PROBLEMS
1. A sprinter with a mass of 65 kg reaches a speed of 10 m/s
during a race. Find the sprinter’s linear momentum.
2. Which has the larger linear momentum: a 2,000-kg
houseboat going 5 m/s or a 600-kg speedboat going 20 m/s?
3. In Section 2.4, we computed the force needed to accelerate a
1,000-kg car from 0 to 27 m/s in 10 s. Compute the force
using the alternate form of Newton’s second law. The change
in momentum is the car’s momentum when traveling 27 m/s
minus its momentum when going 0 m/s.
4. A runner with a mass of 80 kg accelerates from 0 to 9 m/s
in 3 s. Find the net force on the runner using the alternate
form of Newton’s second law.
5. In Section 1.4, we considered the collision of a karate
expert’s hand with a concrete block. Based on the graphs
in Figure 1.31, the initial downward speed of the fist with
mass 0.75 kg is about −13 m/s and the collision time is
approximately 25 ms. Find the impulse and the average force
exerted on the block by the fist during the collision.
6. A basketball with a mass of 0.62 kg falls vertically to the floor
where it hits with a speed of −6 m/s. (We take the positive
direction to be upward here.) The ball rebounds, leaving the
floor with a speed of 4.5 m/s. (a) What impulse acts on the
ball during its collision with the floor? (b) If the ball is in
contact with the floor for 0.04 s, what is the average force of
the ball on the floor?
7. A pitcher throws a 0.5-kg ball of clay at a 6-kg block of wood.
The clay sticks to the wood on impact, and their joint velocity
afterward is 3 m/s. What was the original speed of the clay?
8. A 3,000-kg truck runs into the rear of a 1,000-kg car that was
stationary. The truck and car are locked together after the
collision and move with speed 9 m/s. What was the speed of
the truck before the collision?
9. A 50-kg boy on roller skates moves with a speed of 5 m/s. He
runs into a 40-kg girl on skates. Assuming they cling together
after the collision, what is their speed?
10. Two persons on ice skates stand face to face and then push
each other away (Figure 3.45). Their masses are 60 and 90 kg.
Find the ratio of their speeds immediately afterward. Which
person has the higher speed?
Figure 3.45 Problem 10.
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11. A loaded gun is dropped on a frozen lake. The gun fires,
with the bullet going horizontally in one direction and the
gun sliding on the ice in the other direction. The bullet’s
mass is 0.02 kg, and its speed is 300 m/s. If the gun’s mass is
1.2 kg, what is its speed?
12. A running back with a mass of 80 kg and a speed of 8 m/s
collides with, and is held by, a 120-kg defensive tackle going
in the opposite direction. How fast must the tackle be going
before the collision for their speed afterward to be zero?
13. A motorist runs out of gas on a level road 200 m from a gas
station. The driver pushes the 1,200-kg car to the gas station.
If a 150-N force is required to keep the car moving, how
much work does the driver do?
14. In Figure 3.10, the rock weighs 100 lb and is lifted 1 ft by the
lever.
(a) How much work is done?
(b) The other end of the lever is pushed down 3 ft while
lifting the rock. What force had to act on that end?
15. A weight lifter raises a 100-kg barbell to a height of 2.2 m.
What is the barbell’s potential energy?
16. A microwave antenna with a mass of 80 kg sits atop a tower
that is 50 m tall. What is the antenna’s potential energy?
17. A personal watercraft and rider have a combined mass of
400 kg. What is their kinetic energy when they are going
15 m/s?
18. As it orbits Earth, the 11,000-kg Hubble Space Telescope
travels at a speed of 7,900 m/s and is 560,000 m above
Earth’s surface.
(a) What is its kinetic energy?
(b) What is its potential energy?
19. The kinetic energy of a motorcycle and rider is 60,000 J. If
their total mass is 300 kg, what is their speed?
20. In compressing the spring in a toy dart gun, 0.5 J of work is
done. When the gun is fired, the spring gives its potential
energy to a dart with a mass of 0.02 kg.
(a) What is the dart’s kinetic energy as it leaves the gun?
(b) What is the dart’s speed?
21. An archer using a simple bow exerts a force of 180 N to draw
back the bow string 0.50 m.
(a) What is the average work done by the archer in
preparing to launch her arrow? (Hint:
Hint: Compute the
average work as you would any average quantity: average
work 5 12 [final work – initial work].)
(b) If all the work is converted into the kinetic energy of
the arrow upon its release, what is the arrow’s speed as it
leaves the bow? Assume the mass of the arrow is 0.021 kg
and ignore any kinetic energy in the bow as it relaxes to
its original shape.
(c) If the arrow is shot straight up, what is the maximum
height achieved by the arrow? Ignore any effects due to
air resistance in making your assessment.
22. A worker at the top of a 629-m-tall television transmitting
tower in North Dakota accidentally drops a heavy tool. If air
resistance is negligible, how fast is the tool going just before
it hits the ground?
23. A 25-kg child uses a pogo stick to bounce up and down. The
spring constant, k, of the toy equals 8750 N/m.
(a) By how much would the spring be compressed by the
child if she simply balanced herself vertically on the
pedals of the stick?
(b) How much energy is stored in the spring under this
circumstance?
24. A student drops a water balloon out of a dorm window 12 m
above the ground. What is its speed when it hits the ground?
