Name and ID#:__________________________________________________________________

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ARMENIA

College of Science and Engineering
ENGS 121 Mechanics
QUIZ 03
Date / Time: Friday, February 09 at 08:30
Duration: 50 mins
Attention: ANY TYPE OF COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED

Problem 1 (Example 1.10, page 21): A body is thrown upward and horizontally, as shown on the sketch. Its
initial velocity v0 has components vx0 and vy0. It moves under the influence of the constant vertical
acceleration of gravity –g. Find its trajectory y(x) – the dependence of its vertical coordinate y on the
horizontal coordinate x.

Solution

𝑑𝑣𝑥 (𝑡) 𝑑𝑣𝑥

𝑑𝑣⃗ 𝑎𝑥 (𝑡) = 0 =
𝑎⃗ = ⇒ 𝑑𝑡 ⇒ 𝑑𝑡 ⇒ 𝑣𝑥 (𝑡) = 𝑣𝑥0
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑣𝑦 (𝑡) 𝑑𝑣𝑦 𝑣𝑦 (𝑡) = 𝑣𝑦0 − 𝑔𝑡
𝑎𝑦 (𝑡) = −𝑔 =
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

𝑑𝑥(𝑡) 𝑑𝑥
𝑥(𝑡) = 𝑥(0) + 𝑣𝑥0 𝑡 = 𝑣𝑥0 𝑡 (1)
𝑑𝑟⃗ 𝑣𝑥 (𝑡) = 𝑑𝑡 𝑣𝑥0 =
𝑑𝑡
𝑣⃗ = ⇒ ⇒ ⇒ 𝑔𝑡 2 𝑔𝑡 2
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑦(𝑡) 𝑑𝑦 𝑦(𝑡) = 𝑦(0) + 𝑣𝑦0 𝑡 − = 𝑣𝑦0 𝑡 − (2)
𝑣𝑦 (𝑡) = 𝑣𝑦0 − 𝑔𝑡 = 2 2
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

Express t from (1) and plug in (2):

𝑥 𝑣𝑦0 𝑔
𝑡= ⇒ 𝑦(𝑥) = 𝑥 − 2 𝑥2
𝑣𝑥0 𝑣𝑥0 2𝑣𝑥0

Under the influence of the constant vertical acceleration of gravity the body moves along parabola,
as shown below:

y
v0

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Problem 2 (Example 1.11, pages 21-22): Consider a body moving along the x axis with acceleration ax(t) =
a0 sin t. Compute its velocity vx(t) and coordinate x(t). It starts at the origin x0 = 0 with an initial velocity v0.

Solution
t t t
v x (t )  v0   a x (t )dt    a 0 sin t dt   a 0  sin t dt    a 0 cos t  0  a 0 cos t  a 0 cos 0  a 0  a 0 cos t
t

0 0 0
t t t t t t
x(t )  x0   v x (t )dt    (a 0  a0 cos t )dt    a0 dt    a 0 cos t dt   a0  dt   a 0  cos t dt  
0 0 0 0 0 0

a0 t  0  a0 sin t  0  a0 t  a0 sin t  a0 sin 0  a 0 t  a0 sin t

t t

The chart below depicts the curves of acceleration ax(t) – the thin solid curve, velocity vx(t) – the
dashed curve, and coordinate x(t) – the thick solid curve. The curves are shown in a0 units.
The acceleration is oscillating and changes within the limits from -a0 to a0.
The velocity is also oscillating, but changes within the limits from 0 to 2a0.
Interestingly, the coordinate is not only oscillating, but also linearly increasing. So, subject to an
oscillating acceleration, the particle oscillates and drifts in positive direction.
25
23
21
19
17
15
a(t)
13
11 v(t)

9 x(t)
7
5
3
1
-1
0 5 10 15 20 25

Problem 3 (Problem 1.22, page 44). The derivative of acceleration is known as “jerk.” Compute jerk for a
particle moving in a circle of constant radius r = const = R at constant angular velocity 𝜃̇ = const = ω.

Solution

𝑑𝑟⃗ 𝑑(𝑅𝑟̂ ) 𝑑𝑟̂ 𝑑(𝑖̂ cos 𝜃 + 𝑗̂ sin 𝜃)

𝑣⃗ = = =𝑅 =𝑅 = 𝑅𝜃̇ (−𝑖̂ sin 𝜃 + 𝑗̂ cos 𝜃) = 𝑅𝜔𝜃̂ ⇒ 𝑣⃗ ⊥ 𝑟⃗
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑣⃗ 𝑑(𝑅𝜔𝜃̂) 𝑑𝜃̂ 𝑑(−𝑖̂ sin 𝜃 + 𝑗̂ cos 𝜃)
𝑎⃗ = = = 𝑅𝜔 = 𝑅𝜔 = −𝑅𝜔𝜃̇(𝑖̂ cos 𝜃 + 𝑗̂ sin 𝜃) = −𝑅𝜔2 𝑟̂ ⇒ 𝑎⃗ ⊥ 𝑣⃗
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑎⃗ 𝑑(−𝑅𝜔2 𝑟̂ ) 𝑑𝑟̂
𝑗𝑒𝑟𝑘 = = = −𝑅𝜔2 = −𝑅𝜔3 𝜃̂ ⇒ 𝑗𝑒𝑟𝑘 ⊥ 𝑎⃗
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

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