S.

4 PHYSICS SEMINAR AT SEETA HIGH SCHOOL GREEN

CAMPUS ON 15TH JUNE 2024.
MODERN PHYSICS
1. The government has discovered a precious and rare mineral in a certain part of the country. A team of men
picked samples and kept them in a store of one of the hospitals where photographic plates are also stored.
The mineral was checked on regularly and they made the following observations;
 All photographic plates had darkened.
 Its mass reduced spontaneously with time as shown below
Mass (g) 200 150 70 35 25
Time 0 4 16 28 30
(days)

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As a physics learner,
(a) Support the view that the mineral is radioactive.
(b) Use the graph to estimate its half-life
(c) Explain the best way of storing this rare mineral.
(d) What are the dangers of exposing this mineral to the public

SATTELLITES AND COMMUNICATION

2. An article in the newspaper gave information that on 2nd December 2022, Ugandan engineers with the
help of Japanese engineers launched a satellite. The literature teacher who picked interest in the article
found new words like artificial and natural satellites. He developed a number of unanswered questions
which could be answered by a physics learner like you.
(a) Explain the difference between the two types of satellites in the article.
(b) With reasons, justify why Uganda should spend all that much money to launch its own satellite.
(c) Incase Uganda is to develop a super rocket capable of reaching different planets. List with reasons the planets
it can land on and planets it cannot land on.
LIGHT AND WAVES
3. The students in a particular class visited a laboratory with a white bulb and a red one, to observe a glass
tank filled with water with a white base at the bottom. Modifications were made to create a shallow end on
one side of the tank using glass material. To their surprise, when they struck the water's surface at the
shallow end with a long rectangular rod at a frequency of 80 Hz, they noticed that the spacing between
successive crests changed from 2.5cm to 5cm. Additionally, they were disturbed by the distortion of ripples
as they struck the tank walls. They were also surprised to see the base turning black when it was replaced
with a yellow sheet and the red lights switched on.
Hint; the glass tank would break if the velocity of the waves that hit it is greater than 20 ms-1
Use your knowledge of physics to:
a. Determine if the ripple tank will break.
b. Explain the reason for the change in the distance between the ripples and its impact on the velocity of the
ripples.
c. Explain what distorted the waves and how it could have been reduced.
d. Explain why the yellow sheet changed color when the red lights were switched on.

4. During the construction of a multipurpose hall of size 70m by 40m in a school, the students have been asked
to raise challenges that could arise after the hall's construction. They are listed below;
 There could be a distortion of sound as a result of two sounds being heard.
 The hall could be dimly lit because of the paint color used to paint the walls.
 There could be disturbance of the neighbors in the community. During the day, the neighbors that would be
disturbed wouldn’t be very far but at night, even those outside the school would be disturbed.
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 Complaints could arise from the wrong type of mirrors installed in the bathrooms
 Complaints would have arisen from fears due to insecurity from not checking under cars.
Use your knowledge of Physics to;
a) Identify the cause of the distortion of sound and structural adjustments that can be made to ensure the
distortion is minimized.
b) Identify the paint color to use to increase the amount of light in the room.
c) Establish how the sound would reach the community, how it can be reduced, and the difference in the
distance that the sound from the hall reaches.
d) Identify the type of mirrors that should be installed in the bathrooms and those that should be used to
check under the cars.

MECHANICS AND HEAT

5. Workers at a construction site are meant to raise pieces of scrap of mass 6 kg through a height of 15m. Their

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boss always complains that the workers who carry the pieces of metal do the work slowly, especially in the
afternoon when the temperatures are high and in the morning when it is cold. In response, the workers claim
their hands are burnt by the hot metals which slows them down. One of the workers suggested they use a
pulley of velocity ratio 4 and an efficiency of 80%.
Use your knowledge of physics to;
a. Explain why the metals are very cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon.
b. Draw a design of the required pulley and explain how it can be used to solve their problem.
c. Determine the minimum force required to ensure an 80% is achieved.
The string they used had a mass of 120g and a specific heat capacity of 2510 JKg-1K-1, and the work done to
lift the load would be converted to heat energy in the string at the contact point of the pulley.
Hint; The string would break if its temperature reaches by 28oC.
d. Determine if the string suggested above would be suitable for the purpose.
e. Suggest ways in which the efficiency of the pulley system can be improved.

