0%

HL - Nuclear & Quantum Physics

25 MCQ from 2025 Question Bank Nuclear & Quantum Physics (all topics)

DP IB HL Physics Quiz

1 / 25

1. An electron in a hydrogen atom is excited from the ground state of to the  level. What is the total number of frequencies that can be observed from the emission spectrum as the electron returns to ground state?

2 / 25

2. The activity of a 100% pure radioactive sample is . The activity of the sample after 20% of nuclei have decayed is:

3 / 25

3. The nuclear energy levels of a nucleus are shown below. K, L, and M are transitions between energy levels.

PH0456

Which statements are correct about photons emitted during transitions K, L, and M?

I. The wavelength of the photon emitted by transition K is greater than the wavelength of the photon emitted by transition L.
II. The frequency of the photon emitted by transition K is equal to the frequency of the photon emitted by transition M.
III. The wavelength of the photon emitted by transition L is greater than the wavelength of the photon emitted by transition M.

4 / 25

4. The diagram shows atomic energy levels of an element, and wavelengths are labeled corresponding to emission for electron transition between certain energy levels.

PH0299

Which of the following shows these wavelengths in decreasing order?

5 / 25

5. Consider the following statements about nuclear binding energy:

The nuclear binding energy is:

  • I. proportional to the mass defect from nucleus formation.
  • II. the energy released when a nucleus is formed from its nucleons.
  • III. the energy required to remove a proton from the nucleus.

Which of the statements are correct?

6 / 25

6. The diagram below shows the graph of binding energy per nucleon vs. the mass (nucleon) number of some elements.

PH0332

Which is the most stable nucleus?

7 / 25

7. Which of the following radioactive decays can cause the production of a daughter nucleus to be a different element than the parent nucleus?

I.α decay
II.β decay
III.γ decay

8 / 25

8. The photocurrents produced by illuminating a metal plate with yellow light beams of intensities  and  are  and  respectively. The corresponding stopping voltages are  and . Given that  , which of the following statements is true about the photocurrents and the stopping voltages?

Photocurrents Stopping voltages
A. i1 V1=V2
B. i1 V1
C. i1>i2 V1=V2
D. i1=i2 V1

9 / 25

9. Which of the following is incorrectly matches a component of a nuclear power plant with its function?

Component Function
A. Heat Exchanger Prevents overheating
B. Moderator Slows down electrons
C. Control rods Absorbs neutrons
D. Shielding Prevents any leakage of radiation

10 / 25

10. Three experiments are listed.

I. Photoelectric effect
II. Davisson-Germer experiment
III. Young’s double-slit experiment

Which of the experiments show the existence of the wave behavior of matter?

11 / 25

11. The electron in the ground state of a hydrogen atom absorbs a certain amount of energy. The diagram shows some of the energy levels of the hydrogen atom. At which state would the electron be if it absorbs 12.09  of energy?

PH0341

12 / 25

12. An element  is bombarded with alpha particles and a new element  is formed with a neutron emitted. The following equation can be written for the nuclear reaction.

PH0234

The atomic numbers of  and  are  and  respectively. Which of the following is correct for  and ?

13 / 25

13. A stationary nucleus of uranium-238 undergoes alpha decay to form thorium-234. The initial speed of the alpha particle is . What is correct about the magnitude of the thorium-234 velocity and its direction?

Magnitude Direction
A. 4v/234 Same as the alpha particle
B. 234v/238 Opposite to the alpha particle
C. 234v/238 Same as the alpha particle
D. 4v/234 Opposite to the alpha particle

14 / 25

14. Light from a sodium lamp of wavelength is directed towards a metal surface and electrons until a stopping potential of  is applied. The wavelength of the incident light is halved. Which of the following corresponds to the new value of the required stopping potential?

15 / 25

15. A star with a mass similar to the Sun, a temperature hotter than the Sun, and a radius similar to the Earth would be found in which region of the usual Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?

PH0713B

16 / 25

16. Which of the following physical quantities has the same SI unit as the radioactive decay constant?

 

17 / 25

17.

18 / 25

18. A pure radioactive sample of mass m has a decay constant of . Its activity is given by . Another pure sample of the same material has a mass . Consider the following statements about the sample of mass  after an interval of two half lives.

  • I. The decay constant is λ/2.
    II. The activity is A/2.
    III. The mass of decayed nucleons in the sample is m/2

Which of the statements is/are correct?

19 / 25

19. In a vacuum chamber, electromagnetic radiation of frequencies fA just manage to produce a non-zero photocurrent from metals A and B respectively. When illuminated by an electromagnetic radiation of frequency f>fB, the stopping voltage for the photocurrents from plates A and B are recorded to be  and  respectively.

Which of the following is true about  and ?

 

20 / 25

20.

21 / 25

21. No electrons are emitted when metal plate  is irradiated by an electromagnetic radiation of wavelength , and intensity . Which of the following could result in emission of photoelectrons?

I. Decreasing the wavelength λ of incident light.
II. Increasing the intensity of electromagnetic radiation at the same wavelength.
III. Replacing metal X, with a metal of smaller threshold frequency.

22 / 25

22. A star with a mass of twice the mass of the sun is a main sequence star. The time the sun is expected to spend in the main sequence is . Which of the following is correct for the time the star is expected to spend in the main sequence and the next stage in its evolution?

Time Stage
A. More than T Red giant
B. More than T Supergiant
C. Less than T Red giant
D. Less than T Supergiant

23 / 25

23. Which of the following is not true about Bohr's model of the atom.

 

24 / 25

24. During experiments observing beta decays, it was seen that the energy spectrum of the beta particles is continuous and momentum conservation was violated in beta decays. This provided evidence for the existence of:

25 / 25

25. The parallax angles of Star A and Star B are 0.250 arcseconds and 0.500 arcseconds respectively. What is the shortest possible distance, in parsec, between Star A and Star B?

Your score is

0%