Rutgers University Department of Physics and Astronomy
Physics 106 - Spring 2008
Exam Information
Sample questions for the Final Exam:
- (5 pts.)How did J.J.Thompson first measure the charge-to-mass ratio of the
electron?
- (5 pts.)What is latent heat? Why is it called "latent"?
- (5 pts.) According to Aristotle, what kind of motion is "natural motion"?
Why did he call it "natural"?
- (5 pts.) What is the "Equivalence Principle"?
- (10pts.) If you have one kilogram of a radioactive material with a
half life
of one year, how much of this material will be left after
four years?
Explain your answer.
- (10pts.) Why can ultraviolet light damage the cells in your skin whereas
visible light cannot?
- (10pts.) If Schroedinger's Equation is applied to an electron that goes
through
a double slit and then strikes a photgraphic film beyond,
what does it
enable one to predict?
- (10pts.) Explain briefly how carbon-14 dating works?
- (10pts.) What important fact about atomic structure was learned from
Ernest
Rutherford's experiment with alpha-particles hitting a
thin gold foil?
What feature of the experiment lead to this conclusion?
- (10pts.) What does Faraday's Law tell us about electric and magnetic
fields?
- (5pts.) What is the "Bernoulli Effect"?
- (5 pts.) Describe Alessandro Volta's pile. Of what was it made?
- (5pts.) In what sense was Aristotle right that heavier objects fall
faster
than light objects? In what sense was he wrong?
- (5pts.) What is a "standing wave"? Give an example?
- (5pts.)What did Hans Christian Oersted discover about the connection
between
electricity and magnetism?
- (5pts.) In the case of light waves, what is actually waving or
oscillating?
- (5pts.)What is time dilation?
Final Exam Study Guide - Important Topics Covered:
- Scientific Method-Hypothesis, Theory, Induction, Deduction
- Solar System - Geocentric, Heliocentric, Ptolemy, Copernicus
- Brahe, Kepler, Galileo
- Universe- Stars, Galaxies, Black Holes, Supernovas, Neutron Stars, Big
Bang, Hubble, etc.
- Life in Universe
- Atoms - Crystals, Brownian Motion, Chemistry, etc.
- Aristotle - Motion, Falling
- Galileo - Distance, Velocity Acceleration, Gravity, Projectiles
- Vectors and Scalars - Adding
- Newton - Forces, Laws of Motion, Momentum, Friction, Circular Motion
- Fluids - Buoyancy, Pressure, Bernoulli, Pascal
- Newton - Gravity, Tides, Satellites
- Work and Energy - Kinetic, Potential, Elastic, Inelastic, Conservation
Laws
- Heat - Caloric, Friction, Count Rumford, Joule
- Temperature - Scales, Absolute Zero, Gas, Liquid, Solid
- Ideal Gas Law
- Calorimetry - Specific Heat
- Heat Transfer - Convection, Conduction, Black Body Radiation
- Kinetic - Molecular Theory of Matter
- Heat Engines - Carnot, Efficiency, Refrigerators
- Laws of Thermodynamics - 0th, 1st, 2nd
- Entropy - Disorder
- Waves - Longitudinal, Transverse, Sound, Light, Water
- Sound - Doppler Effect, Sonic Booms, Bow Waves, Decibels
- Standing Waves - Musical Instruments, Harmonics, Beat Frequencies
- Light - Dispersion, Spectra, Interference, Diffraction, Primary Colors
- Electricity - Coulomb, Fields, Potential, Electrolysis, Batteries, Current
- Magnetism - Electromagnets
- Faraday's Law - Devices
- Maxwell's Equations - Hertz, Electromagnetic Waves, Polarization
- Global Warming - Greenhouse Effect
- Optics - Reflection, Mirrors, Total Internal Reflection, Refraction,
Lenses
- Images - Principal Rays, Focal Points, Virtual, Real , Upright, Inverted,
Magnification
- Optical Instruments - Fresnel Lenses, Telescopes, Microscopes, the Eye,
Eye Glasses
- Einstein - Special Relativity, Length contraction, Time Dilation,
Simultaneity, Twin Paradox, Velocity Addition
- Michelson - Morley Experiment, Speed of Light
- Energy & Mass - Nuclear Bomb, Reactors
- General Relativity - Dark Matter, Dark Energy
- Atomic Spectra - Balmer Formula
- Planck's Formula - Ultraviolet Catastrophe, Photons
- Photoelectric Effect
- Properties of Electron - Charge, Mass, Periodic Table
- Rutherford Scattering Experiment
- Bohr's Model Of Hydrogen Atom - De Broglie's Waves, Heisenberg Uncertainty
- Principle
- Schroedinger Wave Equation - Wave function, Quantum states, Probability
- Interpretation
- Pauli Exclusion Principle - Chemistry
- Radioactivity - Half Life, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Carbon-14 Dating
- Protons, Neutrons, Alpha Particles, Isotopes
- Nuclear Binding energy - Fission, Fusion, Bombs, Reactors, The Sun
- Dirac Equation - Positrons, Antimatter, Pair Production
- Radiation - Doses, and Biological Risks
- Elementary Particles - Quarks, Color, Photons, Gluons, etc.
- Forces -Electromagnetic, Strong, Weak Gravity,Grand Unified Theories -
String theories
- Conservation Laws
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