6. During a party, 2 liters of water at 24 oC were served to a man and a woman. They complained that it was
warm and were given 50g of ice at -10 oC blocks. They mixed the water and blocks in a wooden container
with a negligible specific heat capacity. They were surprised by the ice cubes disappearing in the water. The
man put his mixture in a plastic container (shc = 2800 JKg-1K-1) while the woman put her mixture in a
metallic container (shc = 800 JKg-1K-1). They were surprised to find their water at different temperatures
after some time.
Specific Heat capacity of water = 4200 JKg-1K-1
Latent heat of fusion of ice = 340000 JKg-1
Use your knowledge of Physics to;
a. Determine if the water cooled when mixed with ice.
b. Why do the ice cubes disappear when mixed with water?
c. Explain why there was a difference in temperatures in the water kept in the plastic and the metallic container.

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM.

7.During a science project, learners are told that electricity at a substation is transmitted at 13 kV with a current
of 0.05A using thick aluminum wires for use inside a house at a voltage of 240 V. The house has two television
sets (TVs) that operate on direct current but should be connected such that they receive maximum current
and function properly.
The learners, however, couldn’t get an explanation of the issues mentioned.

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Use your knowledge of Physics to;
a. Understand how the voltage is changed from 13 kV to 240 V.
b. Why thick aluminium wires are used during power transmission.
c. Determine the current in the house if 20% of the electrical energy is lost during voltage change.
d. Account for the energy losses as the voltage changes and how those losses can be reduced.
e. Understand how the current used in the TV is changed from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).
f. How the Television Sets should be connected to ensure they receive maximum current and function properly.

8. An electromagnet as shown in Figure below is constructed by winding a wire around an iron nail of
resistance 0.5Ω, connecting it to a battery of four cells of EMF 1.5V each, and then placing it above a tin
containing iron fillings, some of which are attracted to the nail. Upon disconnecting the battery, most iron
fillings fall off. However, when the iron nail is replaced with an identical steel nail of the same size, the pins
are attracted slower. Surprisingly, when the EMF source is disconnected, just a few of the iron fillings fall

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off.

Use your physics knowledge to:

a. Explain how the electromagnet operates.
b. Use domain theory to explain how the nail becomes a magnet.
c. Elaborate on the difference in the time taken before the steel and iron nails start attracting small pins.
d. Explain what would happen if a battery of 2 cells of the same EMF was used instead of one of 4 cells.
e. Identify other factors that could contribute to an increase in the number of nails being attracted.
f. Suggest ways in which the magnetized nails can be made to lose their magnetism.

9. A certain household has a set of appliances as listed in the table below.

Appliance Power rating Time of use
4 bulbs 20 W each 13 hours every day
Cooker 2500 W 4 hours every day
Flat iron 1500 W 5 hours each week
Electric fence of low 2200 W 10 hours every day
resistance wire

The owner of the household while making a budget for how much money would be required every week to
cater for the electricity bill. He also wondered how the sockets for those appliances should be connected to
ensure high current flows and why low resistance instead of high resistance wire is used.
Hint; The owner only intends to spend sh.50000 on electricity every week.
Use your knowledge of Physics to;
a. Determine if sh. 50000 would be enough to cater for the electricity bill for a week.
b. Explain how the sockets of the appliances should be connected to ensure maximum current flows
c. Explain why low-resistance wires are used for the electric fence.
d. Suggest measures on how to reduce the electricity bill.

END
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