PHYS 101 – General Physics I Final Exam Solutions

Friday, 04 January 2019, 09:30

1. An Atwood’s machine consists of two masses, m1  m2 which are connected by a

massless inelastic cord that passes over a pulley, as shown in the figure. The pulley has I

radius R and moment of inertia I about its axle, which is fixed.

R
(a) (5 Pts.) Draw free body diagrams for the two masses and the pulley.
(b) (10 Pts.) Use Newton’s second law to determine the acceleration of the masses.
(c) (10 Pts.) Use energy conservation to find the speed of the masses after m2 falls a
𝑚2
distance h.
Solution:

𝑚1 ℎ
I 𝑅 ሬሬԦ
𝒈
ሬ𝑭Ԧ 𝑇1 ሬ𝑭Ԧ 𝑇2

(a)
𝑚1 ሬԦ 𝑇1
𝑭 ሬ𝑭Ԧ 𝑇2 𝑚2

ሬሬԦ
𝑚1 𝒈
ሬሬԦ
𝑚2 𝒈

a
(b) FT 1  m1 g  m1a , R( FT 2  FT 1 )  I , m2 g  FT 2  m2 a . Using   and eliminating FT 1 and FT 2 , we get
R

 
 m2  m1 
a g.
I
 m1  m2  2 
 R 

(c) Taking initial position of m1 as the zero gravitational potential energy level, initial and final energies are
1 1 1 v
Ei  m2 gh , E f  m1v 2  m2v 2  I  2  m1 gh . Using   , and solving E f  Ei for v, we get
2 2 2 R

2  m2  m1  gh
v .
I
m1  m2  2
R
2. (25 Pts.) A solid uniform sphere of mass M and radius R is thrown along a level surface so that initially ( t  0 ) it
slides with a linear speed v0 but does not rotate. The coefficient of kinetic friction between the sphere and the
horizontal surface is  k . Because of friction, it begins to spin, and
eventually starts to roll without slipping. What fraction of its initial energy R ሬԦ𝟎
𝒗
2
does the sphere lose during sliding? (For a solid sphere I CM  MR 2 ) ሬሬԦ
𝒈 M
5
Solution:

ሬ𝑭Ԧ𝑵
Applying Newton’s second law we have

R y  Ff  ma , FN  Mg  0, RFf  I . Since Ff  k FN  k Mg ,
x
M we find
x RF f 5 k g
a  k g and    .
ሬԦ𝒇
𝑭 I 2R
ሬሬԦ
𝑀𝒈

Kinematic equations for the speed of the center of the sphere, and angular speed around the center are

5 k g
v(t )  v0  k gt and  (t )  t . The sphere will start to roll without slipping at time t r , when v  R .
2R
5 k g 2v0
v0  k gtr  R tr  tr  . Hence, when the sphere starts to roll without slipping, we have
2R 7 k g

2v0 5v0 5v
v(tr )  v0  k gtr  v0   and  (tr )  0 .
7 7 7R

Once the sphere starts to roll, it’s total mechanical energy will be

2 2
1  5v  1  2   5v  5  1 
Er  M  0    MR 2   0    Mv02  .
2  7  25   7R  7  2 

1 E 5 2
Since initially Ei  Mv02 , fraction of initial energy remaining after sliding is r  . Therefore of initial
2 Ei 7 7
energy is lost during sliding.
3. A thin uniform rod of mass M  3m and length is fixed at one end, and is held horizontally. When released, it
swings down under the action of gravity and collides
with a stationary block of mass m at the bottom of its ℓ
swing. It is observed that after the collision the block 𝑂
sticks to the end of the rod and together, they keep 𝑀 = 3𝑚
swinging until the rod makes an angle 𝜃 with the
vertical, where the motion stops momentarily. Ignore
all forms of friction, and note that for a uniform rod
1 ሬሬԦ
𝒈
IO  M 2
around the point O.
3 𝜃
(a) (15 Pts.) Find the cosine of the maximum angle 𝜃.
𝑚
(b) (10 Pts.) How much energy is lost in the collision?

Solution:
(a) As the rod swings down from its initial positon, its total mechanical energy is conserved. Taking the level of the
pivot O as the zero level for the gravitational potential energy, initial total mechanical energy of the rod will be zero.
Just before the rod collides with the block, we have

1 2 11  1
E I   Mg   3m 2   2  3mg  m 2 2  3mg . Since total mechanical energy is conserved,
2 2 23  2 2 2
3g
E0   as the angular speed of the rod just before it collides with the block. Energy and linear

momentum of the system of rod and the block are not conserved during the collision. However, external forces act at
the pivot, angular momentum relative to the pivot O is conserved. We have

 3m  2  m 2 , and L f   I o  m     2m
1 1 1 3g
Li  I o  2
  . Therefore L f  Li      
2
.
3 2 2
Total mechanical energy right after the collision is conserved, so when the rod with the block stuck to it reaches the
maximum angle  , we have
2
 
I  2  mg  3mg  mg cos   3mg cos  , or  2m   12 3g   52 mg 1  cos   , which gives
1 1 2

2 2 2 2  
7
cos   .
10
(b) Relative to the level of the pivot O initial energy of the system (rod + Block) is Ei  mg .

At the instant of rest at maximum height the energy of the system is

 3 7 7
E f  mg cos   3mg cos    mg 1     mg . Therefore, energy lost during the collision is
2  2  10 4

7 3
E f  Ei  mg  mg  mg .
4 4
4. A homogeneous wood disk of radius R has a circular hole of radius R/4 cut out from it. The center of the hole is R/2
away from the center of the disk. The disk is attached to a vertical wall by a pivot passing through its center point C
and can rotate without friction about that point. The total mass of the object(disc with the hole) is M, the gravitational
acceleration is g.
(a) (5 Pts.) How far away is the center of mass of this object from center C? (Call the
result of this part 𝑟𝑐 for part c.) R/2

(b) (5 Pts.) What is the moment of inertia of the object for rotations around C? (Call R/4
the result of this part 𝐼𝑐 for part c.) C
(c) (15 Pts.) Find the angular frequency of small oscillations the object makes around R M
equilibrium as shown in the figure in terms of I c and rc .

1 2
(For a solid homogeneous disk of mass m and radius r, I c  mr )
2
Solution:

  R / 4
2
1
(a) Ratio of the areas of the disk and the hole is  . We can think of the hole as an equivalent amount of
R 2
16
M
negative mass added to that location. Therefore the position of the center of mass will be
16

rc 
  M /16  R / 2    R , minus sign meaning that it is on the symmetrically opposite side of the hole, below
M 30
M
16
the point C of the figure.

15
(b) If we let M  denote the mass of the original disk without the hole cut out, we have M  M  . Therefore,
16

1  M   R   M   R 
2 2
1 247
I c  M R 2            MR 2 , where we have used the parallel axis theorem to
2 2  16  4   16  2  480
express the moment of inertia of the hole about C.

(c) This is an example of a physical pendulum. Therefore, we have

𝐶
d 2 d 2
𝑟𝑐 Ic   Mgrc sin  . For small angles sin    , hence I c  Mgrc  0 . The angular
𝜃 dt 2 dt 2
Mgrc Mgrc
frequency is identified as  2  . Therefore, the result is   .
Ic Ic

ሬሬԦ
𝑀𝒈