HOLIDAY MAKERS PHYSICS QUESTIONS

THEME: LIGHT AND WAVES

Item 1

During the music gala in a hall, one of the adjudicators observed the following;

• the colour of cloth of one of the presenters changed from yellow dress
with green dots to red dress with black dots on entering the stage.
• the sound from the nearest loud speaker reached him after 0.05s
• he kept on hearing the voices of two people singing yet he was seeing
only one person on the stage.

Hint, Speed of sound in air =320 ms-1

Task

Using the knowledge of physic, help the adjudicator to understand,

(a) Why the colour of the cloth changed.

(b) Why the sound was reaching him after 0.05s
(c) The origin of the second voice and how it can be minimized.
Item 2
A certain tycoon is intending to construct a first-class hotel in your
community. As he was consulting from the technical personnel, he was given
the following guide lines on the some of the facilities he wanted to put in place;

• Swimming pool should be having label of its depths at different points to

avoid relying on a deceptive look.
• The multipurpose hall must have a soft wall or use curtains along the
wall.

• The entrance with security personnel should have strictly white lights as
the inside of the hall may have any other LED lights for decoration.

Task

Using the knowledge of physics, help the business man

understand; (a) the cause of deceptive look.

(b) the reason behind multipurpose hall having a soft wall and curtains.

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(c) why the entrance must have white lights and how decoration on individuals
is attained from inside the hall.

THEME: MODERN PHYSICS

Item 3
During charity work in the hospital by Red Cross Society of a certain school, a
certain liquid containing a radioactive material spilled on one student
accidentally, having been placed on an open place by a medical intern. The
hospital authorities immediately took the student for a mandatory self-isolation
within the hospital premises. The parents accused the hospital of negligence
and demanded to see their child in a weeks’ time. Hint

• The liquid had an activity of 250 counts per second when tested
immediately, with a half-life of 2 days.
• The back ground count rate in the Laboratory was 50 counts per
second.
• The student can be safe to re-join the public if the count rate falls
below 10 counts per second.

Task

Use your knowledge of physics to:-

(a) Determine how long the student will be self-isolated.

(b) Enlighten the parents on the dangers of having their child at home
without medical monitoring.
(c) Explain to the medical intern how such materials should be
handled.

Item 4
In a certain family, a child got accident while playing with his friends and it
was suspected to be broken leg. The family was referred by nearby health
facility to go for X-ray radiography. The family had already had misconception
about how X-rays are produced and the related dangers to their child, therefore
they were unwilling to go for it. X-ray machine requires a voltage of about 4kV
to operate but the available main voltage supply is 10kV.

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Hint: Available resistors are 300 Ω and 200 Ω

Task

As physics learner,

(a) Help the family

(i) Clear the misconception about X-rays
(ii) Understand how X-rays can be used to solve the problem of the
family.
(b) Using the knowledge of digital electronics, help your friends understand
how a 10kV voltage would be used to operate the machine.
THEME: EARTH AND SPACE PHYSICS

Item 5
In some southern part of south Africa, people were being ordered to vacate
their areas and relocate to other parts of the country in anticipation of the
heavy rains in the coming months, that are likely to cause flooding and
landslides. The Local authorities have been requested by the Ministry of
Disaster Preparedness to sensitize the people about the issues. However, they
are finding difficulties in explaining to the people:-

• Why rains will be experienced in their area while other parts of the
continent are experiencing dry season.
• How it is possible to predict accurately weather patterns before
they occur.
• Why there are two seasons threatening them with high rainfall in a
period of just a year.

Task

As a student of physics, help the Local authorities understand:-

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 (a) Variations In seasons as realized by the locals at the same time of
the year.
(b) How the weather is always accurately predicted before it happens.
(c) Why the community is experiencing that challenge twice in the
same year.

Item 6
An elder in a certain village was narrating his experience of a visit to London to
his family members. Amidst the many narrations, the elder said that in
London, day time was longer than night with 16 hours of day and 8 hours of
night, this was unique to family. The elder also added that stars were rare
organisms that died at day time and resurrected at night. Furthermore, the
elder also stated that the shape of the moon kept changing over a month’s
cycle. Some of those experiences are equally found in their village but others
were news to them. Unfortunately, they all did not understand the
occurrences.
Task
As a student of physics, help the elder and his family to understand;

a) what the unique observed in London came about?

b) the observation of stars at day time and night time.
c) why the shape of the moon keeps on changing over the period of one
month

SECTION B (PART I)

THEME: HEAT AND MECHANICS AND PROPERTIES OF MATTER

Item 7
Your class intends to undertake a physics project to make a thermometer to be
used in a physics laboratory. At the planning stage, the following questions
have come up; How to select the suitable liquid to be used

How to come up with the graduation on the thermometer.

Task

As a physics learner,

(a) Help your friends understand;

(i) The factors you must consider to come up with a suitable
liquid.

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 (ii) How the thermometer is going to be given the graduations.
(b) If the volume of the liquid required is 5cm3, using the knowledge of
principles of moments on how you would determine the density of the
liquid to be used in the absence of a measuring cylinder or any other
apparatus for measuring volume.

