Physics 208, Spring 08, Week 12 Quizzes 1. Multiple choice 1. The Earth is about 1.49 x 108 km from the Sun. If the solar radiation at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere has an intensity of 1340 W/m2, what is the total power output of the Sun? a. 7.10 x 1027 W b. 2.20 x 1030 W c. 6.62 x 1026 W d. 3.74 x 1026 W [Hint: assume isotropical radiation emission from the Sun in order to calculate the area of a sphere at a distance equal to the Earth-Sun distance.] Solution d) I = P/A Assuming isotropical emission A = 4πR2 P = IA, with R distance Earth – Sun. 2. If the radiant energy from the Sun comes in as a plane EM wave of intensity 1340 W/m2, calculate the peak values of E and B. a. 300 V/m, 10-4 T b. 1005 V/m, 3.35 x 10-6 T c. 225 V/m, 1.6 x 10-3 T d. 111 V/m, 3 x 10-5 T Remember that ε0 = 8.85 x 10-12 C2/ (N m2). You can then derive μ0 if you do not remember it… Solution: b QuickTime™ and a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture. Emax = 1005 V/m Bmax = 3.35e-6 T 3. Find the force exerted by reflecting sunlight off a perfectly reflecting aluminium sheet in space if the area normal to the sunlight is 10000 m2 and the solar intensity is 1350 W/m2. a. 0.72 N b. 0.09 N c. 9 N d. 45 N Solution b) Prad = 2Save/c=2I/c F = Prad A = 0.09 N 4) Three linear polarizers are arranged as shown, with transmission axes indicated by the thick solid line. The incoming light is circularly polarized, it is propagating in the z-direction and the magnitude of the electric field vector is E o . The electric field vector of the linearly-polarized light in region 1 has an oscillating electric field vector with amplitude (maximum value) of E1 . What is the ratio E1 / E o ? Explain. y x 30 ˚ Circularly polarized light z 90 ˚ Region 1 Region 2 E1 / E0 Region 3 Value Solution: Polarizer 1 passes the y-component of the circularly polarized light. The y-component has magnitude Eo, since whenthe rotating electric field of the circularly polarized light points along the y-axis, there is no x-component, only y. The y-component oscillates up and down, and has a maximum value of E o. so the ratio E1 / Eo 1