PHYS 272 Practice Exam

1
Problem

In the diagram below, the electric field is uniform and has components <-200, -300, 0>
N/C. Point A is at <0, 0, 0> m. B is at <0, -2, 0> m. What is ΔV along a path from A to
B?

1. 0V
2. –300 V
3. –500 V
4. –600 V
5. –1000 V
6. +300 V
7. +500 V
8. +600 V
9. +1000 V

A
X
E

X B

2
Problem

VB-VA = +500 V. VC-VB = -200 V. What is VC-VA?

1. +700 V
2. +300 V
3. 0V
4. –300 V
5. –700 V

A B
X X

X C

3
Problem

A bar magnet has a length L, cross sectional area A and magnetic dipole moment of µ0 =8
A-m2. It is cut into two equal pieces, each with length L/2 and cross sectional area A.
Each of these bar magnets has a magnetic dipole moment µ1. The ratio µ1/µ0 is:

1. 1.0
2. 2.0
3. 4.0
4. 0.5
5. 0.25
6. No enough information

Problem

An electron and a proton are near each other, moving with velocities as shown in the
plane of the page. What is the direction of the magnetic force on the electron due to the
proton?
ve

vp

1. Out of the page

4
Problem

There are two coils separated by a large distance 2L (L >> R, R is the radius of the coil).
The x-axis passes through the center of each coil and the plane of each coil is
perpendicular to the x-axis. In one coil the conventional current flows clockwise while in
the other the conventional current flows counter clockwise. What is the magnitude and
direction of the magnetic field generated by a current of magnitude I flowing in these
coils at the positions x=0 and at x=δ, where δ <<L? Note: arrows show direction of
conventional current flow in each loop.
y

δ x

-L L

 2 µo 2π R 2 I
1. x = 0 : B = in the positive x direction.
4π L3
 µo 2πR 2 I µo 2πR 2 I
x=δ: B = + in the positive x direction.
4π (L + δ )3 4π (L − δ )3
 2 µo 2π R 2 I
2. x = 0 : B = in the negative x direction.
4π L3
 µ 2πR 2 I µo 2πR 2 I
x=δ: B = o + in the negative x direction.
4π (L + δ )3 4π (L − δ )3

3. x = 0 : B = 0
 µ 2πR 2 I µ 2πR 2 I
x=δ: B =− o + o in the negative x direction.
4π (L + δ )3 4π (L − δ )3

4. x = 0 : B = 0
 µo 2πR 2 I µo 2πR 2 I
x=δ: B =− + in the positive x direction.
4π (L + δ )3 4π (L − δ )3

5. x = 0 : B = 0
 µ 2πR 2 I µ 2πR 2 I
x=δ: B = o + o in the negative x direction.
4π (L + δ )3 4π (L − δ )3

5
Problem y

V
x

Charge –q is moving along the x-axis with speed V. What is the direction of the magnetic
field at location A?
1. +x
2. –x
3. +y
4. –y
5. +z
6. –z
7. none of the above

Problem

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines use a large coil of wire to generate a large
magnetic field within the coil. Suppose that the magnitude of the magnetic field at the
center of a coil of radius R used in an MRI machine is B. If the MRI coil can be treated as
a thin coil (i.e, equivalent to a single loop), what would be the magnitude of the magnetic
field at a distance 2R from the center of the loop, along the loop’s “z” axis?

1. B/2
2. B/4
3. B/8
4. B/(4)3/2
5. B/(5)3/2

6
Problem

A capacitor consists of two metal plates separated by distance s. At a particular instant, it

s d
 
1. | E1 | s+ | E2 | d
 
2. | E1 | s− | E2 | d
 
3. − | E1 | s+ | E2 | d
 
4. − | E1 | s− | E2 | d

Problem

Many commercial resistors are made of carbon, which has a very low conductivity, σcarbon
= 3x104 Am-2/(V/m). A 5 mm long carbon resistor with a cross-sectional area of 0.1 mm2
has a resistance of about 1.7 ohms. How long would a copper wire of the same diameter
have to be to obtain the same resistance?
(σcopper = 5.8x107 (Ωm)-1)

1. 1m
2. 10 mm
3. 10 m
4. 0.1 m
5. 0.01 m

7
Problem

In the circuit shown below, all of the wire is made of Nichrome, but one segment has a
much smaller cross sectional area.

a) [10 points] Show the steady-state electric field at the locations indicated, including the
thinner segment.

b) [10 pts] Carefully draw pluses and minuses on the diagram to show the approximate
surface charge distribution that produces the electric field you drew. Be sure to indicate
clearly the differences between regions of high surface charge density and regions of low
surface charge density.

c) [5 points] If the ratio of the diameter of the thick wire to that of the thin wire is 3:1,
what is the ratio of the drift velocity in the thick wire to that in the thin wire? Show your
work!

