Physics

  Home  Physics  Physics


“Physics Interview Questions and Answers will guide you that Physics is a natural science. Physics is the study of matter and its motion through spacetime and all that derives from these, such as energy and force. Learn the basic and advance concepts of Physics and get preparation of Physics Job Interview by our Physics Interview Questions and Answers.”



192 Physics Questions And Answers

42⟩ Why does heated air expand?

Temperature is often defined as the average thermal energy of the substance at hand. Thus the hotter a substance is the more thermal energy it has. For most substances the statistical mechanics formula, (3/2) kT works fine. In the preceding formula, k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the absolute temperature.

As thermal energy increases, the molecules of a substance move faster. These molecules hit other molecules faster and harder and bounce away from collisions faster and harder. Without a container to limit its shape, a gas will simply expand. Were a container present, the pressure of the gas in the container would increase.

 196 views

44⟩ What is moment of inertia?

Moment of inertia is the term used to measure or quantify the amount of mass located at an object's extremities. For example if all the mass of an object was located in a small compact size (like a lead ball) its moment of inertia would be small compared to the same amount of mass shaped into a dumbbell. Because a dumbbell has most of its mass located farther from its center. But there is a "qualification" here. Moment of inertia is calculated relative to a hypothetical spin axis. Once you choose the spin axis then you calculate the moment of inertia by multiplying the mass times its distance to the spin axis squared; I = MR^2

So in the example between the sphere and the dumbbell the moment of inertia of the dumbbell would be significantly larger relative to a spin axis perpendicular to the dumbbell length. If you instead choose your spin axis to lie thru the dumbbell parallel to its length then its moment of inertia, relative to this axis, would be much smaller because the mass would be located closer to that axis. And, in fact, it might even be smaller then the moment of inertia of a sphere about an axis thru its center.

 196 views

46⟩ Does a soccer ball go faster in the air on a cold or hot day?

On a hot day, the air molecules have more kinetic energy - they move around more freely. They will move out of the way of the soccer ball that is moving through them more easily when the air is warm. In physics we might say that the warmer air is more susceptible to shear force than cooler air. The warmer air will "part" more easily to let the ball pass through.

 182 views

47⟩ Is negative mass antimatter?

No. There is really no such thing as negative mass. Even antimatter has mass, which is always a positive (that is, greater-than-zero) quantity.

There is, however, the concept of effective mass or apparent mass, which can be negative. When an object is submerged in water, its apparent weight is reduced by an amount equivalent to the weight of water it displaces. For example, if a 10-pound rock is dropped into a bucket of water and displaces one pound of water, the effective weight of the rock under water is nine pounds.

But what if you submerge something much less dense than a rock -- say, your little brother's head -- in the bucket? Okay, forget that. Let's says a big ball of Styrofoam, instead. (Not as eco-friendly but less violent.)

In that case, the weight of the water displaced by the ball will be far greater than the actual weight of the ball, so when you subtract the weight of the water from the weight of the ball, you'll get a negative number. In other words, the effective weight of the ball under water will be negative, and the ball will tend to rise. It will fight your efforts to submerge it, much as your brother would if you submerged his head (but for reasons other than mere buoyancy).

 205 views

50⟩ What is the difference between diffraction and interference?

Diffraction is the bending of waves around an obstacle, while interference is the meeting of two waves. For instance, diffraction is what results from a pinhole blocking a wave source; the wave spreads out from that one point. This effect is what creates shadows, regions where the light source is blocked but it is not completely dark. Interference, however, results from two waves colliding with one another undergoing constructive and destructive interference, as in two chords being played. I think the confusion concerning these two different phenomena is the fact that two pinholes, two diffraction sources, results in interference of two sources, which is what the diffraction grating is, which creates the characteristic bands of light and dark interference patterns.

 185 views

53⟩ What is entropy?

Entropy is a measure of a system's energy that is unavailable for work, or of the degree of a system's disorder.

 221 views

54⟩ How do you find the refractive index of a liquid by using total internal reflection?

Using Snell's law, n (1) = (n (2) x sin angle (2)) / sin angle (1).

n (1) = The refractive index of the more optically dense medium.

n (2) = The refractive index of the less optically dense medium.

angle (1) = The critical angle of the two mediums.

angle (2) = 90 degrees since when light is at the critical angle it undergoes total internal reflection.

Since sin 90= 1, this can be ignored, resulting in n (1) = n (2) / sin angle (1)

 220 views

56⟩ Why does sun appear flat during sunrise and sunset?

The sun rays have to travel through a larger atmospheric distance. Most of the blue light and shorter wave lengths are removed by scattering. Only red color, which is least scattered is received by our eyes and appear to come from sun .Hence the appearance of sun at sunset or sunrise looks almost flat.

 199 views

57⟩ What is curvilinear motion?

Basically, it's any motion that's formed or bounded by curved -- as opposed to straight -- lines.

In high school, curvilinear motion is usually confined to parabolic paths traveled by objects, such as a thrown ball or a bullet fired from a gun, that are moving through space in a uniform gravitational field.

 185 views

58⟩ What is the force needed to accelerate a mass of one kilogram one meter per second per second?

Basically, you have defined the Newton.

Force is the vector product of mass and acceleration. For the purposes of this discussion, we'll just say that F = ma.

In the SI system, the unit of mass, m is the kilogram. Acceleration, a, is defined as the rate of change of velocity, and is expressed in meters per second squared, or m/s2.

Since F = ma, the unit of force, F, is the kilogram-meter per second squared, or kg-m/s2, which is known as a Newton, in honor of the great English scientist, Sir Isaac Newton.

So, it will take one Newton (of force) to accelerate a one-kilogram mass one meter per second squared.

 225 views

59⟩ What are the characteristics of dead stars?

Dead stars are usually cold balls of material in empty space. A teaspoonful of white dwarf matter would weigh as much as an Elephant on Earth, as white dwarfs are actually the compressed remains of a star like our sun, shrunk down to the size of Manhattan.

 208 views

60⟩ How do you find your body volume using a tape measure?

ACCURATELY measure a container into which your body will fit comfortably. Once you know the volume, fill the container with water.

Lower yourself into the water, allowing excess to spill over the top then climb out. By measuring the amount of water that has spilled over you are effectively measuring your body volume. You can get a pretty accurate measurement by using the tape measure to see how much the water volume has dropped after you get out of the water.

depends what you mean by accuracy and to what degree. the theory of fractals says that with one measuring instrument you would read x units. with a second smaller measuring instrument to achieve greater accuracy you would read y units (y bigger than x). Moving to a third yet small measuring instrument you would read z units (z > y >x) and so forth. You can never get a truly accurate answer.

 218 views