PHYSICS SUMMATIVES TEST QUESTIONS WITH

ANSWERS
1) The acceleration of an object undergoing uniform circular motion is constant in.
 (A) MAGNITUDE ONLY
2) The centripetal force needed to keep the earth in orbit is provided by
 ( C) THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF THE SUN
3) How much is the centripetal acceleration of a .5kg ball that moves at 3m/s in a circular
path with a radius of 1 m.
 (C) 9m/s2
4) Most sharp curve in highways are banked to prevent highway accidents because
banking roads in a sharp curve.
 (B) DECREASE THE CENTRIPETAL FORCE BETWEEN THE ROAD AND THE CAR TIRES
5) The force required to keep an object moving in a circular path is called
 (B) CENTRIPETAL FORCE
6) The period is measured in.
 (C) SECONDS
7) A ball on one end of a string is swung in a horizontal circle, rotating clockwise as shown
above. When the ball is at point A, the direction of velocity, centripetal force, and
centripetal acceleration vectors respectively are:
 (D)
8) If the string were suddenly cut the ball is at point in the figure above, the subsequent
motion of the ball would be.
 (C) TO MOVE TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE
9) Why did Newton think there was a force acting on the moon?
 (B) BECAUSE THE MOON MOVES ON THE CURVED PATH
10) Newton hypothesized that
 (D) ALL OF THE ABOVE
11) Newton reasoned that the gravitational attraction between the earth and the moon
must be.
 (B) REDUCE BY DISTANCE
12) The mass of the earth increased, with no change in radius your weight would be.
 (A) INCREASE
13) If the earth’s gravity suddenly collapses the moon will
 (C) CONTINUE MOVING WITH A CONSTANT SPEED IN A STRAIGHT LINE
14) Newton’s law of universal gravitation states that
 (A) ALL OBJECTS IN THE UNIVERSE HAVE GRAVITY INCLUDING SMALL STONE
15) The speed needed to put a satellite in orbit does not depend on
 (D) THE MASS OF THE SATELLITE
16) An astronaut is weightless in the space craft.
 (C) IN ALL ORBITS
17) The orbit where satellite moves in the same rate as the earth spin in its axis is
 (D) SYNCHRONOUS ORBIT
18) The moon’s mass is 1.2% of the Earth’s mass. Relative to the gravitational force exerted
by the earth on the moon, the force exerted by the moon on the earth is.
 (C) THE SAME
19) The speed needed to put a satellite in orbit does not depend on.
 (D) MASS OF THE SATELLITE
20) Why were epicycles used Ptolemy’s model of the solar system?
 (C) TO EXPLAIN THE RETROGRADE MOTIONS OF PLANETS.