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THEORETICAL COMPETITION
January 16, 2009

Please read this first:

1. The time available for the theoretical competition is 4 hours. There are three questions.
2. Use only the pen provided.
3. You can use your own calculator for numerical calculations. If you don’t have one, please
ask for it from Olympiad organizers.
4. You are provided with Writing sheet and additional paper. You can use the additional paper
for drafts of your solutions but these papers will not be checked. Your final solutions which
will be evaluated should be on the Writing sheets. Please use as little text as possible. You
should mostly use equations, numbers, figures and plots.
5. Use only the front side of Writing sheets. Write only inside the bordered area.
6. Begin each question on a separate sheet.
7. Fill the boxes at the top of each sheet of paper with your country (Country), your student
code (Student Code), the question number (Question Number), the progressive number of
each sheet (Page Number), and the total number of Writing sheets used (Total Number of
Pages). If you use some blank Writing sheets for notes that you do not wish to be evaluated,
put a large X across the entire sheet and do not include it in your numbering.
8. At the end of the exam, arrange all sheets for each problem in the following order:
• Used Writing sheets in order;
• The sheets you do not wish to be evaluated
• Unused sheets and the printed question.
Place the papers inside the envelope and leave everything on your desk. You are not allowed
to take any paper out of the room.
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Problem 1 (10 points)

This problem consists of four unrelated parts.

1А (2 points)

A small body is put on the surface of the

frictionless fixed sphere of radius R at the initial height of
h0 above the center of the sphere. After that, the body is
released without any push. Find the altitude h at which
the body loses contact with the sphere surface.

1В (3 points)
An electrical water heater consists of two well-conducting
coaxial cylinders of length L . The radius of the internal cylinder
equals r and the distance h between the cylinders is much smaller
than their radii. Cylinders are attached to a source of constant voltage
U 0 . Water is slowly passing between the cylinders, and is being
heated by the electric current passing through it. Calculate the velocity
of water required for its temperature to rise by ∆t after it comes out
of the heater.
The water density is γ , its resistivity is ρ and its specific
heat capacity is c . Neglect heat capacities of the cylinders and heat
losses into the environment.

1C (2 points)

Bridge schemes are widely used to measure

resistances. The figure on the right shows the
scheme of Wheatstone bridge used to measure an
unknown resistance R x . Resistances R1 and R2
can be slowly varied, while resistance R0 is fixed
and exactly known. By changing R1 and R2 one
can achieve zero total current through
milliammeter and the bridge is then called balanced.
1. Express the unknown resistance R x as a function of R1 , R2 , and R0 when the bridge is
balanced.
2. In real measurements it is impossible to exactly determine the conditions under which the
bridge is balanced due to finite sensitivity of the milliammeter. Assume the sensitivity of the
milliammeter equal i0 (i.e. for i < i0 milliammeter shows zero). Determine the relative error
of the measurement of R x due to the finite sensitivity of the milliammeter. Assume that the total
current through the bridge is fixed to I 0 with I 0 >> i0 .

1D (3 points)
In the morning one can see shiny spots on the road surface that look much like “puddles”.
These spots are the simplest demonstration of the mirage phenomenon. In reality these
“puddles” are just the reflection of the sky. In this problem you are asked to theoretically
describe this phenomenon.
The refraction index of the air is related to its number density γ as
αγ
n =1+ , (1)
2
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where α = 2,3 ⋅10 −29 m 3 is the average polarizability of the molecules of the air. Assume that the
temperature of the air is t 0 = 20 °C and its pressure is P0 = 1,0 ⋅10 5 Pa . Due to the sun heating
the surface of the road has the temperature which is higher than that of the surrounding air by
∆t = 2,0°C .
A driver moves along the straight horizontal road and his eyes are located at the height
h =1,2 m above the road surface. Estimate the distance to the nearest mirage-“puddle” that the
driver can clearly see on the road.
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Problem 2 (10 points)

