Tuesday, May 31, 1966 Time: 9:00-12:00 a.
m
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OP TECHNOLOGY
Scheduled Examination in
Page 1 of 7 pages
Physics 8.02T
NOTE: Students are not permitted to use any books, notebooks/ or
papers in this examination . If brought into the room, they
must not be left on the desks.
There are 7 problems, points value as stated on each, total-
ling 100.
Put your NAME and SECTION NUMBER AND RECITATION
INSTRUCTOR'S NAME on the Examination Booklet.
jDo problems in any order you please, but BEGIN
EACH PROBLEM ON A FRESH PAGE.
Relativity x1 =
t1 =
= v/c
E= y 2 -*
; p
Space-Time invariant (As) 2 = (cAt) 2 - (Ax) 2
Energy-Momentum invariant (E ) 2 = (m c2 ) 2 = E2 - (cp)
Vibrations and Waves
Free vibrations: x(t) = Ae -Kt/2 cos (Ot -
where =/0
Forced vibrations: (F = FO cosot)'
x = A cos (ot -
FQ/m
where A(O) =
tan 8(0) =
max
P(U)) = U) v
CJ >
Page 2 of 7 pages
1) (14 points) At noon a rocket ship passes the earth at a
speed 3c/5. Observers on the ship and on earth agree that
it is noon.
a) At 12:30 P.M., as read by a clock on the rocket ship, the
ship passes an interplanetary navigation station that is
at rest relative to the earth, and whose clocks read
earth time. At what time does this occur as measured by
the station?
b) How far from earth (in earth co-ordinates) is the station?
c) Also at 12:30, rocket time, the ship is passed by a missile
traveling back towards earth with speed 4c/5 relative to
the rocket ship. When, by earth time, does the missile
reach earth?
2) (10 points) An antiproton, (p), of kinetic energy 2/3 GeV
strikes a proton, (p), which is at rest in the laboratory.
They annihilate (reaction: pT + p->Y, + )L), yielding two
photons which emerge from the reaction traveling forward or
backward on the line along which the antiproton entered.
Take the rest energy of proton and antiproton to be 1 GeV
each.
a) What energies do the photons have?
b) In which direction is each photon heading?
c) As measured in a reference frame attached to the incoming p,
what energy does each of the photons have?
3 of 7
3) (14 points)
a) A force F is applied at
point A as shown on the
right. At what angle 0
(« 1 radian) is the new
equilibrium position?
What force F 1 , applied
at m, would produce the
same result?
Two identical pendulums con-
sisting of equal masses mounted
on rigid, weightless rods, are
arranged as shown at the left.
A light spring (unstretched
when both rods are vertical
and placed as shown) provides
the coupling.
b) Write down the differential equations of motion for small-
amplitude oscillations in terms of GI and 02 (Neglect
damping)
c) Describe the motion of the pendulums in each of the normal
modes.
d) Calculate the frequencies of the normal modes of the system.
Hint: The symmetry of the system can be exploited to good
advantage, particularly in parts c and d, as long as
the answers obtained this way are checked in the
equations.
Page 4 of 7 pages
4) (24 points) A block of mass m is connected to a spring, the
other end of which is fixed. There is also a viscous damping
mechanism. The following observations have been made on this
system:
(i) If the block is pushed horizontally with a
force equal to rog, the static compression of
the spring is equal to h
(ii) The viscous resistive force is equal to mg if
the block moves with a certain known speed u.
a) For this complete system (including both spring and damper)
write the differential equation governing horizontal oscil-
of the mass in terms of m, g, h/ and u.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FOR THE CASE THAT u = 2
b) What is the angular frequency of the damped oscillations?
c) After what time, expressed as a multiple of /h/g , is
the energy down by a factor 1/e?
d) What is the "Q" of this oscillator?
e) This oscillator, initially in its rest position, is sud-
denly set into motion at t = 0 by a bullet of negligible
mass but non-negligible momentum traveling in the positive x
direction. Find the value of the phase-angle & in the
equation x « Ae~ *t' 2 cos(ut - £) that describes the sub-
sequent motion, and sketch x vs t for the first few cycles.
f) If the oscillator is driven with a force mg cos6Jt,
whereCA^ « \!2g/h. what is the amplitude of the steady-state
Page 5 of 7 pages
5) (10 points) TWO points on a string are observed as a traveling
wave passes them. The points are at x-= 0 and x^ = * m '
The transverse motions of the two points are found to be as
follows:
y, = 0.2 sin 3irt
y2 = 0.2 sin (3irt + Tr/8)
a) What is the frequency in cycles/sec?
b) What is the wavelength?
c) With what speed does the wave travel?
d) Which way is the wave traveling? Show how you reach this
conclusion.
e) A symmetrical triangular pulse of maximum height 0.4 m and
total length 1.0 m is moving to the right with the pulse
entirely located between x = 0 and x=lmatt=0. Draw
a graph of the transverse velocity vs time at x = x2 » +1 m
(Assume that the pulse has the speed you calculated in
part c.)
Pago 6 of 7 pages
TU
6) (16 points) A metal rod, 0.5 m long, has a rectangular cross
section of area 2 (mm) 2
a) With the rod vertical and a mass of 60 kg hung from the
bottom, there is an extension of 0.2$ ram. What is Young's
modulus (nt/nO for the material of the rod?
b) The rod is firmly clanqped
at the bottom as shown in
the sketch, and at the top
a force P is applied in the
y-direction as shown
(parallel to the edge of
length b). The result is
a static deflection, y,
given by
Y =
Yab
If the force P is removed and a mass m, which is much greater
than the mass of the rod, is attached to the top end of
the rod, what is the ratio of the frequencies of vibration
in the y and x directions (i.e., parallel to edges of
length b and a)?
c) The mass is pulled aside in a certain transverse direction
and released. It then traces a path like the one sketched
below. What is the ratio of a to b?
Page 7 of 7 pages
7) (12 points) A room has two opposing walls which are
The remaining walls, floor and ceiling are lined with sound-
absorbent material. The lowest frequency for which the room
is acoustically resonant is 50 cycles/sec.
a) A complex noise occurs in the room which excites onl1
the lowest two modes, in such a way that each mode has
its maximum amplitude at t 0. Sketch the appearance,
for each mode separately, of the displacement vs x at t - 0,
at t = 1/200 sec, and at t « 1/100 sec.
b) It is observed that the maximum displacement of dust
particles in the air (which does not necessarily occur
at the same time at each position!) at various points
between the walls is as follows:
x = L/4 L/2 3L/4
S max = +10 micron +10 micron -10 micron
What are the amplitudes of each of the two separate modes?
Did you remember to put your NAME and SECTION NUMBER and
RECITATION INSTRUCTOR1 S NAME on the Examination Booklet?
You may keep this Examination paper.
