Physics 15b Assignment #11

By Monday April 25, read Chapter 9 and Appendix B of Purcell.

Q&A questions to be answered on the Physics 15b website before 11pm on Monday, April
25:

11QA-1. To one signifigant figure, what is the answer to problem 9.12 in Purcell?

A: 3

B: 4

C: 5

D: 6

E : None of the above.

11QA-2. What is the answer to problem B.2 (a) in Purcell?

e2 A2 ! 4
A:
3c3
2e2 A2 ! 4
B:
3c3
4e2 A2 ! 4
C:
3c3
8e2 A2 ! 4
D:
3c3
E : None of the above.

In addition, there are some survey questions and feedback questions.

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 Problems due at the beginning of class on Thursday, April 28 —

11.1. Do problem 9.1 in Purcell.

If the electric field in free space is

 
~ 2
E = E0 (^x + y^) sin (z + ct) ;

with E0 = 2 statvolts=cm, the magnetic field, not including any static magnetic field,
must be what?

11.2.
A..................................................................................................................................................B
 ... Z1 ..
................. ...
.
...
..
..
....................
... .
V0 ... Z2 ...
................
V1
..
..
..
..

..............................................................................................................................................
To pick out a particular frequency in a radio broadcast, you can make use of some resonant circuit
in a voltage divider like the one shown above, which was discussed in the Radio lab. In this
problem, we will consider a few different possibilities for the circuit elements.

11.2-a. First consider the following two cases:

Case I - Z1 is a series combination of an inductor L and a capacitor C and Z2 is a resistor R

Case II - Z1 is a resistor R and Z2 is a parallel combination of an inductor L and a capacitor C
Assuming that that the applied voltage V0 has angular frequency p! and that negligible current
flows through terminal B , plot jV1 =V
q0
j versus ! from !q
= 0 to 2 = LC for both case I and case
1
II and for two values of R, R = 5 L=C and R = 5 L=C . That is four plots altogether. You
p
should find that there is a maximum at ! = 1= LC in all cases (why?) but that two of the graphs
show fairly sharp peaks while two show very broad peaks.
q
11.2-b. Since one of two cases above produces a sharp peak for R< L=C and the other
q
produced a sharp peak for R> L=C , you might guess that you could do better by using two
resonant circuits - as in

Case III - Z1 is a series combination of an inductor L and a capacitor C and Z2 is a parallel

combination of an inductor L and a capacitor C

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This turns out not to be the case. Construct the corresponding plot in this case and explain what
went wrong.

11.3. You saw in section 9.6 how an electromagnetic wave transports energy. The following
problem should convince you that it carries momentum as well. I hope that if you had any re-
maining doubts about the reality of electromagnetic fields, this will eliminate them. Consider an
electromagnetic wave of the following form:

E0 y^ E0 y^
E~ (x; y; z ) =
1 + (x ct) =` 1 + (x + ct)2 =`2
2 2
for x  0
E0 z^ E0 z^
B~ (x; y; z ) = +
1 + (x ct) =` 1 + (x + ct)2 =`2
2 2

E~ (x; y; z ) = B~ (x; y; z ) = 0 for x < 0

This describes a plane wave packet with width of order `. For t  0, it is centered at x = ct.
For t  0, it is centered at x = ct.

11.3-a. Find the energy per unit area in the electromagnetic pulse for t  0 and t  0.

11.3-b. For t  0, something complicated happens - the electromagnetic pulse is being reflected
from a conducting sheet sitting in the x = 0 plane. That is why the electric and magnetic fields
vanish for x < 0. Find the force per unit area on the conducting sheet. Integrate this over all time
to get the total impulse per unit area. Since the electromagnetic wave is pushing on the conductor,
the conductor is pushing back on the electromagnetic wave, changing its momentum. From your
result for the impulse, find the momentum per unit area carried by a wave of this form and compare
this with the energy per unit area that you calculated in a.

11.4. Do problem B.3 in Purcell.

A plane electromagnetic wave with frequency ! and electric field amplitude E0 is

incident on an isolated electron. In the resulting sinusoidal oscillation of the electron,
the maximum acceleration is E0 e=m. How much power is radiated by this oscillating
charge, averaged over many cycles? (Note that it is independent of the frequency
! .) Divide the average radiated power by E02 c=8 , the average power density (power
per unit area of the wavefront) in the incident wave. This gives a constant  with the
dimensions of area, called a scattering cross section. The energy radiated, or scattered,
by the electrion, and thus lost from the plane wave, is equivalent to that falling on an
area  . (The case here considered, involving a free electron moving nonrelativistically
is often called Thomson scattering after J. J. Thomson, the discoverer of the electron,
who first calculated it.