Class 11 Physics - Chapter Unit and measurment NCERT Solutions | The principle of ‘parallax’
The principle of ‘parallax’ in section 2.3.1 is used in the determination of distances of very distant stars. The baseline AB is the line joining the Earth’s two locations six months apart in its orbit around the Sun. That is, the baseline is about the diameter of the Earth’s orbit ≈ 3 × 1011m. However, even the nearest stars are so distant that with such a long baseline, they show parallax only of the order of 1” (second) of arc or so. A parsec is a convenient unit of length on the astronomical scale. It is the distance of an object that will show a parallax of 1” (second) of arc from opposite ends of a baseline equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun. How much is a parsec in terms of metres ?
Diameter of Earth's orbit = 3 × 1011 m
Radius of Earth's orbit, r = 1.5 × 1011 m
Let the distance parallax angle be1” = 4.847 × 10-6 rad.
Let the distance of the star be D.
Parsec is defined as the distance at which the average radius of the Earth's orbit subtends an angle of 1”.
∴ We have θ = r / D
Hence, 1 parsec ≈ 3.09 × 1016 m.
More Questions From Class 11 Physics - Chapter Unit & measurment
- Q:-
State the number of significant figures in the following:
(a) 0.007 m2
(b) 2.64 x 1024 kg
(c) 0.2370 g cm-3
(d) 6.320 J
(e) 6.032 N m-2
(f) 0.0006032 m2
- Q:-
Fill in the blanks by suitable conversion of units:
(a) 1 kg m2s–2= ....g cm2 s–2
(b) 1 m =..... ly
(c) 3.0 m s–2=.... km h–2
(d) G = 6.67 × 10–11 N m2 (kg)–2=.... (cm)3s–2 g–1.
- Q:-
A physical quantity P is related to four observables a, b, c and d as follows :
The percentage errors of measurement in a, b, c and d are 1%, 3%, 4% and 2%, respectively. What is the percentage error in the quantity P ? If the value of P calculated using the above relation turns out to be 3.763, to what value should you round off the result ?
- Q:-
The mass of a box measured by a grocer's balance is 2.300 kg. Two gold pieces of masses 20.15 g and 20.17 g are added to the box. What is
(a) the total mass of the box,
(b) the difference in the masses of the pieces to correct significant figures?
- Q:-
When the planet Jupiter is at a distance of 824.7 million kilometers from the Earth, its angular diameter is measured to be 35.72" of arc. Calculate the diameter of Jupiter.
- Q:-
The photograph of a house occupies an area of 1.75 cm2 on a 35 mm slide. The slide is projected on to a screen, and the area of the house on the screen is 1.55 m2. What is the linear magnification of the projector-screen arrangement?
- Q:-
It is a well known fact that during a total solar eclipse the disk of the moon almost completely covers the disk of the Sun. From this fact and from the information you can gather from examples 2.3 and 2.4, determine the approximate diameter of the moon.
- Q:-
Fill in the blanks
(a) The volume of a cube of side 1 cm is equal to.....m3
(b) The surface area of a solid cylinder of radius 2.0 cm and height 10.0 cm is equal to ... (mm)2
(c) A vehicle moving with a speed of 18 km h–1covers....m in 1 s
(d) The relative density of lead is 11.3. Its density is ....g cm–3 or . ...kg m–3.
- Q:-
Explain this common observation clearly : If you look out of the window of a fast moving train, the nearby trees, houses etc. seem to move rapidly in a direction opposite to the train's motion, but the distant objects (hill tops, the Moon, the stars etc.) seem to be stationary. (In fact, since you are aware that you are moving, these distant objects seem to move with you).
- Q:- Explain this statement clearly:
To call a dimensional quantity large or small is meaningless without specifying a standard for comparison. In view of this, reframe the following statements wherever necessary:
(a) atoms are very small objects
(b) a jet plane moves with great speed
(c) the mass of Jupiter is very large
(d) the air inside this room contains a large number of molecules
(e) a proton is much more massive than an electron
(f) the speed of sound is much
Popular Questions of Class 11 Physics
- Q:-
Some of the most profound statements on the nature of science have come from Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of all time. What do you think did Einstein mean when he said : “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible”?
- Q:-
The sign of work done by a force on a body is important to understand. State carefully if the following quantities are positive or negative:
(a) work done by a man in lifting a bucket out of a well by means of a rope tied to the bucket.
(b) work done by gravitational force in the above case,
(c) work done by friction on a body sliding down an inclined plane,
(d) work done by an applied force on a body moving on a rough horizontal plane with uniform velocity,
(e) work done by the resistive force of air on a vibrating pendulum in bringing it to rest.
- Q:- In which of the following examples of motion, can the body be considered approximately a point object:
(a) a railway carriage moving without jerks between two stations.
(b) a monkey sitting on top of a man cycling smoothly on a circular track.
(c) a spinning cricket ball that turns sharply on hitting the ground.
(d) a tumbling beaker that has slipped off the edge of a table. - Q:- State, for each of the following physical quantities, if it is a scalar or a vector: volume, mass, speed, acceleration, density, number of moles, velocity, angular frequency, displacement, angular velocity.
