Physics 20 Workbook

Centennial High School

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 Format for solving problems:
 Solutions are to be written on a separate sheet of paper.
 Follow the GRASS Method:
 Given – list the data and/or provide a diagram
 Required – clearly state what you’re looking for
 Analysis – write the appropriate equations and/or
assumptions
 Substitution – plug in the numbers with the correct units
 Solution – underline or box in your answer with the correct
units attached to it.

Distance, Position & Displacement

1. Sprinting drills include running 40.0 m [N], walking 20.0 m [N], and then
sprinting 100.0 m [N]. What is the sprinter’s displacement from the initial
position? (160.0 m [N])

2. To perform a give and go, a basketball player fakes out the defence by
moving 0.75 m [right] and then 3.50 m [left]. What is the player’s
displacement from the starting position? (2.75 m [left])

3. Mrs. T walks 500 m [N], 380 m [S], 257 m [N] and then another 23.0 m [N].
a. What distance did she travel? (1.16 × 103 m)
b. What was her displacement? (400 m [N])

4. Dr. Christison decides to try out for the track team. He completes 4 laps
around a 200 m track, finishing where he started. Calculate his distance
and total displacement. (800 m, 0 m)

5. A person’s displacement is 50.0 km [W]. What is his final position if he

started at 5.0 km [E]? (45 km [W])

Position-Time Graphs
1. Match each ticker tape with the correct position-time graph.

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 2. Which strip of ticker tape represents non-uniform motion? Explain your
answer.

A
.
B
.

3. Describe the motion in each lettered stage for the object depicted by the
position-time graph below.

Average Speed
1. If an object can travel at 30 m/s, how long will it take for the object to travel
700 cm? (0.23 s)
2. You run 100 m at a speed of 5.0 m/s and then you walk 100 m at a speed
of 1.0 m/s. What was your average speed? (1.67 m/s)
3. Bill is 35.0 m away from Tom. Both men walk in the same direction. Bill
walks at 1.65 m/s and Tom walks at 1.85 m/s. From where they began,
how far does Tom walk before he catches up with Bill? How long does it
take for Tom to catch Bill? (324 m, 175 s)
4. What distance does a car travel in 75 minutes if it travels with an average
speed of 75 km/h during this time? (94 km)
5. A bean plant grows at 3.858 x 10-5 cm/s. How much will it grow in three
days? (10.00 cm)
6. If light travels at 3.0 x 108 m/s, how long will it take for light to travel from
the sun to the Earth which is a distance of 1.5 x 108 km away? (500 s)
7. A man walks 200 m at a speed of 1.5 m/s and then he runs the remaining
300 m at 3.0 m/s to a store. How long does it take him to travel the total
distance? What is his average speed for the journey? (2.3 x 102 s, 2.1
m/s)
8. A man walks for 25 s at a speed of 1.5 m/s and then runs for 40 s at 3.0
m/s. How far does the man travel? What was his average speed? (157.5
m, 2.4 m/s)

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9. A rhinoceros sees a group of American tourists 700 m away. The tourists
are wearing fake safari hats. The rhinoceros hates fake safari hats. The
rhinoceros rambles toward them for 500 m at a speed of 2.5 m/s and then
charges for 200 m at a speed of 6.5 m/s. If the tourists need to get into
their safari jeep to escape the rhinoceros, how long do they have to make
it to safety? What was the rhinoceros’ average speed? (2.3 x 102 s, 3.0
m/s)
10. A turtle and a hare enter a race. How far apart will the two be after 4.5
min if the turtle has a top cruising speed of 0.25 m/s and the hare blazes
along at 5.0 m/s? (1.3 km)
11. Jake the snake can slither at 125 cm/s and Mack the rat can run at 200
cm/s. If they start at the same point, how far apart will they be after 5.0 s if
they both run in the same direction? (375 cm)
12. If Jake the snake’s tail is 345 cm from a hole and he slithers under stress
at 150 cm/s, can Mickey the mongoose catch him before he escapes?
Mickey can move at 450 cm/s and he starts at 10.8 m from the hole. (he
escapes)
13. Jack the jaguar can run for only 1.0 min at 13.0 m/s before he has to stop
to rest, while Zeke the zebra can gallop at 7.25 m/s for 5.0 min. How long
does Zeke actually have to run for to elude Jack? Can Jack catch Zeke
for lunch if they are initially 350 m apart? Why is this scenario very
unlikely in the real world? (Zeke escapes)
14. Mrs. T is standing 50 m from a large bell. With her mighty throwing arm,
Mrs. T throws a rock at the bell and she hears the sound of the bell 4.5 s
later. If the speed of sound is 330 m/s, what was the speed of the rock in
the air? (11.5 m/s)
15. A British Concorde (BC) and a French Concorde (FC) flew in opposite
directions around the earth (40 000 km). The BC covered half of its flight
distance at a supersonic speed of 2500 km/h and the other half at a
subsonic speed of 1000 km/h. The FC spent half of its flight time at 2500
km/h and the other half at 1000 km/h. Which Concorde completed the trip
first, and by how many hours did it beat the other? (5.14 h)
16. Two trains, one starting in Calgary and the other in Edmonton, travel
toward one another. The Edmonton train travels at 120 km/h toward
Calgary, while the Calgary train travels at 140 km/h toward Edmonton. If
the trains begin at the same time and Edmonton and Calgary are 285 km
apart, how far from Calgary will the trains pass each other? (153 km)
17. Two friends start walking on a football field in the same direction. Person
A walks twice as fast as person B. However, person B has a head start of
20.0 m. If person A walks at 3.0 m/s, find the distance between the two
friends after walking for 20.0 s and determine who is ahead at this time.
Sketch a position-time graph for both people.

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 18. A camper kayaks 16 km [E] from a camping site, stops, and then paddles
23 km [W]. What is the camper’s final position with respect to the
campsite? (7 km [W])
19. Sketch a position-time graph for a bear starting 1.2 m from a reference
point, walking slowly away at constant velocity for 3.0 s, stopping for 5.0 s,
backing up at half the speed for 2.0 s, and finally stopping.
20. A mosquito flies toward you with a velocity of 2.4 km/h [E]. If a distance of
35.0 m separates you and the mosquito initially, at what point (distance
and time) will the mosquito hit your sunglasses if you are travelling toward
the mosquito with a speed of 2.0 m/s and the mosquito is travelling in a
straight path? (8.8 m, 13 s)
21. Spotting a friend 5.0 m directly in front of you, walking 2.0 m/s [N], you
start walking 2.25 m/s [N] to catch up. How long will it take for you to
intercept your friend and what will be your displacement? (20 s, 45 m [N])
22. Two vehicles, separated by a distance of 450 m, travel in opposite
directions toward a traffic light. When will the vehicles pass one another if
vehicle A is travelling 35 km/h and is 300 m [E] of the traffic light while
vehicle B is travelling 40 km/h? When will each vehicle pass the traffic
light, assuming the light remains green the entire time? (22 s, 31 s and 14
s)
Displacement & Average Speed
1. Indicate whether the direction is positive or negative for the following
directions:
A. east B. up C. down D. left
E. south F. west G. right H. north

2. Determine the distance and displacement for each of the following

questions. Show a vector diagram and the work for each question. An
object moves:
A. 20 m [W] the 40 m [E] (60 m, 20 m east)
B. 55 m [N] then 14 m [S] then 6.4 m [N] (75.4 m, 47.4 m north)
C. 8.45 cm up, 3.46 cm down, 0.0561 m up, and 0.0632 m down (23.84
cm, 4.28 cm up)
D. 3.56 km [E], 7855 m [W], 2.543 km [W], and 5.00 x 105 cm left (18.96
km, 11.84 km W)
E. 7.5 cm left, 62 mm right, 0.012 m [W], and 2.3 cm [E] (17.2 cm, 0.2 cm
W)
F. 16 km [E], 17,000 m left, 4.5 x 105 cm right, and 25 km [W] (62.5 km,
21.5 km W)

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3. An object travels north at 5.0 m/s for 30 s and then south at 8.0 m/s for 45
s.
A. What was the distance traveled by the object? (5.1 × 102 m)
B. What was the final displacement of the object? (2.1 × 102 m south)
C. What was the average speed of the object? (6.8 m/s)

4. An object travels east for 500 m at a speed of 25 m/s and then west for 800
m at 16 m/s.
A. What was the distance traveled by the object? (1.3 km)
B. What was the final displacement of the object? (3.0 × 102 m west)
C. What was the average speed of the object? (18.6 m/s)

5. If a runner completes one circuit of a 400 m track in 44.0 s, determine her

average speed and final displacement. (9.1 m/s, 0)

