In a laboratory experiment

PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Mechanical Properties of Solids · Mechanical Properties of Solids

Problem

In a laboratory experiment, a student measures the speed of a longitudinal pulse along a uniform metallic wire and obtains the value

5.0\times10^{3}\,\text{m s}^{-1}

. The density of the wire material is independently measured to be

8.1\times10^{3}\,\text{kg m}^{-3}

. (i) Calculate the Young’s modulus of the wire material. (ii) The student knows that the typical Young’s modulus of pure copper is about

1.2\times10^{11}\,\text{N m}^{-2}

and that of steel is about

2.0\times10^{11}\,\text{N m}^{-2}

. Based on your result in (i), comment on which of these two materials the wire is more likely to be made of, giving two supporting reasons.