AP Physics: 2-D Kinematics Conceptual Questions

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1. One car travels due east at 40 km/h, and a second car travels north at 40
km/h. Are their velocities equal? Explain.: Their velocities are in fact not equal.
The magnitude of the two velocities are equal, but the direction of the two velocities
are not equal. This therefore means that the two are not equal.
2. Can you conclude that a car is not accelerating if its speedometer indicates
a steady 60 km/h?: It is true that their is no change in SPEED, but it must be
understood that their is a fundamental difference between velocity and speed. The
speed may not change, but the velocity could very well be changing because it is
a vector quantity that involves direction and magnitude. This means there is the
possibility for their to be change in direction which would not be indicated by the
speedometer. Therefore, you can not conclude that a car is not accelerating from a
speedometer indicating a steady 60 km/h.
3. During baseball practice, a player hits a very high ball and then runs in
a straight line and catches it. Which had the greater displacement?: The two
would have had equal displacement. Displacement is the change in positions.
Therefore, the two (the baseball and the player) would have traveled the same
amount of displacement. From the moment the baseball was struck and the player
caught it, the change in position was the same.
4. A projectile is launched at an upward angle of 30 degrees to the horizontal
with a speed of 30 m/s. How does the horizontal component of its velocity 1.0
s after launch compare with is horizontal component of velocity 2.0 s after
launch, ignoring air resistance?: There is no difference between the horizontal
component of the velocity after 1 s and 2 s because in projectile motion there is no
acceleration in the horizontal direction therefore being no change in the horizontal
component velocity.
5. One ball is dropped vertically from a window. At the same instant, a second
ball is thrown horizontally from the same window. Which ball has the greater
speed at ground level?: Neither - they both have the same speed on impact. The
two objects would undergo the same acceleration due to gravity during the free fall
and projectile motion, therefore meaning an equal speed descent.
6. You are riding in an enclosed train car moving at 90 km/h. If you throw
a baseball straight up, where will the baseball land?: It will land behind you,
because the ball is being thrown straight up meaning that while the train car is still
moving forward at 90 km/h the ball would fall behind you because it had no horizontal
velocity to allow it to travel horizontally. Meaning it wouldn't return back to you, nor
go in front. Simply fall behind you.
7. A hunter is aiming at a monkey sitting on a branch. The monkey is spooked
at falls down when he sees the hunter. At that very instant, the hunter pulls

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 AP Physics: 2-D Kinematics Conceptual Questions
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the trigger. What will happen?: The bullet will hit the monkey because the monkey
and the bullet are falling at the same rate of gravity.
8. Is the vertical velocity at the top of projectile motion greater than the velocity
at any other point?: No, it is actually zero at the top of projectile motion because
at this point the ball has come to rest.

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