Acceleration Problems
1. An object traveling at 150 km/h slows to 10 km/h in 5.0 s. What is the
acceleration? (-28 km/h/s)
2. An object accelerates from rest at +4.0 m/s2 for 1.0 min. What is the
object’s final velocity? (+2.4 × 102 m/s)
3. How long would it take for an object traveling at 60 m/s to reach a speed of
100 m/s if the acceleration is 5.0 m/s2? (8.0 s)
4. A rock is thrown upward with an initial speed of 12.0 m/s. How long will it
take for the object to get to its maximum height? What is the rock’s velocity
after 1.5 s? (1.22 s, 2.7 m/s down)
5. A ball traveling at 10 m/s begins rolling up an inclined plane. It comes to a
stop 5.0 s later and begins to roll back down.
A. What is the acceleration? (2.0 m/s2 down the incline)
B. What is the velocity after 2.0 s? (6.0 m/s up the incline)
C. What is the velocity after 7.0 s? (4.0 m/s down the incline)

6. A car starts from rest and accelerates to 100 kilometers per hour in exactly
one minute. What was the acceleration? (100 km/h/min)

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7. A boy on a bicycle travels in a straight line and slows down from 30 m/s to
10 m/s in 5.0 s. What is his acceleration? (–4.0 m/s2)
8. A plane traveling at 200 km/h accelerates at 5 km/hs for one minute. What
is the plane’s final speed? (+500 km/h)
9. A car traveling at 50 m/s speeds up to 80 m/s by accelerating at a rate of
4.0 m/s2. What was the time required? (7.5 s)
10. A car slows down from 80 m/s to 40 m/s by accelerating at -4.0 m/s2. What
time interval was required? (10 s)
11. A car accelerates at 3.0 m/s2 for 9.0 s and reaches a speed of 90 m/s.
What was the car’s original speed? (63 m/s)
12. A car traveling east at an unknown speed applies the brakes and slows
down at a rate of 5.0 m/s2 for 5.0 s. If the final velocity of the car is 95 m/s
east, what was the original velocity of the car? (120 m/s east)
13. An object traveling at 40 m/s starts rolling up an inclined plane. If the object
comes to rest after 8.0 s:
A. What was the acceleration experienced by the object? (-5.0 m/s2)
B. What was the velocity of the object after 6.5 s? (+7.5 m/s)
C. What was the velocity of the object after 11 s? (-15 m/s)
14. An object is thrown downward at 35.0 m/s from a great height. What is its
velocity after 5.0 s? (84 m/s down)
15. A 0.50 kg rock is launched upward with an initial speed of 80.0 m/s.
A. How long will it take for the rock to reach its maximum height? (8.15 s)
B. How long is the rock in the air?
C. What will the rock’s velocity be after 11.0 s? (27.9 m/s down)
16. Mr. and Mrs. Janmohamed are vacationing near the cliffs of Dover in
Britain. Mr. J throws a stone downward from a cliff, while Mrs. J throws a
stone upward. Explain how the acceleration on each stone is the same,
regardless of whether it is initially moving up or down.
17. For a projectile thrown up into the air, explain why the time taken to travel
up to the maximum height is equal to the time to fall back down to the
starting height.
18. What variables determine how long a projectile is in the air?

Acceleration-Displacement Problems
1. A man traveling at 35 m/s increases to 85 m/s over five minutes. What was
the distance traveled over that time interval? (18 km)

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2. An object traveling at 100 m/s accelerates at -5.0 m/s2 for 15 s. What was
the distance traveled by the object as it slowed down over the 15 s? (9.4 x
102 m)

3. An object traveling at an unknown speed accelerates at 4.00 m/s2 for 25.0

s. If the object travels 1500 m over the time interval, what was the initial
velocity before acceleration? (+10 m/s)

4. A ball is dropped from a height of 3.5 m into the hand of a person waiting
below. The ball comes to rest in the person’s hand over a distance of 0.25
m. What was the acceleration of the ball when it landed in the person’s
hand? (137 m/s2 up)

5. A car traveling at 60 m/s accelerates at +3.0 m/s2 for 9.0 s. How far does
the car travel in this time? (6.6 x 102 m)

6. A car starting from rest travels 1296 m with an acceleration of 32 m/s2.

How long does it take for the car to travel that distance? (9.0 s)

7. A person drops a ball from a height of 20 m. What is the ball's final speed
and how long did it take to fall? (19.8 m/s down, 2.02 s)

8. A car travels 1760 m over 10 s. If the acceleration was -20 m/s2, what was
the initial velocity? (+276 m/s)

9. A car traveling at 60 m/s suddenly has its brakes applied bringing the car to
a stop after 4.0 s. How far did the car travel in this time? (+1.2 × 10 2 m)

10. A car traveling at 100 m/s comes to a stop in 200 m. How long did it take
for the car to come to a stop? (4.0 s)

Acceleration-Displacement Problems #2:

1. A rock is thrown downward from a cliff at 15.0 m/s. The rock hits the waves
below after 2.45 s.
a) What was the height of the cliff? (66.2 m)
b) What was its velocity after 2.0 s? (35 m/s down)

2. A rock is thrown upward with a speed of 20 m/s from a 45.0 m cliff. How
long will it take for the rock to reach the bottom of the cliff? (5.7 s)

3. A ball is thrown upward with an initial velocity of 35.0 m/s.

a) What is the velocity after three seconds? (5.57 m/s up)
b) What is the velocity after five seconds? (14.1 m/s down)
c) What maximum height did the ball reach? (+62.4 m)

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4. A ball traveling at 50 m/s begins to roll up an inclined plane before coming
to rest. The ball comes to a stop 80.0 m up the incline. What was the
velocity of the ball 2.5 s after starting up the incline? (10.9 m/s up the
incline)

5. A stone is thrown vertically upward from a 117.82 m high cliff with an initial
speed of 19.62 m/s. How long will it take for the stone to hit the water
below? (7.29 s)

6. An object is allowed to free fall from rest for 6.0 s. What distance does the
object travel in the last second of the fall? (54 m [down])

7. A car accelerates uniformly from rest at the rate of 2.0 m/s2 for 6.0 s. It then
maintains a constant speed for 0.50 min. Finally, the brakes are applied
and the vehicle slows down at a uniform rate and comes to rest in 5.0 s.
Find (a) the maximum speed of the car and (b) the total displacement. (12
m/s, 4.3 x 102 m)

8. While driving her car, Mrs. Jones sees an obstruction in the road. It takes
her 0.80 s to react and put her foot on the brake. Her car is traveling at 25
m/s.
(a) How far will the car travel before she puts her foot on the brake? (20
m)
(b) If, when the brake is applied, the car decelerates at a uniform rate of
9.3 m/s2 what is the total displacement of the car? (54 m)

9. A stone is thrown straight down from the top of a cliff with an initial speed of
6.0 m/s. It reaches the bottom in 3.0 s. How high is the cliff? (62 m)

10. A ball is thrown vertically upward from a window at 10 m/s. It hits the
ground 5.0 s later. What is the height of the window from the ground? (73
m)

*11. An object starting from rest travels 77 m in the sixth second. What was the
acceleration? (+14 m/s2)

Vector Addition
1. An ant crawls 40 cm south and then 20 cm west. What is the final distance
and displacement for the ant? (60 cm, 44.7 cm @ 63o south of west)
2. A car is driven 80 km north, then 50 km east, then 30 km south and then 90
km west. The entire trip required 4.5 hours. What was the average speed
and displacement of the car? (56 km/h, 64 km @ 51o N of W)

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Trigonometry Review
1. Draw a right angle triangle and label all sides (a, b, c) and angles (A, B) (C
= 90 o). For angle A write out the trigonometric functions: sine, cosine, and
tangent. According to Pythagoras, what is the length of the hypotenuse
(side c)?
2. Find the number of degrees in each of the following angles: (a) sin  =
0.456 (b) sin  = 0.748 (c) cos  = 0.677 (d) cos  = 0.224 (e) tan  =
12.736
3. Find the values of the following: sin 30, sin 45, sin 60, cos 30, cos 45, cos
60, tan 30, tan 45, tan 60
4. Given a right triangle with an hypotenuse length of 42 cm and an angle of
30 o. What are the lengths of the opposite and adjacent sides? (21 cm, 36
cm)
5. One angle of a right triangle is 55 o and the adjacent side with length 24 m,
determine the length of the hypotenuse. (42 m)
6. In a right triangle there is an angle of 38o opposite a side with a length of 15
m. What is the length of the hypotenuse? (24 m)
7. The opposite and adjacent sides of a right triangle are 12 cm and 16 cm
respectively. What is the angle involved? What is the length of the
hypotenuse? (37o, 20 m)
8. The hypotenuse of an isosceles right triangle is 20 cm long. What is the
length of the other two sides? What are the other two angles? (14.1 m,
14.1 m, 45o, 45o)