8
Problem

The circuit below is made of two batteries and three light bulbs.

a) [10 points] After the switch is closed and the steady state is established, the currents
through bulbs 1, 2, and 3 are I1, I2, and I3, respectively. Write loop and node equations
that could be solved to determine these three unknown currents, but do not solve the
equations. Label on the diagram what current directions, loops, and nodes you are
using.

9
b) [10 points] Each battery in the circuit provides an emf of 1.5 Volts. (Treat each as an
ideal battery.) When the switch is closed and the bulbs are glowing, bulb 1 has a
resistance of 10 ohms, bulb 2 has a resistance of 40 ohms, bulb 3 has a resistance of 30
ohms, and the copper conducting wires have negligible resistance. Solve your equations
in part (a) for the currents I1, I2, and I3.

c) [5 points] Give a numerical value for the power delivered by the batteries and the power
dissipated by each of the three light bulbs. What is the relationship of the power delivered
by the batteries to the power dissipated by the light bulbs?

10
 Fundamental Principles
Equations and principles you must know:
(1) Electric field of a point charge (2) Relationship between electric field and electric force
(3) Magnetic field of a moving point charge
Conservation of charge The Superposition Principle
The Energy Principle The Momentum Principle
U el f
V ≡ -------- q∆V = ∆U ∆V = V f – V i = – ∫ E • dl ≈ – ∑ ( E x ∆x + Ey ∆y + Ez ∆z )
q i

Specific results
Electric field of a uniformly charged spherical shell: outside shell, like point charge; inside shell, 0.
1 Q 1 2(Q ⁄ L)
E rod = ------------ ------------------------------------ a ⊥ distance r from the center E rod ≈ ------------ ------------------- if r << L
4πε 0 r r 2 + ( L ⁄ 2 ) 2 4πε 0 r

1 qz
E ring = ------------ ------------------------------ on axis
4πε0 ( z 2 + R 2 ) 3 / 2

Q⁄A z Q⁄A z Q⁄A

Q⁄A Q⁄A s
E capacitor ≈ ------------ for +Q and –Q disks; E fringe ≈ ------------ ⎛ -------⎞ just outside capacitor
ε0 ε 0 ⎝ 2R⎠

1 2qs 1 qs
E dipole ≈ ------------ --------- along dipole axis, for x >> s; E dipole ≈ – ------------ ----- along ⊥ axis, for y >> s
4πε0 x 3 4πε 0 y 3

i = nAv I = q nAv v = uE

µ 0 I∆l × r̂ µ0 LI µ 0 2I
∆B = ------ ---------------- for a short segment of current-carrying conductor B wire = ------ ------------------------------------ ≈ ------ ----- for r << L
4π r 2 4π r r 2 + ( L ⁄ 2 ) 2 4π r

µ 0 2IπR 2 µ 0 2IπR 2 2
B loop = ------ ------------------------------ ≈ ------ --------------- on axis, z >> R µ = IA = IπR current loop
4π ( z 2 + R 2 ) 3 / 2 4π z 3

µ 0 2µ
B dipole ≈ ------ ------ on axis
4π z 3

Physical constants
1 9 N·m 2 – 12 C 2 µ – 7 T·m 2 T·m 2
------------ = 9 ×10 -------------- ε 0 = 8.85 ×10 ------------- -----0- = 1 ×10 -------------- µ 0 = 4π × 10 –7 --------------
4πε 0 C2 N·m 2 4π C·m/s C·m/s
8 – 19 –27 – 31
c = 3 ×10 m/s e = 1.6 ×10 C mproton ≈ mneutron = 1.7 ×10 kg melectron = 9 ×10 kg
23
6 ×10 molecules/mole Atomic radius ≈ 10-10 m Proton radius ≈ 10-15 m g = 9.8 N/kg
6 –5
Electric field necessary to ionize air, about 3 ×10 N/C horizontal component of Earth’s magnetic field, about 2 ×10 T

7
 Key to Practice Exam

Problem Answer
1 4
2 2
3 4
4 4
5 3
6 6
7 5
8 3
9 3