Practice Paper 2 (DP IB Physics: HL)

A nucleus of sodium−24 decays into a stable nucleus of magnesium−24. It decays by β^– emission followed by the emission of γ-radiation as the magnesium−24 nucleus de-excites into its ground state.

The sodium−24 nucleus can decay to one of three excited states of the magnesium−24 nucleus. This is shown in the diagram below:

The energies of the excited states are shown relative to the ground state.

The excited magnesium nucleus de-excites through production of gamma radiation of discrete wavelengths.

The graph shows the activity of a sample of sodium−24 with time.

The detector in this experiment measures 4% of the activity from the sample.

Monochromatic light from a single source is incident on two thin parallel slits. 

The following data are available: 

• Distance from slits to screen = 4.5 m
• Wavelength = 690 nm
• Slit separation = 0.14 mm

The intensity, I of the light on the screen from each slit separately is I₀. 

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The relative intensity I₁ for the first bright fringe is 0.75I₀ and for the second bright fringe I₂ is 0.25I₀.

This question is about a monatomic ideal gas.

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Energy is supplied to the gas at a rate of 10 J s^–1 for 10 minutes. The specific heat capacity of neon is 904 J kg^–1 K^–1 and its atomic mass number is 21. The volume of the gas does not change.

The orbits of the Earth and Jupiter are very nearly circular, with radii of 150 × 10⁹ m and 778 × 10⁹ m respectively. It takes Jupiter 11.8 years to complete a full orbit of the Sun.

Data from the orbits of different planets around our Sun is plotted in a graph of log(T²) against log(R³) as shown in the graph below, where T is the orbital period and R is the radius of the planet's orbit.

The values of T and R have been squared and cubed respectively due to Kepler's Third Law stating that:

An experiment is carried out on Planet Z using a simple pendulum and a mass-spring system. The block moves horizontally on a frictionless surface. A motion sensor is placed above the equilibrium position of the block which lights up every time the block passes it. 

The pendulum and the block are displaced from their equilibrium positions and oscillate with simple harmonic motion. The pendulum bob completes 150 full oscillations in seven minutes and the bulb lights up once every 0.70 seconds. The block has a mass of 349 g.

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The volume of Planet Z is the same as the volume of Earth, but Planet Z is twice as dense. 

(i)

Show that the length of the pendulum,

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(ii)

Calculate the value of .

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The angle that the pendulum string makes with the horizontal is 81.4 ° when the acceleration of the pendulum bob is at a maximum. 

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A planned Mars Rover will be powered using several solar panels each with dimensions of 2800 × 5900 mm. The equipment is tested on Earth at a point where the albedo of Earth’s atmosphere is 0.310.

The radiant power of the Sun is 3.90 × 10²⁶ W and the average radius of Earth’s orbit around the Sun is 1.50 × 10¹¹ m.

An astronomer uses the following data for a simple climatic model of Mars without an atmosphere:

Orbital radius between Mars and the Sun = 2.3 × 10¹¹ m
Absorbed solar radiation = 493 W m^–2

A defibrillator device sends an impulse of electrical energy to maintain a regular heartbeat in a person. The device is powered by an alternating current (ac) supply connected to a step-up transformer that charges a capacitor of capacitance 20 μF.  The voltage in the circuit is 3000 V. 

The current in the circuit passes through the diode from left to right following the direction of the triangle symbol.

The switch is moved to position B. 

A boulder falls into a lake and ripples propagate radially outwards. Two boats on the surface of the water are in line with the source and perform the simple harmonic motion, bobbing up and down as the ripples pass by. The boats are separated by a distance of 45 m.

Two observations were recorded; the first ripple took 3.8 s to travel between the boats; the boats are completely out of phase.