Vector Addition Continued

For questions 1 to 4 do each of the following:

(i) Draw a scale diagram (ii) Find distance (iii) Find displacement

1. An student walks 20 m [N] then 10 m [S] then 30 m [N] then 25 m [S]. (85 m, 15
m [N])
2. An ant walks 20 cm [W] then 5 cm [N]. (25 cm, 20.6 cm [14o N of W])
3. A mouse runs 30 m [W], 10 m [N], and then 20 m [W]. (60 m, 51 m [11 o N of
W])
4. A hamster runs 60 cm [N], 30 cm [E], and then 90 cm [S]. (180 cm, 42.4 cm
[45o E of S])

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5. What is the displacement after a plane flies: 20 km [W], 50 km [S] and 60
km [E]? (64.0 km [51.3o S of E])
6. An object travels 858 m WEST then 297 m SOUTH. The time required for
the journey was 13 minutes.
A. What was the total distance traveled? (1155 m)
B. What was the displacement of the object? (908 m [19o S of W])
C. What was the average speed? (88.8 m/min)(1.48m/s)

7. An object travels 500 m south, 480 m east, 350 m north, 1650 m west, 390
m north, 590 m east, and 190 m north. The entire trip required 3 hours and
21 minutes.
A. What was the resulting displacement of the object? (722 m [53o W of
N])
B. What was the average speed (in m/minute)? (20.6 m/min)

8. The sketch below represents two journeys - one by car, another by canoe.
According to the odometer, the car went 48 km to travel from A to B. The
time required was 1.2 hours. Prospector Ralph went from A to B by canoe
in exactly the same time. He found that during the trip he was always
paddling along a line at 20o East of North. Ralph paddled a distance of 12
km.
A. Give the distance traveled in km by: i) the car, and ii) the canoe.
B. Give the final displacement in km for: i) the car, and ii) the canoe.
C. What was the average speed in km/h for: i) the car, and ii) the canoe.
car

N
Long
Lost
 B
canoe
A

9. Use the diagram below to answer parts A to C. (Streets are 0.75 km apart
and avenues are 0.50 km apart.)

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 N

A. If Bill walks from school to John’s house, what is the displacement

from the school to John’s house? (1.6 km [18o S of E])
B. If Jane walks from the store to John’s house, what is her displacement
from the store to John’s house? (2.3 km [12.5o N of E])
C. If Hank walks from the rink to the store, what was his displacement?
(3.2 km [72o W of S])

Vector Addition - Components

1. A turtle walks 60 m [210o], then 50 m [45 o W of N] and then 60 m [0o]. What
was the turtle’s final displacement? (27.8 m [11o N of W])Hand-in
Assignment
2. For each of the following vectors calculate the east-west and north-south
components.
A. 25 m/s [40o E of N] (16.1 m/s east, 19.2 m/s north)
B. 16 m/s2 [20o S of W] (15.0 m/s2 west, 5.5 m/s2 south)
C. 45 km [15o N of E] (43.5 km east, 11.6 km north)
3. A woman walks 440 m [50o S of W] and then 580 m [60o N of E]. The entire
trip required 15 minutes
A. What was the total distance travelled? (1020 m)
B. What was the displacement of the woman? (165.4 m [2.5o E of N])
C. What was the average speed of the woman in m/min? (68 m/min)
4. A man walks 440 m [50o W of S] and then 580 m [60o E of N]. The entire
trip required 15 minutes
A. What was the total distance travelled? (1020 m)
B. What was the displacement of the man? (165.4 m [2.5o])
C. What was the average speed of the man in m/min? (68 m/min)

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5. A boy runs at 5.0 m/s [30o S of W] for 2.5 minutes and then he turns and
runs at 3.0 m/s [40o S of E] for 4.5 minutes.
A. What was his average speed? (3.7 m/s)
B. What was his displacement? (896 m [1.9o W of S])
6. A man walks 600 m [47o N of E], then 500 m [38o W of N], then 300 m [29o S
of W], and finally 400 m [13o E of S]. Find his resultant displacement. (306 m
[13o W of N])
7. A slightly disoriented homing pigeon flies the following course at a constant
speed of 15 m/s:
(i) 800 m [37o E of N]
(ii) 300 m due west, and
(iii) 400 m [37o S of E]
A crow flies in a straight line (as the crow flies) between the starting and
finishing points. At what speed must the crow fly, if the birds leave and
arrive together? (6.4 m/s)
8. An airplane is climbing at an angle of 15o to the horizontal with the sun
directly overhead. The shadow of the airplane is observed to be moving
across the ground at 200 km/h. (a) What is the actual airspeed of the
plane? (b) How long does it take for the plane to increase its altitude by
1000 m? (207 km/h, 1.1 min)

Relative Motion Problems:

1. Using the Boat on a River film footage, we can see the effect of the relative
directions of motion of the boat and the current. For the sake of showing
calculations with the different situations, we shall say that the speed of the
water relative to the shore is 2.0 m/s, and the boat’s speed relative to the
water is 5.0 m/s.

Situation 1 – Boat goes directly against current

Situation 2 – Boat goes directly with the current

Situation 3 – Boat is aimed across river and is moved downstream by the

current

Situation 4 – Boat wishes to go straight across the river – compensates for the
current

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2. An aircraft has a cruising speed of 100 m/s. On this particular day, a wind
is blowing at 75 m/s [E].

A. If the plane were to fly due north, what would be the velocity relative
to the ground? (125 m/s [37o E of N])
B. If the pilot wishes to have a resultant direction of due north, in what
direction should he point the plane? What will be the plane’s
displacement in 1.25 h? (49o W of N, 298 km north)

3. A train is going east with a speed of 30 m/s. Jim and Sam are passengers
on the train and they are moving away from each other. Jim is walking west
with a speed of 1.5 m/s relative to the train, while Sam is running east at 5.0
m/s relative to the train.

A. What is Jim's velocity relative to the ground? (28.5 m/s east)

B. What is Sam's velocity relative to the ground? (35.0 m/s east)
C. What is the train's velocity relative to Jim? (1.5 m/s east)
D. What is the train's velocity relative to Sam? (5.0 m/s west)

4 Two boathouses are located on a river, 1.0 km apart on the same shore.
Two men make round trips from one boathouse to the other, and back. One
man paddles a canoe at a velocity of 4.0 km/h relative to the water, and the
other walks along the shore at a constant velocity of 4.0 km/h. The current
in the river is 2.0 km/h in the starting direction of the canoeist. (a) How
much sooner than the walker does the canoeist reach the second
boathouse? (b) How long does it take each to make the round trip? (5.0
min; 40 min, 30 min)

5. A dog walks at 1.6 m/s on the deck of a boat that is traveling north at 7.6
m/s with respect to the water.

(a) What is the velocity of the dog with respect to the water if it walks
towards the bow? (9.2 m/s [N])
(b) What is the velocity of the dog with respect to the water if it walks
towards the stern? (6.0 m/s [N])
(c) What is the velocity of the dog with respect to the water if it walks
towards the east rail, at right angles to the boat's keel? (7.8 m/s [78 o N
of E])
6. An airplane with an airspeed of 400 km/h is flying south, but an east wind of
86 km/h blows the plane off course. What was the actual velocity of the
plane? (409 km/h [12o W of S])
7. Two people can paddle a canoe at 4.75 km/h in still water. A river has a
2.65 km/h current.
A. If the canoeists wish to paddle straight across the river, what angle
should the keel of the canoe make with the shoreline? (56o)

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 B. If the river is 0.50 km wide, how much time is required to make the
journey (in minutes)? (7.6 min)

8. The pilot of a ferry boat, with a cruising speed of 12 km/h, wishes to sail
north from Georgetown, Malaysia to Medan, Indonesia across the Strait of
Malacca. If the strait has a 3.0 km/h current flowing west, what course
should the pilot set to compensate for the current? If the distance from
Georgetown to Medan is 100 km, how long will the sailing take? (14.5o E of
N, 8.6 h)
9. A pilot heads her plane with a velocity of 255 km/h north. If there is a
strong 112 km/h wind blowing east, what is the velocity of the plane in
reference to the ground? (279 km/h [23.7o E of N])
10. A pilot wants to fly west. If the plane has an airspeed of 95 m/s and there is
a 25 m/s wind blowing north:
A. In what direction must she head the plane? (15.3o S of W)
B. What will be her speed relative to the ground? (91.7 m/s)
C. How far will the plane go in 2.25 h? (743 km west)

