vertically with a speed of 30 m s^–1. A woman rides a bicycle with a speed of 10 m s^–1 in the north to south direction. What is the direction in which she should hold her umbrella?

The mass of a box measured by a grocer's balance is 2.300 kg. Two gold pieces of masses 20.15 g and 20.17 g are added to the box. What is

(a) the total mass of the box,

(b) the difference in the masses of the pieces to correct significant figures?

On an open ground, a motorist follows a track that turns to his left by an angle of 60° after every 500 m. Starting from a given turn, specify the displacement of the motorist at the third, sixth and eighth turn. Compare the magnitude of the displacement with the total path length covered by the motorist in each case.

What amount of heat must be supplied to 2.0 x 10^-2 kg of nitrogen (at room temperature) to raise its temperature by 45 °C at constant pressure? (Molecular mass of N² = 28; R = 8.3 J mol^-1 K^-1.)

A transverse harmonic wave on a string is described by

y(x,t)  =  3.0 sin [36t + 0.018x + π /4]

Where x and y are in cm and t in s. The positive direction of x is from left to right.

(a) Is this a travelling wave or a stationary wave? If it is travelling, what are the speed and direction of its propagation?

(b) What are its amplitude and frequency?

(c) What is the initial phase at the origin?

(d) What is the least distance between two successive crests in the wave?

Given a + b + c + d = 0, which of the following statements are correct:

(a) a, b, c, and d must each be a null vector,

(b) The magnitude of (a + c) equals the magnitude of (b+ d),

(c) The magnitude of a can never be greater than the sum of the magnitudes of b, c, and d,

(d) b + c must lie in the plane of a and d if a and d are not collinear, and in the line of a and d, if they are collinear?

The mass of a box measured by a grocer's balance is 2.300 kg. Two gold pieces of masses 20.15 g and 20.17 g are added to the box. What is

(a) the total mass of the box,

(b) the difference in the masses of the pieces to correct significant figures?

A bob of mass 0.1 kg hung from the ceiling of a room by a string 2 m long is set into oscillation. The speed of the bob at its mean position is 1 ms^-1. What is the trajectory of the bob if the string is cut when the bob is (a) at one of its extreme positions, (b) at its mean position.

Underline the correct alternative:

(a) When a conservative force does positive work on a body, the potential energy of the body increases/decreases/remains unaltered.

(b) Work done by a body against friction always results in a loss of its kinetic/potential energy.

(c) The rate of change of total momentum of a many-particle system is proportional to the external force/sum of the internal forces on the system.

(d) In an inelastic collision of two bodies, the quantities which do not change after the collision are the total kinetic energy/total linear momentum/total energy of the system of two bodies.

Can you associate vectors with (a) the length of a wire bent into a loop, (b) a plane area, (c) a sphere? Explain.

Read each statement below carefully and state, with reasons, if it is true or false:

(a) The net acceleration of a particle in circular motion is always along the radius of the circle towards the centre

(b) The velocity vector of a particle at a point is always along the tangent to the path of the particle at that point

(c) The acceleration vector of a particle in uniform circular motion averaged over one cycle is a null vector

The shells of crabs found around a particular coastal location in Japan seem mostly to resemble the legendary face of a Samurai. Given below are two explanations of this observed fact. Which of these strikes you as a scientific explanation ?

(a) A tragic sea accident several centuries ago drowned a young Samurai. As a tribute to his bravery, nature through its inscrutable ways immortalised his face by imprinting it on the crab shells in that area.

(b) After the sea tragedy, fishermen in that area, in a gesture of honour to their dead hero, let free any crab shell caught by them which accidentally had a shape resembling the face of a Samurai. Consequently, the particular shape of the crab shell survived longer and therefore in course of time the shape was genetically propagated. This is an example of evolution by artificial selection.

[Note : This interesting illustration taken from Carl Sagan’s ‘The Cosmos’ highlights the fact that often strange and inexplicable facts which on the first sight appear ‘supernatural’ actually turn out to have simple scientific explanations. Try to think out other examples of this kind].

Explain why

(a) To keep a piece of paper horizontal, you should blow over, not under, it

(b) When we try to close a water tap with our fingers, fast jets of water gush through the openings between our fingers

(c) The size of the needle of a syringe controls flow rate better than the thumb pressure exerted by a doctor while administering an injection

(d) A fluid flowing out of a small hole in a vessel results in a backward thrust on the vessel

(e) A spinning cricket ball in air does not follow a parabolic trajectory

A bolt of mass 0.3 kg falls from the ceiling of an elevator moving down with an uniform speed of 7 m s^-1. It hits the floor of the elevator (length of the elevator = 3 m) and does not rebound. What is the heat produced by the impact? Would your answer be different if the elevator were stationary?

Given below are some functions of x and t to represent the displacement (transverse or longitudinal) of an elastic wave. State which of these represent (i) a traveling wave, (ii) a stationary wave or (iii) none at all:

(a) y = 2 cos (3x) sin (10t)

(b) y  =  2 underroot(x -vt)

(c) y = 3 sin (5x - 0.5t) + 4 cos (5x - 0.5t)

(d) y = cos x sin t + cos 2x sin 2t