PHYSICS NOTES

Vectors and Kinematics Quiz 1

Newton’s Laws of Motion Quiz

Work, Energy, Impulse, and

Momentum Quiz

Rotational Kinematics, Rotational

Dynamics, Uniform Circular Motion,
and SHM & Elasticity Quiz

Problem Sets and Quiz Problems

PROBLEM SET #1
1. Let x (t)=t 3−6 t 2 be the position function of a particle moving along an x-axis where x is in meters and t is in seconds.
Find the maximum displacement, instantaneous velocity, and acceleration for t=2 , 4 ,∧6 sec .

2. Suppose that the position function of a particle moving on a coordinate line is given by x (t)=2t 3−21 t 2 +60 t + 3
a. Draw the displacement graph of the motion of the particle for t >0
b. Draw the velocity graph of the motion of the particle for t >0
c. Draw the acceleration graph of the motion of the particle for t >0

3. Suppose that a NASCAR race car is moving to the right with a constant velocity of +82m/s.
a. What is the average acceleration of the car?
b. 12 seconds later, the car is halfway around the track and traveling in the opposite direction with the same
speed. What is the average acceleration of the car?

1
PROBLEM SET #2
1. A penny is dropped from rest from the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago. Considering that the height of the building is
427m and ignoring air resistance, find the speed with which the penny strikes the ground.

2. A wrecking ball is hanging at rest from a crane when suddenly the cable breaks. The time it takes for the ball to fall
halfway to the ground 1.2s. Find the time it takes for the ball to fall from rest all the way to the ground.

3. A pellet gun is fired straight downward from the edge of a cliff that is 15 m above the ground. The pellet strikes the
ground with a speed of 27m/s. How far above the cliff edge would the pellet have gone had the gun been fired straight
upward?

4. An astronaut on a distant planet wants to determine its acceleration due to gravity. The astronaut throws a rock
straight up with a velocity of +20m/s and measures a time of 20s before the rock returns to his hand. What is the
acceleration (magnitude and direction) due to gravity on this planet?

PROBLEM SET #3
1. A tennis ball is struck such that it leaves the racket horizontally with a speed of 28m/s. The ball hits the court at a
horizontal distance of 19.6m from the racket. What is the height of the tennis ball when it leaves the racket?

2. A golf ball rolls off a horizontal cliff with an initial speed of 11.4m/s. The ball falls a vertical distance of 15.5m into a
lake below.
a. How much time does the ball spend in the air?
b. What is the speed v of the ball just before it strikes the water?

3. An Olympic long jumper leaves the ground at an angle of 23° and travels through the air for a horizontal distance of
8.7m before landing. What is the takeoff speed of the jumper?

4. A major-league pitcher can throw a baseball excess of 41.0m/s. If a ball is thrown horizontally at this speed, how much
will it drop by the time it reaches a catcher who is 17.0m away from the point of release?

2
PROBLEM SET #4
1. A person pushes a 16.0-kg shopping cart at a constant velocity for a distance of 22.0m. She pushes in a direction 29.0°
below the horizontal. A 48.0-N frictional force opposes the motion of the cart.
a. What is the magnitude of the force that the shopper exerts?]
Determine the work done by:
b. The Pushing Force
c. The Frictional Force
d. The Gravitational Force

2. Starting from rest, a 1.9 ×1 0− 4 kg flea springs straight upward. While the flea is pushing off from the ground, the
ground exerts an average upward force of 0.38 N on it. This force does 2.4 × 10−4 J of work on the flea.
a. What is the flea’s speed when it leaves the ground?
b. How far upward does the flea move while it is pushing off? Ignore both air resistance and the flea’s weight.

3. A student, starting from rest, slides down a water slide. On the way down, a kinetic frictional force (a nonconservative
force) acts on her. The student has a mass of 83.0 kg, and the height of the waterslide is 11.8m. If the kinetic frictional
force does −6.50 ×1 03 J of work, how fast is the student going at the bottom of the slide.

4. Starting from rest, a 93-kg firefighter slides down a fire pole. The average frictional force exerted on him by the pole
has a magnitude of 810 N, and his speed at the bottom of the pole is 3.4m/s. How far did he slide down the pole?