11. A 70 m wide river flows at 0.80 m/s [E]. A girl swims across it at 1.4 m/s
relative to the water.
(a) What is the least time she requires to cross the river? (50 s)
(b) How far downstream will she be when she lands on the opposite
shore? (40 m)
(c) At what angle to the shore would she have to aim, in order to arrive at
a point directly opposite the starting point? (55o)
(d) How long would the trip in part (c) take? (61 s)

12. A yacht has a cruising speed of 45 km/h and it is headed east. If there is 20
km/h current at 40o S of E, what is the actual velocity of the boat?
(61.7 km/h [12.0o S of E])

13. A pilot maintains a heading due west with an air speed of 240 km/h. A
passenger, who has graduated from Physics 20, measures the velocity of
the aircraft relative to the ground and calculates it to be 180 km/h [35 o N of
W]. What is the magnitude and direction of the wind? (139 km/h [48o N of
E])

Projectile Problems
1. A rock is thrown horizontally at 10.0 m/s off of a 150 m sheer cliff. What is
the range? (55.3 m)

14
2. A quarterback throws a football at 15 m/s at 40o to the horizontal. What is
the maximum height of the ball? What is the range? (4.74 m, 22.6 m)
3. A person fires a bullet horizontally from a gun at the same instant that
another bullet is dropped from the same height as the rifle barrel. Discuss
which bullet will hit the ground first.
4. One day in the jungles of the Amazon, professor Glick was stalking a very
rare species of monkey, projectilus avoidicus. He spotted one up in a tree
and decided to shoot it with a dart rifle. If the monkey begins to fall at the
same instant that the dart leaves the barrel of the rifle, explain why the
professor should aim directly at the monkey.
5. A man is standing on the edge of the roof of a building that is 828.1 m high.
If he throws an object horizontally from the roof at 12 m/s, how far from the
base of the building does the object land? (156 m)
6. A man standing at the edge of a cliff throws a stone horizontally at 40 m/s.
The stone lands 360 m from the base of the cliff. How high is the cliff? (397
m)
7. A baseball is thrown at 30o above the horizontal with a speed of 49.0 m/s.
A. How long does it take for the ball to reach its maximum height? (2.50
s)
B. What is the maximum height? (30.6 m)
C. How long is the baseball in the air? (5.00 s)
D. What is the maximum range of the baseball? (212 m)
8. If a stone is thrown at 60o above the horizontal with a speed of 196 m/s,
what is the maximum height and the range? (1469 m, 3391 m)
9. An airplane is flying level at 80.0 m above the ground with a speed of 350
km/h. The bombardier wishes to drop food and medical supplies to hit a
target on the ground. At what horizontal distance from the target should the
bombardier release the supplies? (393 m)
10. A ball is thrown horizontally from a window at 10 m/s and hits the ground
5.0 s later. What is the height of the window and how far from the base of
the building does the ball first hit? (1.2 x 102 m, 50 m)
11. An artillery gun is fired so that the shell has a vertical component of velocity
of 210 m/s and a horizontal component of 360 m/s. If the target is at the
same level as the gun (a) how long will the shell stay in the air and (b) how
far down-range will the shell hit the target? (42.8 s, 15.4 km)
12. A girl standing on the top of a roof throws a rock at 30 m/s at an angle of
30o below the horizontal. If the roof is 50 m high, how far from the base of
the building will the rock land? (52 m)

15
13. A cannon is fired at 30o above the horizontal with a velocity of 200 m/s from
the edge of a 125 m high cliff. Calculate where the cannonball lands on the
level plain below. (3.7 x 103 m)
14. A golfer hits a golf ball with a pitching wedge from a tee that is 15 m lower
than the green. If the ball leaves the tee at 35 m/s at an angle of 40 o to the
horizontal and it lands in the hole on the green, what is the horizontal
distance from the golfer to the hole? (101.3 m)

More Projectile Problems

1. A golf ball is dropped and requires a time of 1.32 s to hit the ground.
Ignoring air resistance, calculate the distance the golf ball fell. (8.55 m)
2. Acceleration due to gravity differs slightly depending where one is on the
Earth’s surface. A small rock is dropped from a distance of 9.054 m and
contacts the ground 1.36 s later. Determine the acceleration due to gravity
at this location. (9.79 m/s2)
3. A projectile is fired vertically upwards and reaches a maximum height of
78.4 m. Ignoring any effects due to air resistance, calculate the
a) initial velocity of the projectile. (39.2 m/s)
b) time it takes to reach its highest point. (4.00 s)
4. A projectile is fired vertically upwards from the ground with an initial speed
of 20.0 m/s. Ignoring any effects due to air resistance, calculate the
maximum height obtained. (20.4 m)
5. A rock is thrown up and over a cliff with an initial vertical velocity of 9.25 m/s
[upwards]. Calculate the rock’s displacement at 3.02 s. (16.8 m below
where it was released).
6. An object is thrown into the air with a velocity of 25.0 m/s at an angle of
32.0° to the horizontal. How far will this object travel horizontally? (57.3 m)
7. An object is thrown from the ground into the air with a velocity of 20.0 m/s at
an angle of 27.0° to the horizontal. What is the maximum height reached
by the object? (4.20 m)
8. An object is projected from the ground into the air at an angle of 35.0° to the
horizontal. If this object is in the air for 9.26 s, at what velocity was it
thrown? (79.2 m/s)
9. An object is thrown from the ground into the air at a velocity of 25.0 m/s at
an unknown angle to the horizontal. If this object travels 25.0 m horizontally
and was in the air for 2.15 s, at what angle was this object thrown? (62.3°)
10. An object is projected from the top of a building at an angle of 28° and a
velocity of 15 m/s. If the object hits the ground 32 m from the building, how
high is the building? (12 m)

16
Unit 1 Review
Kinematics

1. Emily takes a trip, driving with a constant velocity of 89.5 km/h to the north
except for a 22.0 min rest stop. If Emily's average velocity is 77.8 km/h to
the north, how long does the trip take? (2.81 h)
2. To qualify for the finals in a racing event, a race car must achieve an
average speed of 250 km/h on a track with a total length of 1600 m. If a
particular car covers the first half of the track at an average speed of 230
km/h, what minimum average speed must it have in the second half of the
event to qualify? (274 km/h)
3. A worker drops a wrench from the top of a tower 80.0 m tall. With what
velocity does the wrench strike the ground? (-39.6 m/s)
4. A physics student throws a softball straight up into the air. The ball was in
the air for a total of 3.56 s before it was caught at its original position. (a)
What was the initial velocity of the ball? (b) How high did it rise? (+17.5 m/s,
15.5 m)
5. A small sandbag is dropped from rest from a hovering hot-air balloon. After
2.0 s, what is the velocity of the sandbag and how far below the hot-air
balloon is the sand bag? (-2.0 x 101 m/s, -2.0 x 101 m)
6. A ball thrown vertically upward is caught by the thrower after 5.0 s. (a) Find
the initial velocity of the ball. (b) Find the maximum height it reaches. (+25
m/s, 31 m)
7. A peregrine falcon dives at a pigeon. The falcon starts downward from rest
with free-fall acceleration. If the pigeon is 76.0 m below the initial position of
the falcon, how long does it take the falcon to reach the pigeon? Assume
that the pigeon remains at rest. (3.94 s)
8. A rocket moves upward, starting from rest with an acceleration of +29.4
m/s2 for 4.00 s. It runs out of fuel at the end of the 4.00 s but does not stop.
How high does it rise above the ground? (940 m)
9. A ball is thrown vertically upward with a speed of 25.0 m/s from a height of
2.0 m.
a) How high does the ball rise? (31.9 m)
b) How long does it take to reach its highest point? (2.55 s)
c) How long does the ball take to hit the ground after it reaches its highest
point? (2.63 s)
d) What is the ball's velocity when it returns to the level from which it
started? (-25.0 m/s)
10. A mountain climber stands at the top of a 50.0 m cliff hanging over a calm
pool of water. The climber throws two stones vertically 1.0 s apart and

