2 Balanced forces

Answers

Page 25 What is a force?

1. a) You (your weight) and the rope

b) The air and the sail
c) You and the Earth

Page 27 Experiment: Finding the shape of a magnetic field

1. Each bar magnet has a north pole and a south pole, so if you want to
look at the field between two like poles, you will need two magnets.
2. No—the iron filings don’t show the direction of the field.

Page 28 Activity: Finding your weight on other planets

Students should use the equation weight = mass × g.
The weights calculated will depend on the students’ weights.

Page 29 What is gravity?

1. a) Force of gravity (between you and the Earth)/your weight; contact
force between you and the chair.
b) Friction (between sandpaper and wood); force exerted on the
sandpaper by the carpenter; there will also be a contact force
between the wood and the sandpaper.
Magnetic force between magnet and fridge door; contact force
between magnet and door; gravity acting on fridge magnet (weight
c)
of fridge magnet); friction between magnet and door (stops the
magnet from sliding downwards).

Page 35 What happens when objects fall?

1. a) Stationary: contact force

weight

b) Top speed:
contact force
air resistance force from engine

weight

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Page 35 Data-based question: How fast do raindrops fall?
1. Diameter (mm) Terminal velocity (m/s)
1 2.68
2 4.53
3 5.89
4 7.01
5 7.96
2. 8

6
terminal velocity (m/s)

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
diameter of raindrop (mm)

3. 5 m/s (±0.2 depending on line of best fit)

4. Each raindrop is heavier and also falls at a faster speed
5. The assumption is not good because the force of air resistance will
deform the raindrop into a more flattened shape
Extension

Diameter Terminal velocity Rain drop mass Kinetic energy

(mm) (m/s) (g) (mJ)
1 2.68 0.0042 0.015
2 4.53 0.335 0.344
3 5.89 0.113 1.962
4 7.01 0.268 6.587
5 7.96 0.524 16.588

Summative assessment
Criterion A: Forces and cars
1. D
2. C
3. B
4. C
5. C

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 Criterion B: Investigating air resistance in a wind tunnel

6. Independent variable: wind speed; dependent variable: air resistance.

7. A sensible control variable e.g. same sized car (or same car);
8. 1 mark for each advantage/disadvantage. To score 3 marks, both an
advantage and a disadvantage must be given.
Advantages: cheaper; can use a smaller wind tunnel; can make changes
to the model car more easily; can test different shapes of car more
easily/cheaply.
Disadvantages: must scale up the results to apply to a real car; results
may not exactly translate to a life-size car.
9. Sensible axes; axes labelled; points plotted correctly; line of best fit.
0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5
force (N)

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
wind speed (m/s)

Criteria C/D: Designing an aerodynamic car

10. 1200 N
11. One from: weight; contact force from road.
12. Read off value at 40 m/s; 0.58 (allow ±0.02)
13. Read value at 40 m/s; aerodynamic drag reduces by 0.1 (0.48); 1,000 N.
14. Reducing aerodynamic drag by 0.2 (to value 0.38), read value at
F = 1,200 N; top speed = 49 m/s;
Improving force to 1,600 N, read value at drag = 0.58;
top speed = 46 m/s;
more improvement from reducing aerodynamic drag.

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15. One mark for each advantage, one mark for an explanation.
For example, the car uses less fuel and so has lower environmental
impact; uses less fuel and so will be cheaper to run; uses less fuel and
so can travel further before the car needs refuelling; car does not need
to store as much fuel and so will be lighter.
16. 1 mark for each argument; 1 mark for explaining of giving suitable
detail for each point; 1 mark for the conclusion.
For example, arguments for publishing: good publicity; other
engineers/scientists can test or verify their results;
Arguments against: other manufacturers might publish better results;
other manufacturers may use their ideas.

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