Just as precise measurements are necessary in science, it is equally important to be able to make rough estimates of quantities using rudimentary ideas and common observations. Think of ways by which you can estimate the following (where an estimate is difficult to obtain, try to get an upper bound on the quantity):
(a) the total mass of rain-bearing clouds over India during the Monsoon
(b) the mass of an elephant
(c) the wind speed during a storm
(d) the number of strands of hair on your head
(e) the number of air molecules in your classroom.
(a) During monsoons, a metrologist records about 215 cm of rainfall in India i.e., the height of water column, h = 215 cm = 2.15 m
Area of country, A = 3.3 × 1012 m2
Hence, volume of rain water, V = A × h = 7.09 × 1012 m3
Density of water, p = 1 × 103 kg m-3
Hence, mass of rain water = p × V = 7.09 × 1015 kg
Hence, the total mass of rain-bearing clouds over India is approximately 7.09 × 1015 kg.
(b) Consider a ship of known base area floating in the sea. Measure its depth in sea (say d1).
Volume of water displaced by the ship, Vb = A d1
Now, move an elephant on the ship and measure the depth of the ship (d2) in this case.
Volume of water displaced by the ship with the elephant on board, Vbe= Ad2
Volume of water displaced by the elephant = Ad2 - Ad1
Density of water = D
Mass of elephant = AD (d2 - d1)
(c) Wind speed during a storm can be measured by an anemometer. As wind blows, it rotates. The rotation made by the anemometer in one second gives the value of wind speed.
(d) Area of the head surface carrying hair = A
With the help of a screw gauge, the diameter and hence, the radius of a hair can be determined. Let it be r.
∴Area of one hair = πr2
Number of strands of hair = Total Surface area / Area of one hair = A / πr2
(e) Let the volume of the room be V.
One mole of air at NTP occupies 22.4 l i.e., 22.4 × 10-3 m3 volume.
Number of molecules in one mole = 6.023 × 1023
∴Number of molecules in room of volume V
= 6.023 × 1023 / 22.4 × 10-3 V = 134.915 × 1026 V
= 1.35 × 1028 V
Popular Questions of Class 11 Physics
- Q:-
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
- Q:-
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.
- Q:-
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 ?
- Q:-
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?
- Q:- Give the magnitude and direction of the net force acting on
(a) a drop of rain falling down with a constant speed
(b) a cork of mass 10 g floating on water
(c) a kite skillfully held stationary in the sky
(d) a car moving with a constant velocity of 30 km/h on a rough road
(e) a high-speed electron in space far from all material objects, and free of electric and magnetic fields. - Q:-
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?
- Q:-
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.
- Q:-
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.)
- Q:- In which of the following examples of motion, can the body be considered approximately a point object:
(a) a railway carriage moving without jerks between two stations.
(b) a monkey sitting on top of a man cycling smoothly on a circular track.
(c) a spinning cricket ball that turns sharply on hitting the ground.
(d) a tumbling beaker that has slipped off the edge of a table. - Q:-
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?
Recently Viewed Questions of Class 11 Physics
- Q:-
The driver of a three-wheeler moving with a speed of 36 km/h sees a child standing in the middle of the road and brings his vehicle to rest in 4.0 s just in time to save the child. What is the average retarding force on the vehicle? The mass of the three-wheeler is 400 kg and the mass of the driver is 65 kg.
- Q:-
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?
- Q:-
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
- Q:-
Which of the following is the most precise device for measuring length:
(a) a vernier callipers with 20 divisions on the sliding scale
(b) a screw gauge of pitch 1 mm and 100 divisions on the circular scale
(c) an optical instrument that can measure length to within a wavelength of light ?
- Q:-
A pipe 20 cm long is closed at one end. Which harmonic mode of the pipe is resonantly excited by a 430 Hz source? Will the same source be in resonance with the pipe if both ends are open? (Speed of sound in air is 340 m s-1).
- Q:-
Answer carefully, with reasons:
(a) In an elastic collision of two billiard balls, is the total kinetic energy conserved during the short time of collision of the balls (i.e. when they are in contact)?
(b) Is the total linear momentum conserved during the short time of an elastic collision of two balls?
(c) What are the answers to (a) and (b) for an inelastic collision?
(d) If the potential energy of two billiard balls depends only on the separation distance between their centres, is the collision elastic or inelastic? (Note, we are talking here of potential energy corresponding to the force during collision, not gravitational potential energy).
- Q:-
In Exercises 3.13 and 3.14, we have carefully distinguished between average speed and magnitude of average velocity. No such distinction is necessary when we consider instantaneous speed and magnitude of velocity. The instantaneous speed is always equal to the magnitude of instantaneous velocity. Why?
- Q:-
A cricketer can throw a ball to a maximum horizontal distance of 100 m. How much high above the ground can the cricketer throw the same ball?
- Q:-
The sign of work done by a force on a body is important to understand. State carefully if the following quantities are positive or negative:
(a) work done by a man in lifting a bucket out of a well by means of a rope tied to the bucket.
(b) work done by gravitational force in the above case,
(c) work done by friction on a body sliding down an inclined plane,
(d) work done by an applied force on a body moving on a rough horizontal plane with uniform velocity,
(e) work done by the resistive force of air on a vibrating pendulum in bringing it to rest.
- Q:- Give the magnitude and direction of the net force acting on a stone of mass 0.1 kg,
(a) just after it is dropped from the window of a stationary train,
(b) just after it is dropped from the window of a train running at a constant velocity of 36 km/h,
(c) just after it is dropped from the window of a train accelerating with 1 m s 2,
(d) lying on the floor of a train which is accelerating with 1 m s 2, the stone being at rest relative to the train. Neglect air resistance throughout.
- NCERT Chapter