17
 observes that they cause a single splash when they hit the water. The first
stone has an initial velocity of +2.0 m/s.
a) How long after release of the first stone will the two stones hit the
water? (3.40 s)
b) What is the initial velocity of the second stone when it is thrown? (-9.2
m/s)
c) What will the velocity of each stone be at the instant both stones hit the
water? (-31.4 m/s, -33 m/s)
11. A model rocket is launched straight upward with an initial speed of 50.0 m/s.
It accelerates with a constant upward acceleration of 2.00 m/s2 until its
engines stop at an altitude of 150 m.
a) What is the maximum height reached by the rocket? (308 m)
b) When does the rocket reach maximum height? (8.51 s)
c) How long is the rocket in the air? (16.4 s)
12. Two cars are travelling along a straight line in the same direction, the lead
car at 25.0 m/s and the other car at 35.0 m/s. At the moment the cars are
45.0 m apart, the lead driver applies the brakes, causing the car to have an
acceleration of -2.00 m/s2.
a) How long does it take for the lead car to stop? (12.5 s)
b) Assume that the driver of the chasing car applies the brakes at the
same time as the driver of the lead car. What must the chasing car's
minimum negative acceleration be to avoid hitting the lead car? (-3.04
m/s2)
c) How long does it take the chasing car to stop? (11.5 s)

Vectors & Relative Motion

13. A girl delivering newspapers covers her route by travelling three blocks
west, four blocks north, then six blocks east. (a) What is her resultant
displacement? (b) What is the total distance she travels? (5 blocks @ 53o N
of E, 13 blocks)
14. A submarine dives 110.0 m at an angle of 10.00 below the horizontal. What
are the horizontal and vertical components of the submarine's
displacement? (108 m, -19 m)
15. A quarterback takes the ball from the line of scrimmage, runs backward for
10.0 yards, then runs sideways parallel to the line of scrimmage for 15.0
yards. At this point, he throws a 50.0-yard forward pass straight down the
field. What is the magnitude of the football's resultant displacement? (42.7
yards)
16. A golfer takes two putts to sink his ball in the hole once he is on the green.
The first putt displaces the ball 6.00 m east, and the second putt displaces it
5.40 m south. What displacement would put the ball in the hole in one putt?
(8.07 m @ 42.0o S of E)

18
17. A kayaker paddles upstream in a river at 3.5 m/s relative to the water.
Observers on shore note that he is moving at only 1.7 m/s upstream.
Determine the velocity of the current in the river. (-1.8 m/s)
18. A jet-ski speeds across a river at 11 m/s relative to the water. The Jet Ski’s
heading is due south. The river is flowing west at a rate of 5.0 m/s.
Determine the jet-ski's velocity relative to the shore. (12 m/s [24o W of S])

19. A bush pilot wants to fly her plane to a lake that is 250.0 km [30.0 o E of N]
from her starting point. The plane has an air speed of 210.0 km/h, and a
wind is blowing from the west at 40.0 km/h.
a) In what direction should she head the plane to fly directly to the lake?
(20.5o E of N)
b) If she uses the heading determined in (a), what will be her velocity
relative to the ground? (227 km/h [30.0o E of N])
c) How long will it take her to reach her destination? (1.10 h)

20. An airplane travels due north for 100 km, then due west for 150 km, and
then due south for 500 km.
a) Calculate the total displacement of the airplane. (427 km [69o N of W])
b) The time the airplane takes to fly the three different parts of the trip are
as follows: 20.0 minutes, 40.0 minutes, and 12.0 minutes. Calculate
the velocities for each of the three segments of the trip. (3.0 x 10 2 km/h
North, 2.2 x 102 km/h West, 2.5 x 102 km/h South)

More Vectors & Relative Motion

21. A man walks 400 m NORTH, 275 m WEST, 150 m SOUTH and then 650 m
EAST. The trip required 15 minutes.
a) What was the total distance travelled by the man? (1475 m)
b) What was the displacement of the man? ( 451 m at 56.3o E of N )
c) What was the average speed of the man? ( 98.33 m/min )
22. A motorcyclist travels SOUTH at 35 m/s for 2 minutes and then he travels
WEST at 27 m/s for 5 minutes.
a) What was the average speed of the motorcyclist? ( 1757 m/min )
b) What was the displacement of the motorcyclist? (9.1 km at 62.6o W of
S)
23. A soccer player runs 75 m at 30o North of East. Then she runs 75 m
straight West. Finally she ran 65 m at 60o South of East. The whole activity
required 3.0 minutes.
a) What was the final displacement of the girl? ( 29.6 m at 40.7o S of E )
b) What was the average speed of the girl? ( 71.7 m/min )

19
24. A young woman swims at 2 m/s at 45o SOUTH of WEST for 5 minutes.
Then she swims at 1.5 m/s at 80o EAST of NORTH for 4 minutes.
a) What is the total distance travelled by the young woman? ( 960 m )
b) What is the displacement of the young woman? ( 368 m at 79° S of W )
25. A pilot heads her plane with a velocity of 255 km/h North. If there is a
strong wind of 112 km/h blowing East, what is the actual velocity of the
plane? ( 279 km/h at 23.7o E of N )
26. A boat travels directly NORTH across a river at a velocity of 1.0 m/s if the
river flows at a velocity of 0.50 m/s EAST, in what direction is boat actually
headed? (27o W of N)
27. A boat that can travel on still water at a speed of 3.0 m/s WANTS to travel
NORTH perpendicular to the river current. If the river current is 1.2 m/s
EAST, in what direction must the boat head? (24° W of N )
28. A pilot WANTS to fly WEST. If the plane has an airspeed of 95 m/s and
there is a 25 m/s wind blowing NORTH, in what direction must she head the
plane? ( 15o S of W )
29. A boat that can travel 4.0 m/s on still water heads directly NORTH across a
river that is 125 m wide. The river current is 2.1 m/s EAST.
a) What is the velocity of the boat with respect to the shore? ( 4.5 m/s at
28° E of N )
b) How long does it take the boat to reach the opposite shore? ( 31 s )
c) How far downstream is the boat when it reaches the opposite shore?
( 66 m )

Projectiles

30. An object is thrown horizontally at a velocity of 18 m/s from the top of a cliff.
If the object hits the ground 100 m from the base of the cliff, how high is the
cliff ? ( 151 m )
31. An object is thrown from the ground into the air at an angle of 40o from the
horizontal at a speed of 18 m/s.
a) What is the maximum height achieved? ( 6.82 m )
b) What is the maximum range achieved? ( 32.5 m )
32. A student standing 10.0 m from a tall building. If the student throws a ball at
a velocity of 12 m/s at an angle of 35° to the horizontal, at what height will
the ball hit the building? ( assume the ball was thrown from ground level )
( 1.92 m )
33. A student is standing on the top of a building and he throws an object into
the air at a speed of 16 m/s at an angle of 25o above the horizontal. If the
building is 75 m tall, how far from the base of the building will the object hit
the ground? (67. 6 m )

20
34. The fastest recorded pitch in Major League Baseball, thrown by Nolan Ryan
in 1974, was clocked at 162.3 km/h (100.8 mi/h). If a pitch were thrown
horizontally with this velocity, how far would the ball fall vertically by the time
it reached home plate, 18.3 m (60.0 ft) away? (0.809 m)
35. A ball is fired from the ground with an initial speed of 1.70 x 103 m/s
(approximately five times the speed of sound) at an initial angle of 55.0° to
the horizontal. Neglecting air resistance, find (a) the ball's horizontal range
and (b) the amount of time the ball is in motion. (2.77 x 105 m, 284 s)
36. A person standing at the edge of a seaside cliff kicks a stone over the edge
with a horizontal speed of 18 m/s. The cliff edge is 52 m above the water.
How long does it take for the stone to fall to the water? With what speed
does it strike the water? (3.3 s, 36 m/s)
37. A daredevil is shot out of a cannon at 45.0° to the horizontal with an initial
speed of 25.0 m/s. A net is positioned a horizontal distance of 50.0 m from
the cannon. At what height above the cannon should the net be placed in
order to catch the daredevil? (10.7 m)
38. A place kicker must kick a football from a point 36.0 m (about 40.0 yd) from
the goal, and the ball must clear the crossbar, which is 3.05 m high. When
kicked, the ball leaves the ground with a speed of 20.0 m/s at an angle of
53° to the horizontal.
a) By how much does the ball clear or fall short of clearing the crossbar?
(0.85 m)
b) Does the ball approach the crossbar while still rising or while falling?
(falling)

Forces & Dynamics – Conceptual:

1. Why does a child in a wagon fall backward when another child suddenly
pulls the wagon forward?
2. Explain what the term inertia means.
3. A rear-end collision between a soft-drink truck and a car occurs. A lawsuit
develops over who is at fault. The truck driver claims the car backed into
him, while the auto driver claims that the truck hit him from behind. The only
evidence is that quite a number of soft-drink bottles fell forward in the truck.
From the evidence, can you tell who was at fault? Explain.
4. What is the principle behind a magician’s ability to pull a tablecloth from
beneath china and glassware without breaking them? Explain.
5. Whiplash is a common result of an auto accident when the victim’s car is
struck from the rear. Why does the victim’s head get thrown backward in
this kind of an accident?
6. Explain why automobiles use more gasoline for city driving than for highway
driving.