- Q:- Give the magnitude and direction of the net force acting on
(a) a drop of rain falling down with a constant speed
(b) a cork of mass 10 g floating on water
(c) a kite skillfully held stationary in the sky
(d) a car moving with a constant velocity of 30 km/h on a rough road
(e) a high-speed electron in space far from all material objects, and free of electric and magnetic fields. - Q:-
A geyser heats water flowing at the rate of 3.0 litres per minute from 27 °C to 77 °C. If the geyser operates on a gas burner, what is the rate of consumption of the fuel if its heat of combustion is 4.0 x 104 J/g?
- Q:-
Estimate the fraction of molecular volume to the actual volume occupied by oxygen gas at STP. Take the diameter of an oxygen molecule to be 3Å.
- Q:- Give the location of the centre of mass of a (i) sphere, (ii) cylinder, (iii) ring, and (iv) cube, each of uniform mass density. Does the centre of mass of a body necessarily lie inside the body?
- Q:- Answer the following: (a) You can shield a charge from electrical forces by putting it inside a hollow conductor. Can you shield a body from the gravitational influence of nearby matter by putting it inside a hollow sphere or by some other means? (b) An astronaut inside a small space ship orbiting around the earth cannot detect gravity. If the space station orbiting around the earth has a large size, can he hope to detect gravity? (c) If you compare the gravitational force on the earth due to the sun to that due to the moon, you would find that the Suns pull is greater than the moons pull. (You can check this yourself using the data available in the succeeding exercises). However, the tidal effect of the moons pull is greater than the tidal effect of sun. Why?
- Q:- Explain why (a) The blood pressure in humans is greater at the feet than at the brain (b) Atmospheric pressure at a height of about 6 km decreases to nearly half of its value at the sea level, though the height of the atmosphere is more than 100 km (c) Hydrostatic pressure is a scalar quantity even though pressure is force divided by area.
Recently Viewed Questions of Class 11 Physics
- Q:- Answer the following: (a) You can shield a charge from electrical forces by putting it inside a hollow conductor. Can you shield a body from the gravitational influence of nearby matter by putting it inside a hollow sphere or by some other means? (b) An astronaut inside a small space ship orbiting around the earth cannot detect gravity. If the space station orbiting around the earth has a large size, can he hope to detect gravity? (c) If you compare the gravitational force on the earth due to the sun to that due to the moon, you would find that the Suns pull is greater than the moons pull. (You can check this yourself using the data available in the succeeding exercises). However, the tidal effect of the moons pull is greater than the tidal effect of sun. Why?
- Q:-
Figures 14.29 correspond to two circular motions. The radius of the circle, the period of revolution, the initial position, and the sense of revolution (i.e. clockwise or anti-clockwise) are indicated on each figure.
Obtain the corresponding simple harmonic motions of the x-projection of the radius vector of the revolving particle P, in each case.
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A constant retarding force of 50 N is applied to a body of mass 20 kg moving initially with a speed of 15 ms–1. How long does the body take to stop?
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“It is more important to have beauty in the equations of physics than to have them agree with experiments”. The great British physicist P. A. M. Dirac held this view. Criticize this statement. Look out for some equations and results in this book which strike you as beautiful.
- Q:-
Figure 3.23 gives the x-t plot of a particle executing one-dimensional simple harmonic motion. (You will learn about this motion in more detail in Chapter14). Give the signs of position, velocity and acceleration variables of the particle at t = 0.3 s, 1.2 s, – 1.2 s.
(Fig 3.23)
- Q:-
(a) A child stands at the centre of a turntable with his two arms outstretched. The turntable is set rotating with an angular speed of 40 rev/min. How much is the angular speed of the child if he folds his hands back and thereby reduces his moment of inertia to 2/5 times the initial value? Assume that the turntable rotates without friction.
(b) Show that the child’s new kinetic energy of rotation is more than the initial kinetic energy of rotation. How do you account for this increase in kinetic energy?
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Read each statement below carefully and state, with reasons and examples, if it is true or false:
A scalar quantity is one that
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(b) can never take negative values
(c) must be dimensionless
(d) does not vary from one point to another in space
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A block of mass 25 kg is raised by a 50 kg man in two different ways as shown in Fig. 5.19. What is the action on the floor by the man in the two cases? If the floor yields to a normal force of 700 N, which mode should the man adopt to lift the block without the floor yielding?
- Q:-
A train, standing at the outer signal of a railway station blows a whistle of frequency 400 Hz in still air.
(i) What is the frequency of the whistle for a platform observer when the train
(a) approaches the platform with a speed of 10 m s-1,
(b) recedes from the platform with a speed of 10 m s-1?
(ii) What is the speed of sound in each case? The speed of sound in still air can be taken as 340 m s-1.
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A pebble of mass 0.05 kg is thrown vertically upwards. Give the direction and magnitude of the net force on the pebble,
(a) during its upward motion,
(b) during its downward motion,
(c) at the highest point where it is momentarily at rest.
Do your answers change if the pebble was thrown at an angle of 45° with the horizontal direction? Ignore air resistance.
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