A steel wire of length 4.7 m and cross-sectional area \[3.0\times {{10}^{-5}}{{m}^{2}}\] stretches by the same amount as a copper wire of length 3.5 m and cross-sectional area \[4.0\times {{10}^{-5}}{{m}^{2}}\] of under a given load. What is the ratio of the Young’s modulus of steel to that of copper?
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Ans: In the above question it is given that:
The length of the steel wire is ${{L}_{1}}=4.7m$.
Area of cross-section of the steel wire is \[{{A}_{1}}=3.0\times {{10}^{-5}}{{m}^{2}}\].
The length of the copper wire is ${{L}_{2}}=3.5m$.
Area of cross-section of the copper wire is \[{{A}_{2}}=4.0\times {{10}^{-5}}{{m}^{2}}\] .
Now,
The change in length is given by:
$\Delta L={{L}_{1}}-{{L}_{2}}=4.7-3.5=1.2m$
Let the force applied in both the cases be $F$ .
Therefore, Young’s modulus of the steel wire is given by:
${{Y}_{1}}=\frac{F}{{{A}_{1}}}\times \frac{{{L}_{1}}}{\Delta L}=\frac{F\times 4.7}{3.0\times {{10}^{-5}}\times 1.2}$ …… (1)
And Young’s modulus of the copper wire is given by:
${{Y}_{2}}=\frac{F}{{{A}_{2}}}\times \frac{{{L}_{2}}}{\Delta L}=\frac{F\times 3.5}{4.0\times {{10}^{-5}}\times 1.2}$ …… (2)
Therefore,
$\frac{{{Y}_{1}}}{{{Y}_{2}}}=\frac{F\times 4.7\times 4.0\times {{10}^{-5}}\times 1.2}{3.0\times {{10}^{-5}}\times 1.2\times F\times 3.5}=\frac{1.79}{1}$
Hence the ratio of Young’s modulus of steel to that of copper is $1.79:1$ .