21
7. Why do you exert more force on the pedals of a bicycle when you first start
out than when you reach constant speed?
8. When you lift a bag of groceries, you exert an upward force on the bag.
Newton’s third law says that there is a “reaction” force to your upward force
on the bag. What object exerts this reaction force and in what direction
does this force act?
9. Explain why when you walk on a log floating in water, the log moves
backward as you move forward.
10. Why does it hurt your toe when you kick a rock?
11. State the reaction force for each of the following forces.
a) the southward force of a field goal kicker's toe on a football
b) the backward force of a jogger's shoe on the ground
c) the downward force of a book on a desk
d) the backward force of a jet's engines on its exhaust gases
e) the backward pull of a swimmer's hands on the water in the butterfly
stroke.
12. A beginning physics student, confused by a seeming contradiction in
Newton's laws, asks her teacher the following question: "If, for every force
there is an equal and opposite reaction force, then all forces in nature come
in equal and opposite pairs, and are therefore balanced. Thus, since there
can never be such a thing as an unbalanced force, how can any object ever
accelerate?" Explain the fault in this common misconception.
13. A fireman at the scene of a fire is holding a heavy hose out of which water is
gushing. To keep his balance, he often has to lean. Which way does he
lean, forward toward the water or backward away from the water, and why?
14. A squirrel with an armful of nuts is sliding helplessly across a flat, icy roof,
getting dangerously close to the edge. He understands Newton's Third Law,
and is able to save himself. Explain how he does it.

Forces & Dynamics – Problems:

1. A 6.0 kg cart is being pulled with a horizontal force of 25 N. If the frictional
force is 15 N, what is the acceleration of the cart? (1.7 m/s2)
2. A 5.0 kg object experiences a 15 N force pulling north, a 25 N force pulling
east and a 20 N force pulling at 30o E of S. What is the acceleration
experienced by the object? (7.02 m/s2 @ 3.8o S of E)
3. A 130 N eastward force is applied for 2.0 s to a 50 kg object starting from
rest on a level surface. If there is a frictional force of 50 N, what is the
resulting displacement of the object? (3.2 m)

22
4. A 1200 kg car comes to a stop from a speed of 25 m/s in 6.5 s. What
braking force was required? (4.6 x 103 N)
5. A 300 kg object is accelerated at 0.25 m/s2 by what unknown force? (75 N)
6. A 400 g mass at rest is acted on by a 200 N net force for 12.0 s. What is its
final velocity? (6.00 x 103 m/s)
7. What is the mass of an object that is acted on by a 500 N horizontal force
and a 150 N frictional force if it changes velocity from 20 m/s to 40 m/s in
2.5 s? (44 kg)
8. What is the initial velocity of a 2.2 kg object that experiences a net force of
2.50 N for 8.0 s giving it a final velocity of 70 m/s? (+61 m/s)
9. A 4000 kg vehicle travelling at 26 m/s west is slowed to 2.0 m/s west in 20 s
by what braking force? (4800 N east)
10. A car of mass 1.5 x 103 kg is being driven at 20 m/s. The driver sees a
massive hole 100 m ahead. What is the minimum frictional force required
to stop the car in time? (3000 N)
11. A bullet of mass 20 g strikes a fixed block of wood at a speed of 320 m/s.
The bullet embeds itself in the block of wood, penetrating to a depth of 6.0
cm. Calculate the average force acting on the bullet to bring it to rest? (1.7
x 104 N)
12. A 40 N push north combines with a 30 N pull east. What is the net force?
(50 N @36.9o E of N)
13. Three strings are attached to an object. If one of the strings is pulled north
with a force of 10 N and one of the other strings is pulled west with 15 N,
what force must be applied to the third string so that the object does not
move? (18.0 N @33.7o S of E)
14. A 20 kg mass, initially at rest, is subjected to the following forces: 30 N at
30o north of east, 40 N south, and 50 N at 45o south of west. What is the
net force? (61.1 N @8.8o W of S)
15. An 8.0 g bullet travelling at 400 m/s passes through a heavy block of wood
in 4.0 x 10-4 s and emerges with a speed of 100 m/s. (a) With what average
force did the wood oppose the motion of the bullet? (b) How thick is the
block of wood? (-6.0 x 103 N, 1.0 x 10-1 m)
16. A child's wagon experiences a frictional force of 73 N whenever it is in
motion, regardless of the load it is carrying. An applied horizontal force of
128 N causes the wagon to accelerate at 5.0 m/s2. The same applied force,
with a child on the wagon, causes it to accelerate at 1.0 m/s2. What is the
mass of the child? (44 kg)

17. A man drags a package across the floor with a force of a 40 N, as shown.
The mass of the package is 10 kg. If the acceleration of the package is 3.5

23
 m/s2 and friction can be neglected, at what angle to the horizontal does the
man pull? (29o)

18. A spring is compressed between two marbles.

A B

When the spring is released,

A B

marble A (mass = 20.0 g) is projected from rest to –15.0 m/s in 0.0350 s.

What is the mass of marble B if it experiences a velocity change from rest
to +22.0 m/s in 0.0350 s? (13.6 g)

Friction
1. A 15 kg box is being dragged over a concrete floor with an applied
horizontal force of 40 N. If the coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.25, what is
the acceleration of the box? (0.21 m/s2)

2. A 20 kg apple crate is being dragged across a floor at constant velocity with

a horizontal force of 25 N. What is the coefficient of friction? (0.13)

3. A rope attached to a 50 kg cart is being pulled at an angle of 25o across a

horizontal floor where the coefficient of static friction is 0.20. What is the
acceleration of the cart if a 200 N force is applied? (2.0 m/s2)

4. For each situation below, draw accurate free-body diagrams showing all
forces acting on the rock.

24
 A. Sliding at constant speed without B. Decelerating because of kinetic
friction. friction.

5. It takes a 50 N horizontal force to pull a 20 kg object along the ground at

constant velocity. What is the coefficient of friction? (0.25)
6. If the coefficient of friction is 0.30, how much horizontal force is needed to
pull a mass of 15 kg across a level board with constant velocity? (44 N)
7. A box, mass = 2.0 kg, is pulled across a level desk by a horizontal force of
4.0 N. If the coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.12, what is the acceleration of
the box? (0.83 m/s2)
8. A girl pushes a light (i.e. weight is negligible) snow shovel at a uniform
velocity across a sidewalk. If the handle of the shovel is inclined at 55o to
the horizontal and she pushes along the handle with a force of 100 N, what
is the force of friction? What is the coefficient of kinetic friction? (57 N, 0.70)
9. A 70 kg hockey player coasts along the ice on steel skates. If the coefficient
of kinetic friction is 0.010, (a) what is the force of friction? (b) How long will it
take him to coast to a stop, if he is initially travelling at 1.0 m/s? (6.9 N, 10
s)
10. A 10 kg box is pulled across a level floor, where the coefficient of kinetic
friction is 0.35. What horizontal force is required for an acceleration of 2.0
m/s2? (54 N)
11. A boy pulls a 50 kg crate across a level floor with a force of 200 N. If the
force acts at an angle of 30o up from the horizontal, and the coefficient of
kinetic friction is 0.30, determine
(a) the normal force exerted on the crate by the floor, (3.9 x 102 N)
(b) the frictional force exerted on the crate by the floor, (1.2 x 102 N)
(c) the acceleration of the crate. (1.1 m/s2)
12. A can of pop (mass = 500 g) is given a shove. It slides across a table,
eventually coming to a stop. If its initial velocity is 2.0 m/s, and the
coefficient of kinetic friction between the two surfaces is 0.20, how far will it
travel across the table? (1.0 m)

25
More Friction Practice Questions
1. A girl exerts a 36 N horizontal force as she pulls a 52 N sled across a cement
sidewalk at constant speed. What is the coefficient of kinetic friction between
the sidewalk and the metal sled runners? Ignore air resistance. (0.69)
2. You need to move a 105 kg sofa to a different location in the room. It takes
a force of 102 N to start it moving. What is the coefficient of static friction
between the sofa and the carpet? (0.0990)
3. Ms. Q is dragging a box full of books from her office to her car. The box and
the books together have a combined weight of 134 N. If the coefficient of
static friction between the pavement and the box is 0.55, how hard must Ms.
Q push the box in order to start it moving? (74 N)
4. Suppose that the sled in question 1 is resting on packed snow. The
coefficient of kinetic friction is now only 0.12. If a person weighing 650 N sits
on the sled, what force is needed to pull the sled across the snow at constant
speed? (84 N)
5. A 1.4 kg block slides across a rough surface such that it slows down with an
acceleration of 1.25 m/s2. What is the coefficient of kinetic friction between
the block and the surface? (0.13)
6. You help your mom move a 41 kg bookcase to a different place in the living
room. If you push with a force of 65 N and the bookcase accelerates at 0.12
m/s2, what is the coefficient of kinetic friction between the bookcase and the
carpet? (0.15)
7. A shuffleboard disk is accelerated to a speed of 5.8 m/s and released. If the
coefficient of kinetic friction between the disk and the concrete court is 0.31,
how far does the disk go before it comes to a stop? The courts are 15.8 m
long. (5.5 m)
8. Ms. Hepner is driving along on a rainy night at 23 m/s when she sees a tree
branch lying across the road. She slams on the brakes when the tree branch
is 70.0 m in front of her. If the coefficient of kinetic friction between the car’s
locked tires and the road is 0.41, will the car stop before hitting the branch?
Ms. Hepner and the car have a combined mass of 2400 kg. (yes, she will
miss the branch by 4 m)

