Assignment #1

ES204 Dynamics

Due at the beginning of the class on Thursday, Jan. 27 Spring 2011

Part I: Solve (do not copy the solution in the book) the sample problems 2/1, 2/2, 2/4,
2/5, and 2/6 of the text. You do NOT have to plot graphs in those problems.

Part II: Solve the following problems.

1. The position of a particle along a straight line is given by

s = (t 3 − 9t 2 + 15t ) ft

where t is in seconds. Determine its maximum acceleration and maximum velocity

during the time interval 0 ≤ t ≤ 10 sec. Answers: 42 ft/sec2 and 135 ft/sec.

2. If θ = 1 rad, dθ / dt = −2 rad/sec,
and d 2θ / dt 2 = 0 , what are the
velocity and acceleration of P relative
to O? Answers: 6.73 ft/sec and –8.64
ft/sec2

3. A sky diver jumps from a helicopter and is falling straight down at 30 m/sec when her
parachute opens. From then on, her downward acceleration is approximately a = g − cv 2 ,
where g = 9.81 m/sec2 and c is a constant. After an initial transient period, the person
descends at a nearly constant speed of 5 m/sec.
(a) What is the value of c, and what are its SI units? Answer: 0.392 m −1
(b) What maximum deceleration is the sky diver subjected to? Answer: –343 m/sec2
(c) What is the downward velocity when the person has fallen 2 m from the point at
which his/her parachute opens? Perform integration by hand and show all your work.
Answer: 14.4 m/sec

4. Suppose that a tunnel could be drilled straight through

the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole and the air
was evacuated. An object dropped from the surface would
fall with the acceleration a = − gs / R E , where g is the
acceleration of gravity as sea level, RE is the radius of the
earth, and s is the distance of the object from the center of
the earth. What is the magnitude of the velocity of the
dropped object when it reaches the center of the earth?

1
Answer: g RE

5. If the pitching wedge the golfer is

using gives the ball an initial angle
θ 0 = 50o, what range of velocities v0
will cause the ball to land within 3 ft
of the hole? Assume the hole lies in
the plane of the ball’s trajectory.
Show your coordinate system clearly.
Answer: 31.2 ≤ v0 ≤ 34.2 ft/sec