PC1431 Physics IE: Tutorial 1

Question 1
A boy stands at the peak of a hill which slopes downwards uniformly at an angle as
shown in Figure 1. At what angle from the horizontal should he throw a rock so that
it has the greatest range, R?
v

Figure 1: Calculating the angle for maximum distance

[Ans: = /4 /2]

Question 2 : Human cannonball

In a circus stunt, a clown was fired out of a cannon to land on a truck. The clown was
fired with speed v0 at an angle of 53.1 above the horizontal. The truck was initially
5.00 m ahead of the clown and moved forward at the same instant that the clown was
fired off, with a constant acceleration of g/4.

Figure 2: The Human Cannonball

You may assume that the clown landed at the same level from which he was fired.
Also the truck starts from rest at the moment the clown was fired. At what value of v0
would the stunt be successful? [Ans: 8.75 m/s]

Question 3
A car moving at 18.1 ms1 enters a curve that describes a quarter turn of radius 120
m from A to B as shown in Figure 3.
B

A
R
Figure 3: Turning a corner

The driver gently applies the brakes, slowing the car down at a constant rate of
0.65 ms2 . Just before emerging from the turn at B, what is the angle between the
acceleration vector and the direction of motion?
[Ans: 133 ]

Question 4
A small boat is headed for a harbour 32 km north-west of its current position when
it is suddenly engulfed in a heavy fog. The captain maintains a compass bearing of
north-west and a speed of 10 km/hr relative to the water. Three hours later the fog
lifts and the captain notes that he is now exactly 4.0 km south of the harbour. Taking
to be directed along east and to be directed north, what is the velocity ~v of the
current during those three hours? (You may assume that ~v is a constant.)
[Ans: ~v = (0.47 km/hr) (0.86 km/hr) ]

Question 5 : 2D Kinematics part I

The trajectory of a particle is described by the vector in Cartesian coordinates
~r(t) = R (cos t + sin t ) ,

(1)

where and R positive constants. What is the particles corresponding velocity ~v and
acceleration ~a? Find also the magnitudes of each vector. Calculate the scalar products
~a ~r and ~a ~v .

Question 6 : 2D Kinematics part II (for practice)

Consider now a trajectory
~r = R (cos + sin ) ,

(2)

where is a function of t.
(a) Show the following two results:
|~v | = R

d
,
dt

(3)

~a = R (cos + sin )

d
dt

2

+ R ( sin + cos )

d2
dt2

(4)

What are |~v | and ~a if given that = t, where is a constant?

(b) Let us assign the names
~a1 = R (cos + sin )

d
dt

2

~a2 = R ( sin + cos )

d2
dt2

(5)

such that Eq. (4) is represented as ~a = ~a1 + ~a2 . Since we know from the lectures
that total acceleration is the sum of tangential and centripetal acceleration
~a = ~acent + ~atan ,

(6)

which vectors correspond to ~a1 and ~a2 ? (Hint: remember for uniform circular
motion, the tangential acceleration is zero.)

Question 7 (for practice)

The speed of a particle moving in a circle 2.0 m in radius increases at the constant rate
of 4.4 m/s2 . At the instant when the magnitude of the total acceleration is 6.0 m/s2 ,
what is the speed of the particle?
[Ans: 2.9 m/s]