PHYS121 – Mechanics & Thermodynamics

Final 2021

Multiple choice: (10 marks)

Choose one best answer out of the choices

1. For how long should a force of 50N be applied to change the momentum of an object
by 12kg.m/s
a) 0.24s
b) 4.15s
c) 62s
d) 600s

2. Two objects having equal masses and velocities collide with each other and come to
a rest. What type of a collision is this and why?
a) Elastic collision, because internal kinetic energy is conserved
b) Inelastic collision, because internal kinetic energy is not conserved
c) Elastic collision, because internal kinetic energy is not conserved
d) Inelastic collision, because internal kinetic energy is conserved

3. What is the kinematics relationship between ω, α, and t?

a) ω=αt
b) ω=ω0 − αt
c) ω=ω0 + αt
d) ω=ω0 +1/2 αt

4. How can the same force applied to a lever produce different torques?
a) By applying the force at different points of the lever arm along the length of the lever
or by changing the angle between the lever arm and the applied force.
b) By applying the force at the same point of the lever arm along the length of the lever
or by changing the angle between the lever arm and the applied force.
c) By applying the force at different points of the lever arm along the length of the lever
or by maintaining the same angle between the lever arm and the applied force.
d) By applying the force at the same point of the lever arm along the length of the lever
or by maintaining the same angle between the lever arm and the applied force.

5. What the number that measures an object’s resistance to being deformed elastically
when stress is applied to it?
a) Elastic modulus
b) Plastic modulus
c) Poisson’s ratio
d) Stress modulus

6. The body will regain it is previous shape and size only when the deformation caused
by the external forces, is within a certain limit. What is that limit?
a) Plastic limit
b) Elastic limit
c) Deformation limit
d) None of the mentioned

6. What kind of heat transfer requires no medium?

a) conduction
b) convection
c) reflection
d) radiation

7. How much energy is required to melt 7.00 kg a block of aluminum that is at its melting
point? (Latent heat of fusion of aluminum is 380 kJ/kg.)
a) 54.3 kJ
b) 2.66 kJ
c) 0.0184 kJ
d) 2.66×103 kJ

8. Which of the following involves work done BY a system?

a) increasing internal energy
b) compression
c) expansion
d) cooling

9. A system consists of ice melting in a glass of water. What happens to the entropy of
this system?
a) The entropy of the ice decreases, while the entropy of the water cannot be predicted
without more specific information.
b) The entropy of the system remains constant.
c) The entropy of the system decreases.
d) The entropy of the system increases.

10. Which of these quantities needs to be zero for efficiency to be 100 percent?
a) ΔU
b) W
c) QH
d) QC

Long answer questions: (10 marks)

1.a) State your understaning of impulse (1 mark)

Impulse is a term that is used to describe or quantify the effects of force acting over time
to change the momentum of an object. It is represented by the symbol J and usually
expressed in newton-seconds or kg m/s
b) A merry-go-round at a playground is rotating at 4.0 rev/min. Three children jump on
and increase the moment of inertia of the merry-go-round/children rotating system by
25%. What is the new rotation rate? (2 marks)
We will use conservation of angular momentum so we get:
I (4.0 rev/min) = 1.25Iωf, ωf = 1.0/1.25 (4.0 rev/min) = 3.2 rev/min
c) A person starts pushing a merry-go-round with a torque of 10 Newton-meters. It has
a moment of inertia of 100kg⋅m2. What is its rotational speed after 3 seconds assuming
it starts at rest? (2 marks)
The angular moment of the merry-go-round after 3 seconds is:
L=τt=(10N⋅m)(3s)=30kg⋅ m2s
Angular momentum is also given by
L=Iω=(100kg⋅m2)ω
Plugging in 30 for L gives us: ω=0.3 s−1
2.a) State the 4 kinds of thermal processes (1 mark)
The 4 kinds of thermal processes are: isobaric, isothermal, isochoric and adiabatic.
b) Draw a pV diagram and illustrate 1 such process (2 marks)

Adiabatic process, in thermodynamics, change occurring within a system as a result of

transfer of energy to or from the system in the form of work only; i.e., no heat is
transferred. A rapid expansion or contraction of a gas is very nearly adiabatic. Any
process that occurs within a container that is a good thermal insulator is also adiabatic.
Adiabatic processes are characterized by an increase in entropy, or degree of disorder,
if they are irreversible and by no change in entropy if they are reversible. Adiabatic
processes cannot decrease entropy.
c) Suppose 40.00 J of energy is transferred by heat to a system, while the system does
10.00 J of work. Later, heat transfers 25.00 J out of the system, while 4.00 J is done by
work on the system. What is the net change in the system’s internal energy? (2 marks)
The net heat transfer is the heat transfer into the system minus the heat transfer out of
the system, or
Q = 40.00 J − 25.00 J = 15.00 J.
Similarly, the total work is the work done by the system minus the work done on the
system, or W = 10.00 J − 4.00 J = 6.00 J.
Thus the change in internal energy is given by the first law of thermodynamics:
ΔU = Q − W = 15.00 J − 6.00 J = 9.00 J.
We can also find the change in internal energy for each of the two steps. First, consider
40.00 J of heat transfer in and 10.00 J of work out, or ΔU1 = Q1 − W1 = 40.00 J − 10.00
J = 30.00 J.
Now consider 25.00 J of heat transfer out and 4.00 J of work in, or
ΔU2 = Q2 − W2 = –25.00 J −(−4.00 J) = –21.00 J.
The total change is the sum of these two steps, or ΔU = ΔU1 + ΔU2 = 30.00 J + (−21.00
J) = 9.00 J.