Elevators & Inclined Planes

1. A 490 N object is suspended from a rope.
a. What is the force required to raise it vertically at 5.00 m/s? (490 N)
b. What is the force required to accelerate it down at 3.00 m/s2? (340 N)

26
2. A 20.0 kg mass is placed on a 50o incline. If the coefficient of friction is
0.35, what is the acceleration of the mass? (5.31 m/s2)

50o

3. For each situation below, draw accurate free-body diagrams showing all
forces acting on the rock.

A. Static B. Static

C. Sliding without friction. D. Static friction prevents sliding.

E. Static F. Tied to a rope and pulled straight

upward. Accelerating upward at
9.81 m/s2 . No friction.

27
G. Tied to a rope and pulled straight
downward. Accelerating downward at
19.62 m/s2. No friction.

4. A rope is used to lift a 4.0 kg rock vertically up at 0.5 m/s. What is the
tension in the rope? (39 N)
5. A jet accelerates vertically up at 8.5 m/s2. What force does the exhaust gas
exert on the 4400 kg jet? (8.1 x 104 N)
6. A 360 N force is applied horizontally to a 150 N box which experiences a
force of friction of 75.0 N. What is the net acceleration of the box? (18.6
m/s2)
7. A 2.0 kg pendulum hangs in an elevator. Calculate the tension in the string
supporting the pendulum if the elevator moves:
a) with zero velocity (19.62 N)
b) downward at a constant velocity of 2.5 m/s (19.62 N)
c) upward at a constant velocity of 2.5 m/s (19.62 N)
d) downward at a constant acceleration of 2.0 m/s2 (15.62 N)
e) upward at a constant acceleration of 2.0 m/s2 (23.62 N)

8. A man measures the acceleration of an elevator by using a spring balance.

He fastens the scale to the roof, and suspends a mass from it. The scale
reads 98 N when the elevator is at rest, and 93 N when the elevator is
moving.
a) What is the acceleration of the elevator? (0.50 m/s2)
b) In which direction is the elevator accelerating? (down)

9. A fish hangs from a spring scale supported from the roof of an elevator. If
the elevator has an upward acceleration of 1.2 m/s2 and the scale reads
200 N, what is the true force of gravity on the fish? (b) Under what
circumstances will the scale read 150 N? (c) What will the scale read if the
elevator cable breaks? (1.8 x 102 N, 1.6 m/s2 down, 0)

28
10. A 2.5 kg object is allowed to fall down a 60o incline which has a coefficient
of friction of 0.12. What is the object's acceleration? (7.91 m/s2)
11. A 10.0 kg mass is allowed to accelerate down a 20 m frictionless inclined
plane. What is the block's final velocity if the incline is at an angle of 45 o?
(16.7 m/s)
12. A 5.0 kg mass is on an incline which makes an angle of 50o with the
horizontal. The incline has a coefficient of friction of 0.10.
a) If the mass is released from rest, at what rate does it accelerate down the
incline? (–6.9 m/s2)
b) What force must be applied to cause the mass to accelerate at 2.0 m/s2 up
the incline? (51 N)

Vertical Forces & Inclined Planes Practice

1. A 7.6 kg object is pulled along a horizontal surface. If the coefficient of

friction between the surface is 0.20.
a) What is the force of friction? (15 N)
b) If the object is moving at a constant speed, what is the horizontal force
applied to pull the object? (15 N)
c) If the object is accelerating at 0.25 m/s2, what is the horizontal force
applied to pull the object? (17 N)
2. A 7.6 kg object is pulled up an inclined plane set at an angle of 33° to the
horizontal. If the coefficient of friction for the surface is 0.20:
a) What is the force of friction? (13 N)
b) If the object is moving up the plane at a constant speed, what is the
force applied to pull the object up the plane? (53 N)
c) If the object is accelerating up the plane at 0.25 m/s2 what is the force
applied to pull the object up the plane? (55 N)
3. An object that has a mass of 25 kg is pushed along a horizontal surface
with a force of 95 N. If the force of friction is 50 N, what is the acceleration
of the object? (1.8 m/s2)
4. An object that has a mass of 45 kg is pulled along a horizontal surface by a
rope that makes an angle of 32o above the horizontal. If the coefficient of
friction for the surface is 0.13 and the tension in the rope is 95 N, what is
the acceleration of the object along the horizontal? (0.66 m/s2)
5. An elevator with a mass of 900 kg is moving upward at a constant speed of
2.0 m/s. What is the tension in the cable? (8.8 x 103 N)

29
6. A 62-kg person on skis is going down a hill sloped at 37°. The coefficient of
kinetic friction between the skis and the snow is 0.15. How fast is the skier
going 5.0 s after starting from rest? (24 m/s)
7. A 15.0 N force is applied to the handle of a lawnmower which is angled at
40.0° to the horizontal. The grass supplies a resistive force of 5.00 N along
the horizontal. What is the net force acting on the lawnmower? (6.49 N)
8. A box slides down a 30.0° ramp with an acceleration of 1.20 m/s2.
Determine the coefficient of kinetic friction between the box and the ramp.
(0.436)
9. A frictionless roller coaster reaches the top of the steepest hill with a speed
of 1.4 m/s. It then descends the hill which is at an average angle of 45° and
is 50 m long. What will its speed be when it reaches the bottom? (26 m/s)
10. A suitcase is on an inclined plane. At what angle, relative to the horizontal,
will the component of the suitcase’s weight parallel to the plane be equal to
half the perpendicular component of its weight? (26.6°)

Pulleys & Systems Problems

1. A 600 kg mass is connected over a pulley to a 400 kg mass. What is the
resulting acceleration when the masses are released? What is the tension in
the rope? (1.96 m/s2, 4709 N)

400 kg

600 kg

2. A 150 N force is applied to a system of masses. If mass A has a 50 N

frictional force and mass B has a 70 N frictional force, find the acceleration
of the system. (0.60 m/s2)

A (20 kg) B (30 kg)

3. What is the acceleration and tension in the rope for the pulley system
shown if the coefficient of friction is 0.23? (0.76 m/s2, 9.05 N)

3.0 kg

1.0 kg

30
4. A 40 kg block on a level, frictionless table is
40 kg
connected to a 15 kg mass by a rope
passing over a frictionless pulley. What
15 kg
will be the acceleration of the 15 kg mass
when it is released? (2.7 m/s2)

5. A 5.0 kg mass rests on a level frictionless

table and is attached to a 3.0 kg mass by 5.0 kg
a light string that passes over a frictionless
pulley. Calculate the tension in the string 3.0 kg
when the masses are released. (18 N)

6. A 3.0 kg mass is attached to a 5.0 kg mass by a strong

string that passes over a frictionless pulley. When the
masses are released what will be (a) the acceleration 3.0 kg
of the masses, and (b) the magnitude of the tension in
the string? (2.5 m/s2, 37 N)
5.0 kg

7. In the diagram, mass A is 100 kg and mass

B is 25 kg and  = 0.20. What is the A
acceleration of mass A and what is the
tension in the rope? (0.392 m/s2, 235.4 N) B

8. In the diagram, mass A is 5.0 kg and mass B is 7.0 kg. What is

the acceleration of the 5.0 kg mass and what is the tension in A
the rope? (1.64 m/s2, 57.2 N)
B

9. Two girls, one of mass 40 kg and the other of mass 60 kg, are standing side
by side in the middle of a frozen pond. One pushes the other with a force of
360 N for 0.10 s. The ice is essentially frictionless.

a) What is each girl's acceleration? (9.0 m/s2, -6.0 m/s2)

b) What velocity will each girl acquire in the 0.10 s that the force is
acting? (0.90 m/s, -0.60 m/s)

31
 c) How far will each girl move during the same time period? (4.5 cm, -3.0
cm)
10. Find the acceleration of masses A and B if the coefficient of friction is 0.15.
(0.53 m/s2)

A (10 kg) B (20 kg) 60 N

11. Ms. “Iron woman” Hepner, weight = 883 N, and Ms. “The pipes” Quinlan,
weight = 932 N, enjoy doing physics experiments and often find themselves
in odd situations. What is the resulting acceleration in each of the following
situations?
a. The first situation is where both Ms. H and Ms. Q find themselves
dangling over a frictionless and weightless pulley system.

