A puck sliding down an inclined plane

On an air table, inclined by an angle α with respect to the horizontal, we release a puck from a
point O without initial speed. The puck describes a rectilinear motion along the line of greatest
slope along the table. We neglect friction.

1) Represent, on a figure, the forces acting on the puck.

2) Applying Newton’s 2nd law. Show that the acceleration of the
puck is given by:a=gsinα , where g is the gravitational
acceleration.
3) What is the nature of motion of the puck?
4) Knowing that the puck covers a distance of 23.2cm in 0.5sec;
calculate “a” and deduce the value of α. Given g=9.81m/s2.

Acceleration of a car
A car of mass M=1500kg, starts from rest at an instant t0=0sec, in a uniformly accelerated
rectilinear motion, till an instant1=10sec, under the action of a motive force of constant
magnitude F=7500N. The distance covered during this phase is d=200m.
1) Calculate the acceleration of the motion of the car
2) a. Draw the forces acting on the car and calculate the force of friction
b. Applying Newton’s 2nd law, calculate the magnitude of the force of friction.
3) Starting from t1, the car undergoes a uniform rectilinear motion.
a. State the law explaining this phase of motion.
b. Calculate the new force F’ of the motive force of the car. The force of friction has a
constant value in this exercise.
4) At an instant t2>t2, the driver stops the motor.
a. What are the forces acting on the car?
b. Calculate the new acceleration of the car. Deduce the
nature of its motion.
The variation of the square of the speed V of the car as a
function of the covered distance x, during this phase, is given
in the figure below.
Calculate the initial speed and the distance covered in this
phase
Application to Newton’s 2nd law
A puck of mass m=200g is launched without initial speed on an air table, inclined by 70 with
respect to the horizontal. We record the successive position of the center of inertia, separated by
equal interval of time τ=0.1s, as shown in the following figure. Neglect friction.

1. Knowing that at t=0sec the puck records the point O. Complete the table below:

t (sec) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

v (m/s) 0.24 0.48
2. a) Represent the graph of v as a function of time.
b) What is, with justification, the nature of the puck?
c) Calculate the acceleration of the puck.
d) Determine the line of action and the direction of the acceleration vector

3. a) state Newton’s 2nd law

b) Determine the line of action and the direction of the resulting force on the puck.
c) Represent, on a figure and to the scale: 1cm→0.04N, the forces acting on the puck. Given
g=10m/s2.
d) Deduce the reaction of the table on the puck.