Electromagnetic swings

Two very long conducting rods are connected to each other by an electromagnetic coil of
self-inductance L , and they create a plane with an inclination angle α with the horizon. There
is a mobile conductor of mass m that can move along that plane (see figure below). The friction
coefficient between the mobile conductor and the rods equals µ , the distance between the rods
is h , and the acceleration of gravity is denoted g . The whole system is located in a magnetic
field B perpendicular to the plane. In this problem you can neglect resistance and inductance of
the rods and of the mobile conductor. Assume that the mobile conductor is at rest at the initial
moment and, then, it is released without any push. Find answers to the following questions:

1. Find the inequality for the mobile conductor to start moving downward. Write your
answer in terms of α , µ . (1 point)
2. Assume that the inequality in question 1 is satisfied and the mobile conductor starts
moving downward. Express the current strength I in the coil through the displacement
x of the mobile conductor from its initial position. Write your answer in terms of
h, B, L, x . (2 points)
3. Find the maximal velocity umax of the mobile conductor while it is moving. Write your
answer in terms of h, B, L, m, α , g , µ . (1 point)
4. Find the maximal current strength I max in the coil while the mobile conductor is moving.
Write your answer in terms of h, B, m, α , g , µ . (1 point)
5. Assuming that the friction coefficient is small, find the total amount of heat released due
to the friction after large time. Write your answer in terms of h, B, L, m, α , g . (3 points)
tg α
6. What is the relative error of the answer of the previous item for µ = ? (2 points)
2009

B L

h
α

Figure. Sketch of the electromagnetic swings.

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Problem 3
Thermal radiation (10 points)

Electromagnetic radiation emitted by heated bodies is called a thermal radiation. The

thermal radiation is characterized by integral and spectral luminosity.
The integral luminosity R is the total radiation energy emitted by the unit area per unit
of time. The spectral luminosity rλ in the small interval of wavelength from λ till λ + ∆λ is
∆R
the ratio of the luminosity ∆R in this interval to the width of this interval, rλ = . Both the
∆λ
integral and spectral luminosities depend on the properties of the body and its temperature. In
general, the luminosity depends on the ability of bodies to absorb radiation. The better the body
absorbs the radiation, the better it emits under heating. If the body absorbs all incident radiation,
it is called a black body. The distribution of black body radiation (i.e. its spectral luminosity) is
well investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In figures 1 and 2 we show the plots of
spectral luminosities of black bodies at two different temperatures, T1 = 2000 K (fig. 1) and
T2 = 1300 K (fig. 2).

1. Using figure 1 of the spectral luminosity at T1 = 2000 K , determine the ratio of energies
emitted in spectral intervals ( λ1 , λ1 + ∆λ ) and ( λ 2 , λ 2 + ∆λ ) for λ1 = 2,0 ⋅ 10 −6 m ,
λ2 = 4,0 ⋅ 10 −6 m , ∆λ = 0,5 ⋅10 −6 m . (1 point)

2. Wien established that the wavelength λm which corresponds to maximal spectral

luminosity is related to the body temperature as
λm = bT n (1)
where b is called Wien’s constant, and n is an integer number. Determine the values
of b and n using the plots given. (2 points)

3. Stefan and Boltzmann established that the integral luminosity of black bodies is related to
their temperature as
R =σ T m ,
where σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant and m is an integer number. Determine the
values of σ and m using the plots given. (3 points)

4. The spectral luminosity of the Sun is close to the black body radiation with
λ m = 0,48 ⋅ 10 −6 m . Estimate the time after which the mass of the Sun will decrease by
1%. The mass of the Sun is 2 ⋅10 30 kg , and its radius is 7 ⋅10 8 m . (4 points)
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Figure 1. Spectral luminosities of a black body for the temperature T1 = 2000 K .

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Figure 2. Spectral luminosities of a black body for the temperature T2 = 1300 K

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