Name: ___________________________

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Department of Mechanical Engineering
ME 232 Dynamics

FINAL EXAMINATION
All four problems are of equal weight.
1. The physics department finally decides to do something
about the ventilation in Crow 206. OK, they don't
really, but if they did, they'd use the rotating fan on the
right. The base spins at a constant rate of 1 rad/s, and
the fan blades spin at a constant rate of 30 rad/s. The
point A is at (0,0,0.2m); the origin of the xyz coordinate
system is on the shaft of the fan blades. At this instant
in time:
(a) What is the angular velocity of the blades in the xyz
coordinate system shown?
(b) What is the angular acceleration of the blades?
(c) What is the velocity of point A?
(d) What is the acceleration of point A?

2. The physics department is, however, rushing to Crow 206 at this very moment with a load of coal
that will be burnt to maintain the room's
stuffiness. The wheelbarrow is
accelerating to the left at 2 m/s2 and is not
rotating The combined mass of the
wheelbarrow and coal is 100 kg. The mass
of the wheel is negligible.
(a) Find the horizontal and vertical
components of the force, P.
(b) Find the normal force at B.

3. A design for a portable Crow 206 window opener is based upon the weed-whacker. The two rightangled rods each have a mass m = 1 kg; the vertical shaft has negligible mass. The shaft spins with
constant angular velocity = 100 rad/s.
(a) In terms of and the elements of the
inertia tensor, what is the angular
momentum of the assembly about point
O?
(b) What are the products of inertia Ixz and
Iyz?
(c) What moment must the support apply to
the base of the shaft at O to maintain the
constant angular velocity ?

4. A device for crushing broken glass into

harmless dust is installed outside of Crow 206. It
consists of two slender 10 kg rods, a cylindrical
15 kg roller, and a spring with stiffness 50 N/m.
The spring is unstretched when = 45. The
roller rolls without slipping. If the system is
released from rest as shown, what are the angular
velocities of the rods when = 0?