PHE-11

ASSIGNMENT BOOKLET
Bachelor's Degree Programme (B.Sc.)

MODERN PHYSICS

Valid from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019

It is compulsory to submit the Assignment before filling in the

Term-End Examination Form.

Please Note

• You can take electives (56 or 64 credits) from a minimum of TWO and a
maximum of FOUR science disciplines, viz. Physics, Chemistry, Life
Sciences and Mathematics.

• You can opt for elective courses worth a MINIMUM OF 8 CREDITS and a
MAXIMUM OF 48 CREDITS from any of these four disciplines.

• At least 25% of the total credits that you register for in the elective
courses from Life Sciences, Chemistry and Physics disciplines must be
from the laboratory courses. For example, if you opt for a total of 64
credits of electives in these 3 disciplines, at least 16 credits out of
those 64 credits should be from lab courses.

• You cannot appear in the Term-End Examination of any course without

registering for the course. Otherwise, your result will not be declared
and the responsibility will be yours.

School of Sciences
Indira Gandhi National Open University
Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110068
2019
Dear Student,

We hope you are familiar with the system of evaluation to be followed for the Bachelor’s Degree
Programme. At this stage you may probably like to re-read the section on assignments in the Programme
Guide for Elective Courses that we sent you after your enrolment. A weightage of 30 per cent, as you are
aware, has been earmarked for continuous evaluation, which would consist of one tutor-marked
assignment for this course.

Instructions for Formatting Your Assignments

Before attempting the assignment please read the following instructions carefully:

1) On top of the first page of your TMA answer sheet, please write the details exactly in the following
format:

ENROLMENT NO. : ………………………………………

NAME : ………………………………………

ADDRESS : ………………………………………

………………………………………

………………………………………
COURSE CODE : ……………………………..
COURSE TITLE : ……………………….…….
ASSIGNMENT NO. : ………………………….…
STUDY CENTRE : ………………………..……. DATE : ….……………………………...……

PLEASE FOLLOW THE ABOVE FORMAT STRICTLY TO FACILITATE EVALUATION AND

TO AVOID DELAY.

2) Use only foolscap size writing paper (but not of very thin variety) for writing your answers.
3) Leave 4 cm margin on the left, top and bottom of your answer sheet.
4) Your answers should be precise.
5) While solving problems, clearly indicate the question number along with the part being solved. Be
precise. Write units at each step of your calculations as done in the text because marks will be
deducted for such mistakes. Take care of significant digits in your work. Recheck your work before
submitting it.
6) This assignment will remain valid from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. However, you are
advised to submit it within 12 weeks of receiving this booklet to accomplish its purpose as a
teaching-tool.

We strongly feel that you should retain a copy of your assignment response to avoid any unforeseen
situation and append, if possible, a photocopy of this booklet with your response.
We wish you good luck.

2
 Tutor Marked Assignment
MODERN PHYSICS
Course Code: PHE-11
Assignment Code: PHE-11/TMA/2019
Max. Marks: 100

Note: Attempt all questions. Symbols have their usual meanings. The marks for each
question are indicated against it.

1. a) The length of a rocket is measured to be 6.0 m by an observer on Earth as it moves

with respect to the Earth at a speed of 0.8c. What is the length of the rocket as
measured by an astronaut inside the rocket? (5)
b) With what constant velocity must a person travel from the centre to the edge of our
galaxy in order to cover the distance of 3.0 × 104 light years in 40 years? (5)
c) Two β-particles move in opposite directions with velocities of 0.5c in the laboratory
frame. Calculate the velocity of one β-particle in the moving frame attached to the
other β-particle. (5)

d) In a nuclear reactor one deuterium atom(D) and one triton atom(T) at rest decay
into one alpha particle(He) and one neutron(n). Obtain an expression for the
momentum of the alpha particle and the neutron and the value of the kinetic energy
of the alpha particle given that the values of the rest masses are:
m D = 2.01474 amu; mT = 3.017 amu; m He = 4.00387 amu ; m n = 1.00898 amu
and 1 amu = 931 MeV. (10)

2. a) Use Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle to estimate the ground state energy of the
harmonic oscillator. (5)
b) A thermal neutron with a speed v corresponding to the average thermal energy at
temperature T = 300 K is incident on a crystal. Will a diffraction pattern be
observed? Explain. (5)
c) For the operator A = a x + i b p where a and b are constants, calculate [ A, x] and
[ A, A] . (5)
d) The wavefunction for a particle is defined by:
⎧ ⎛ 2πx ⎞ L L
⎪ N cos⎜ L ⎟ for − ≤x≤
ψ ( x) = ⎨ ⎝ ⎠ 4 4,
⎪
⎩ 0 otherwise

Determine
i) the normalization constant N, and
ii) the probability that the particle will be found between x = 0 and x = L / 8. (5+5)

3. a) Calculate the mean kinetic and potential energies of a simple harmonic oscillator
which is in its ground state. (5)

3
 b) For a motion of a particle of mass μ in a spherically symmetric potential show that
L2 and Lz commute with the Hamiltonian. (5)
c) Obtain the most probable value and expectation value of r for the ground state of a
hydrogen atom. (5)

d) For a hydrogen-like atom, give all possible spectral terms for n = 2 and n = 3. (5)
e) At what potential difference must an X-ray tube operate to produce X-rays with a
°
minimum wavelength of 2 A . (5)

4. a) Write any five applications of radioisotopes. (5)

b) What is synchrocyclotron? How it is used to accelerate particles to a few hundred
MeV of energy? Explain. (5)

c) Explain the Shell Model of the atomic nucleus. (5)

d) Define binding energy. Calculate the binding energy per nucleon of 56

26 Fe. Given
( )
M 56
26 Fe = 55.934932 u, mn = 1.008665 u and m p = 1.007825 u. (5)

e) The disintegration constant of 238 U is 4.87 ×10 −18 s −1. Calculate its half-life (in
years). Also calculate the number of disintegration per second from 1 gram of
Uranium. It is given that Avogadro’s number = 6.02 ×10 23. (5)

******