October 14, 2014

Physics 130 - a

Dr. Schmidt
Midterm 1

Write you name on the cover of the blue book. Put all your answers in the blue book. Start a new page for each problem. Partial credit
will be given for incomplete answers. At the conclusion of the exam fold this exam in half and place in your blue book and turn in your
blue book.

1. (15 points) Briefly distinguish between negative acceleration and deceleration. If an object is tossed

upward with a positive initial velocity, in what part of the trajectory would there be a deceleration, (going
up, at the top, going down) and in what part would there be a negative acceleration, (going up, at the top,
going down)?
y A B C
2. (10 points) With regard to the trajectories shown to the right, for each of the
following, choose one; trajectory A, trajectory B, trajectory C, or all the same.
a) Which has the greatest initial velocity?
x
b) Which has the shortest time of flight?
c) Which has the greatest velocity at the high point?
d) Which has the greatest vertical component of initial velocity?
e) Which has the greatest horizontal component of initial velocity?
3. (15 points) For each example choose which one of Newtons three laws of motion is most applicable to explain the
observation. Give reasons for your selection.
a) A bicycle rider needs to exert an effort on the pedal of a bicycle to get moving but once he or she is up to
speed it takes little or no effort to keep going.
b) An astronaut pushes on a satellite to move out of the bay of the shuttle and the astronaut moves in the
opposite direction.
c) A railroad worker can use a pry bar applied to the wheels of a boxcar to get it to move but it is slow going
(low acceleration). A switch engine moves the same boxcar quickly (large acceleration).
d) A person uses their cell phone to push a thumbtack into a wall and breaks the cell phone case.
e) A heavy box resting on the floor stays put even though you exert a force on the side of the box to push it.
4. (15 points) For planets in our solar system the distance is measured in Astronomical Units or AU which is roughly
the distance from the sun to the Earth. In actuality that distance varies with time and orbital position so the
conversion was adopted that 1 AU = 149,597,871 km. How far away is Jupiter from the sun in AU if its mean
orbital distance is 778.3 x 109 m?
5. (15 points) A car is approaching a railroad crossing along a road that goes north at a speed of 95 km/hr. A train is
approaching the crossing going east at 85 km/hr. What is the velocity, both magnitude and direction, of the car
from the perspective of the train engineer?
6. (15 points) A proposed UPS quadracopter is to deliver a 3.0 kg package. The package is to be released from a
height of 35 m as the copter is descending at a vertical speed of 1.5 m/s. How fast will the package be moving just
before it hits the ground?
7. The SR 71 Blackbird spy plane was so powerful that if a fighter jet, with full afterburner on, moving at 340 m/s
passed the SR71 Blackbird as it started to accelerate for take off, it would pass the jet by the time it became airborn
in 1700 m.
a) (5 points) What was the acceleration of the SR 71 spy plane?
b) (5 points) How long in time did it take for the Blackbird to lift off?
c) (5 points) How fast was the SR 71 travelling when it passed the fighter jet?

Equation Sheet
Midterm I
Exam
2

c
a
o

90
90

v =

c =a +b
sin = a/c
cos = b/c
tan = a/b

v + vo
2

v = vo + a t
x = x o + vo t + 12 a t

x = x o + 12 (vo + v)t

b
x -x
x
v = t2 - t 1 =
t
1
2

vo2 sin 2 o
g

R=

vx = v cos
vy = v sin

2
ymax = vo sin
2g

x
v = lim

t
t 0

y = h - ( g )x
2v o2

a = v2 - v 1 = v
t
t2 - t 1

x = x o+ voxt

y = yo + voyt -

vx = vox

vy = voy - g t
2

1
2

gt

vy = voy - 2 g ( y - yo )

vy = tan
vx

vBS= vBW + vWS

y = yo + tan x 1/2 g x2
vo2 cos2

v
a = lim t
t 0

v = vo + 2 a(x - xo)

g = 9.8 m/s

sin = sin = sin

c
b
a
c

c2 = a 2 + b 2 -2ab cos