Problems 121
25. A child on a swing has a speed of 7.7 m/s at the low point of
the arc (Figure 3.46). How high will the swing be at the high
point?
d (a) How much time would it take to raise a 1,500-kg car 2 m?
7.7 m/s
Figure 3.46 Problem 25.
26. The cliff divers at Acapulco, Mexico, jump off a cliff 26.7 m
above the ocean. Ignoring air resistance, how fast are the
divers going when they hit the water?
27. At NASA’s Zero Gravity Research Facility in Cleveland, Ohio,
experimental payloads fall freely from rest in an evacuated
vertical shaft through a distance of 132 m.
(a) If a particular payload has a mass of 45 kg, what is its
potential energy relative to the bottom of the shaft?
(b) How fast will the payload be traveling when it reaches the
bottom of the shaft? Convert your answer to mph for a
comparison to highway speeds.
28. The fastest that a human has run is about 12 m/s.
(a) If a pole vaulter could run this fast and convert all of her
kinetic energy into gravitational potential energy, how
high would she go?
(b) Compare this height with the world record in the pole
vault.
29. A bicycle and rider going 10 m/s approach a hill. Their total
mass is 80 kg.
(a) What is their kinetic energy?
(b) If the rider coasts up the hill without pedaling, how high
above its starting level will the bicycle be when it finally
rolls to a stop?
30. In January 2003, an 18-year-old student gained a bit of fame
for surviving—with only minor injuries—a remarkable traffic
accident. The vehicle he was driving was “clipped” by another
one, left the road, and rolled several times. He was thrown
upward from the vehicle (he wasn’t wearing a seat belt) and
ended up dangling from an overhead telephone cable and a
ground wire about 8 meters above the ground. Rescuers got
CHALLENGES
1. Rank the following three collisions in terms of the extent of
damage that the car would experience. Explain your reasons
for ranking the collisions as you did.
(a) A car going 10 m/s striking an identical car that was
stationary on level ground.
(b) A car going 10 m/s running into an immovable concrete
wall.
(c) A head-on collision between identical cars, both going
10 m/s.
2. A bullet with a mass of 0.01 kg is fired horizontally into a
block of wood hanging on a string. The bullet sticks in the
wood and causes it to swing upward to a height of 0.1 m. If
122 Chapter 3 Energy and Conservation Laws
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
him down after 20 minutes. It is estimated that he reached a
maximum height of about 10 meters.
(a) Estimate the driver’s vertical speed when he was thrown
from the vehicle.
(b) If he had not landed in the wires, how fast would he have
been going when he hit the ground?
31. The ceiling of an arena is 20 m above the floor. What is the
minimum speed that a thrown ball would need to just reach
the ceiling?
32. Compute how much kinetic energy was “lost” in the inelastic
collision in Problem 8.
33. Compute how much kinetic energy was “lost” in the inelastic
collision in Problem 9.
34. A 1,000-W motor powers a hoist used to lift cars at a service
station.
(b) If the original motor is replaced with one rated at 2,000
W, how long would it take to complete this task?
35. How long does it take a worker producing 200 W of power to
do 10,000 J of work?
36. An elevator is able to raise 1,000 kg to a height of 40 m in 15 s.
(a) How much work does the elevator do?
(b) What is the elevator’s power output?
37. A particular hydraulic pile driver uses a ram with a mass of
1040 kg. If the maximum pile energy is 11,780 J, how high
must the ram be raised to achieve this value? Assuming it
takes 0.62 s for the pile driver’s winch motor to raise the ram
at a constant speed to this height, what is the power output
by the motor in completing this task? Express your answer in
both watts and horsepower.
38. A compact car can climb a hill in 10 s. The top of the hill is
30 m higher than the bottom, and the car’s mass is 1,000 kg.
What is the power output of the car?
39. In the annual Empire State Building race, contestants run up
1,575 steps to a height of 1,050 ft. In 2003, Australian Paul
Crake completed the race in a record time of 9 min and 33 s.
Mr. Crake weighed 143 lb (65 kg).
(a) How much work did Mr. Crake do in reaching the top of
the building?
(b) What was his average power output (in ft-lb/s and in hp)?
40. It takes 100 minutes for a middle-aged physics professor to
ride his bicycle up the road to Alpe d’Huez in France. The
vertical height of the climb is 1,120 m, and the combined
mass of the rider and bicycle is 85 kg. What is the bicyclist’s
average power output?
41. Two small 0.25-kg masses are attached to opposite ends of a
very lightweight rigid rod 0.5 m long. The system is spinning
in a horizontal plane around a vertical axis perpendicular
to the rod located halfway between the masses. Each mass is
moving in a circle of radius 0.25 m at a speed of 0.75 m/s.
What is the total angular momentum of this system?
the mass of the wood block is 2 kg, what was the initial speed
of the bullet?
3. In a head-on, inelastic collision, a 4,000-kg truck going 10
m/s east strikes a 1,000-kg car going 20 m/s west.
(a) What is the speed and direction of the wreckage?
(b) How much kinetic energy was lost in the collision?
4. A person on a swing moves so that the support rods are
horizontal at the turning points (Figure 3.47). Show that the
centripetal acceleration of the person at the low point of the
arc is exactly 2 g, regardless of the length of the rods. This
means that the force on the rods at the low point is equal to
three times the person’s weight. (Hint:
( The vertical distance