FORCE, WEIGHT, TENSION PROBLEMS

Problem Solving. Write your complete and detailed solution on the working space after each
item.

1. A traffic light, weighing 120N, hangs from a cable tied to two other cable fastened to a
support as shown in the figure on the right. Find the tension in the three cables.

2. A block slides down a smooth plane having an inclination of 15°. If the block starts from the
rest at the top and the length of the incline is 2m, find (a) the acceleration of the block, and (b)
its speed when it reaches the bottom of the inclined plane.

3. Block A and B have weigh of 44N and 22N, respectively.

a) Find the minimum weight of block C that must be placed on top of block
A to keep it from sliding. Take the coefficient of static friction between A
and the table top to be 0.20.
b) Block C is suddenly lifted off A. Find the resulting acceleration of the
system if the coefficient of kinetic friction between A and the table is
0.15.

4. What is the maximum height a 100-W engine can lift a 100-kg man in 3.00 minutes?

5. A stone sphere of radius 7.00 m rests in a flat field. Relative to the ground, what is the
gravitational potential energy of a 90.0-kg person sitting on the very top of the sphere?
6. A pushing force of 10 000 N is applied to the backside of a car at an angle of 25.0° above the
horizontal, moving the car through a horizontal distance of 15.0 m. If the car has a mass of 2
250 kg, what is its final speed?

7. Starting from rest at the top, a child slides down the water slide at a swimming pool and
enters the water at a final speed of 4.38 m/s. At what final speed would the child enter the
water if the water slide were twice as high? Ignore friction and resistance from the air and the
water lubricating the slide.

8. A uniform plank of length 2.00 m and mass 30.0 kg is supported by three

ropes as indicated by the blue vectors in the figure. Find the tension in each
rope when a 700-N person is d = 0.500 m from the left end.

9. A 10.0-g bullet is fired into a stationary block of wood having mass m = 5.00 kg. The bullet
imbeds into the block. The speed of the bullet-plus-wood combination immediately after the
collision is 0.600 m/s. What was the original speed of the bullet?

10. A 200-g body moving to the right at 50 m/s collides with a 400-g body moving to the left at
30 m/s. Calculate the final velocity of the two bodies if the coefficient of restitution is