Item 8
The business man intends to install a storage gravity water tank in his home
which should supply pressure at 10kPa. He also needs his tank to have a
ladder with steps each of height 40cm for climbing up to clean his tank. To
avoid bursting of the tank due to expansion and contraction of the pipes used
due to extreme weather conditions, he has been advised to buy a pipes made of
a material of specific heat capacity between 850Jkg-1K-1 and 900Jkg-1K-1.

Hint; Density of water = 1gcm-3 ,Acceleration due to gravity = 10ms-2.

Task

Using the knowledge of physics;

(a) Help the business man understand,

(i) the height the tank must be raised to.
(ii) the number of steps to be put in the ladder.
(b) Help the business man understand by outlining the steps that would be
taken to determine the suitability of the material of the pipes to be used.

Item 9
Your parents operating a diary business and buy on average five jerricans
daily.
Before buying any milk from any farmer, its purity is first tested using a
hydrometer.
One evening the hydrometer accidentally fell down and stopped working yet the
milk must be tested before buying. The milk put in a refrigerator which
automatically switches off when the temperature of the milk has dropped from
room temperature to a temperature of 100C .

Materials; beam balance, measuring cylinder and beaker.

Hint;

Volume of each jerrican of milk is 20 litres ,Room temperature = 240C

Specific heat capacity of milk = 3.14Jkg-1K-1, density of pure milk = 1035kgm-3

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Task

Using the knowledge of physics, help the parents;

(a) Determine the purity of the milk in absence of a hydrometer.

(b) Understand how much heat energy is withdrawn by the refrigerator from
the milk.
Item 10

In a certain home, water is got from underground well for cooking and some
boiled for drinking, using a rope and a bucket. This is the responsibility of
children. One day children raised a complain to the father that pulling water
using a rope and a bucket is tiresome. They suggested that the simple machine
for pulling be designed for them. The water for drinking is then boiled from a
temperature of 24 0C to 90 0C using aluminum saucepan of mass 2kg and the
volume of water boiled per day is 10 litres.
TASK

Using the knowledge of physics, help the family;

(a) design the simple machine that can be used and understand how it
works.
(b) understand how to improve on efficiency of the machine in (a) above.
(c) understand how much heat energy is used daily by the family to boil
drinking water.

Use;

Specific heat capacity of aluminum = 900𝐽𝑘𝑔−1𝐾−1 ,Specific heat capacity of

water = 4200𝐽𝑘𝑔−1𝐾−1 ,Density of water = 1000𝑘𝑔𝑚−3
THEME: ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM (PART II)

Item 11
During a physics study tour to an electricity generation substation, learners
were taken through the various processes of electricity generation to
consumption. However, the learners observed the following, though they didn’t
understand due to limited time:- • Electricity is transmitted at 13 KV in
alternating current of 0.05 A.
• The voltage taken into houses for home consumption was 240 V
with a little higher direct current in this case.
• The workers in the sub-station were wearing majorly rubber gloves
and shoes.

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Task

Using the knowledge of physics, help the learners understand:-

(a) Why the power is transmitted in a different form to the one consumed.
(b) And determine the exact current taken into the house for consumption.
(c) How the voltage changed from the transmission voltage to the consumed
voltage.
(d) Why the workers chose the rubber shoes and gloves.
Item 12
A businessman constructed his house near a high-power line of 15 KV with
0.08 A. He intends to connect his house to the power and use some electrical
appliances for a start. He consulted an electrician who assured him, that they
can connect power line direct to reduce costs.
The businessman was warned by his colleagues that he risks burning down his
house if he continues with the electricians’ plan.

Hint

• The businessman wants to start up with the following in house.

Item Number Power rating Time of use
(hours)
Inside bulbs 4 60 W 8
Security bulbs 2 100 W 14
A television 1 120 W 20
A speaker 1 300 W 20
A fridge 1 600 W 4

Task

Using the knowledge of physics, help the business

(a) Understand
i. Why his house can easily burn down and explain what he can
do to get power safely.
ii. How he may recommend for the connection of the bulbs in the
house and why?
(b) Determine his weekly expenditure on electricity if the appliances are
used daily, taking the unit cost of the electricity unit as Ushs. 550.

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 (c) Know the practices he needs to adapt which ensure his safety basing
on the location of his house.

Item 13
On a rainy day, a certain house was struck by lightning, instantly destroying
its fuse in the meter box. The family members were all safe but were advised
always to take precautions while its raining.

Hint;
Power supplied to the house through the metre box is 240 V and the fuse
made of a material of resistance 480 Ω.

Task

Using the knowledge of physics;

(a) Explain to the house owner how he can safe-guard his house from
such occurrences in the future.
(b) Suggest precautions the family members should always take to be
safe when such a situation arises.
(c) Determine the rating of the fuse and the current above which may
have caused it to burn.

Item 14

6. A home owner was recently told electricity from a power substation is

transmitted at 12 KV using thick aluminum cables to be used in a house
at 240V. The home owner is however confused by how the electricity
changes voltage from one value to another and says the thick cables are a
waste of money. Inside the house are two sets of appliances of resistance
20Ω and 30Ω but the house owner is not sure of how they should be
connected to ensure they work effectively.
Use your knowledge of physics to;
a) Help the home owner understand how the electricity changes from 12
KV to 240V.
b) Why thick aluminum cables are used.
c) How the appliances should be connected to ensure that they work
effectively with a high amount of current.

END

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