Ms. H Ms. Q

b. The second situation is where Ms. H is on the ground ( = .90) at the

top of a cliff and Ms. Q is dangling over a frictionless and massless
pulley system over the cliff. (What should Ms. H do?)

Ms. H

Ms. Q

32
 c. The final situation is where Ms. H is on a 60o incline ( = .40) and Ms.
Q is dangling over a frictionless and massless pulley.

Ms. H

Ms. Q
60o

Pulleys & Systems – More Problems

1. Three small children of mass
20.0 kg, 24.0 kg, and 16.0 kg,
respectively, hold hands, as
shown, and are pulled across
a smooth frozen pond by a
larger boy on skates, who
pulls a horizontal rope being
held by the first child. The
skater pulls on the rope with a
force of 135 N. Calculate
each of the following.
(a) the acceleration of the skater (2.25 m/s2)
(b) the force with which each pair of children must hold hands, to ensure
that the chain is not broken (90.0 N, 36.0 N)

2. In the diagram, mass A is 170 kg. If the A

acceleration of the system is 2.5 m/s2
towards B, what is the mass of B? (58.1 kg) B

3. In the diagram, mass A is 5.0 kg. If the system accelerates

toward B at 4.0 m/s2, what is mass B? In addition, what is the A
tension in the rope? (11.9 kg, 69 N)
B

33
4. If the coefficient of friction is 0.20, what is the
acceleration of the system? (1.6 m/s2)

5. A 0.5 kg wooden block is placed on top of a 1.0 kg

wooden block. The coefficient of static friction
between the two blocks is 0.35. The coefficient of
kinetic friction between the lower block and the
level table is 0.20. What is the maximum
horizontal force that can be applied to the lower
block without the upper block slipping? (8.1 N)

6. A skier skiing downhill reaches the bottom of a hollow with a velocity of 20

m/s, and then coasts up a hill with a 10o slope. If the coefficient of kinetic
friction is 0.10, how far up the slope will she travel before she stops? (75 m)
7. An applied force acting on Box 1 causes both boxes to accelerate 1.90 m/s2
[right]. If the force of friction on Box 2 is 18.7 N, calculate the force exerted
on Box 1 by Box 2. (33.9 N left)
2

1
8.0 kg
6.0 kg

Universal Gravitation Problems

1. Bob (mass = 85.0 kg) and Jane (mass = 60.0 kg) are sitting 1.85 m apart.
What is the gravitational force of attraction between them? (9.94 x 10-8 N)

2. What is the force of attraction between Mercury and the Sun. (See the data
table below for the necessary information.) (1.26 x 1022 N)

3. The force between two objects is measured to be 45.0 N. What is the force
if one of the masses is tripled, the other doubled and the distance between
them is halved? (1080 N)

34
 Use the data table below to help you do the following problems.

The Solar System

Period of Period of
Mass Radius of rotation Mean radius revolution of
Object (kg) object (m) on axis (s) of orbit (m) orbit (s)

Sun 1.98 x 1030 6.95 x 108 2.14 x 106  

Mercury 3.28 x 1023 2.57 x 106 5.05 x 106 5.79 x 1010 7.60 x 106
Venus 4.83 x 1024 6.31 x 106 2.1 x 107 1.08 x 1011 1.94 x 107
Earth 5.98 x 1024 6.37 x 106 8.61 x 104 1.49 x 1011 3.16 x 107
Mars 6.37 x 1023 3.43 x 106 8.85 x 104 2.28 x 1011 5.91 x 107
Jupiter 1.90 x 1027 7.18 x 107 3.54 x 104 7.78 x 1011 1.74 x 108
Saturn 5.67 x 1026 6.03 x 107 3.60 x 104 1.43 x 1012 9.30 x 108
Uranus 8.80 x 1025 2.67 x 107 3.88 x 104 2.87 x 1012 2.66 x 109
Neptune 1.03 x 1026 2.48 x 107 5.69 x 106 4.50 x 1012 5.20 x 109
Pluto 6 x 1023 3 x 106 5.51 x 105 5.9 x 1012 7.82 x 109
Moon 7.34 x 1022 1.74 x 106 2.36 x 106 3.8 x 108 2.36 x 106

4. What is the force of gravitational attraction between two 1.8 x 108 kg super-
tankers moored so that their centres are located 94 m apart? (2.4 x 102 N)

5. A woman standing on the surface of the Earth, 6.38 x 106 m from its centre,
has a mass of 50.0 kg. If the mass of the Earth is 5.98 x 1024 kg, what is the
force of gravity on the woman? (4.9 x 102 N)

6. The force of gravitational attraction between two masses is 36 N. What will

be the force if one mass is doubled and the distance between them is
tripled? (8.0 N)

7. If the force of gravity on a mass is 600 N on Earth, what will it be on Mars?

(2.2 x 102 N)

8. A 70 kg boy stands 0.10 m from a 60 kg girl. Calculate the gravitational

force between them. (2.8 x 10-5 N)

9. Two metal spheres each have mass of 3.0 x 108 kg. If the gravitational
force of attraction between them is 37.5 N, what is the distance between
their centers of mass? (400 m)

10. Two masses are set 500 m apart. One mass has 5 times the mass of the
other. If the gravitational force of attraction between them is 333.5 N, what
is the magnitude of each mass? (5.0 x 108 kg, 2.5 x 109 kg)

35
11. If you were to place yourself between the moon and the Earth, how far
away from the Earth would you have to be in order that the net force on you
is zero? (3.51 x 108 m)

Gravitational Field Strength Problems

1. What is the gravitational field strength on the surface of Earth? What is the
gravitational field strength 100 km above the surface of Earth? (9.81 m/s2,
9.53 m/s2)

2. You are on a planet whose radius is known to be about 4500 km. You then
perform the following experiment: You drop a rock from a height of 10.0 m
and measure the time of its fall to be 2.65 s. What is the mass of the
planet? (8.65 x 1023 kg)

3. Calculate the acceleration due to gravity on Jupiter. (25 m/s2)

4. If a man weighs 780 N on Earth, what would he weigh on the moon? (129
N)

5. The instrument payload of a rocket weighs 890 N on Earth. What does it

weigh at an altitude of 25520 km above the surface of the Earth? (35.3 N)

6. Calculate the acceleration due to gravity on Saturn. How much will a 60 kg

man weigh on the surface of Saturn? (10.4 m/s2, 624 N)

7. At the top of Mt. Robson in British Columbia, a 7.50 kg turkey weighs 71.6 N.
Calculate the magnitude of the gravitational field strength at this location. (9.68
N/kg)

Unit 2 - Dynamics Review

1. A 30 N force acts north and a 50 N force acts at 80o east of south on the
same object. What is the net force on the object? 53.7 N at 23.4o N of E)

2. A northward force of 50 N acts on a 5.0 kg mass for 3.0 s. If the mass

started at rest, what is the resulting displacement? (45 N north)

3. A westward force of 20 N acts on a 2.0 kg object moving eastward at 60

m/s for 2.0 s. What is the resulting velocity? (40 m/s west)

4. A 50 N horizontal force pulls on a 12 kg object at rest on a surface with a

frictional force of 14 N. What is the resulting acceleration? (3.0 m/s2 south)

36
5. An object has a mass of 30 kg. What is the weight of the object on Jupiter
where the acceleration due to gravity is 26.1 m/s2? (783 N)

6. What is the mass of an object that weighs 490 N? (50 kg)

7. An object has a weight of 210 N on the surface of planet X. If the mass of

the object is 20 kg, what is the acceleration due to gravity for planet X?
(10.5 m/s2)

8. A 7.6 kg object is pulled along a horizontal surface. If the coefficient of

friction between the surface is 0.20
a. What is the force of friction? (15 N)
b. If the object is moving at a constant speed, what is the horizontal force
applied to pull the object? (15 N)
c. If the object is accelerating at 0.25 m/s2, what is the horizontal force
applied to pull the object? (17 N)

9. A 7.6 kg object is pulled up an inclined plane set at an angle of 33° to the

horizontal. If the coefficient of friction for the surface is 0.20:
a. What is the force of friction? (13 N)
b. If the object is moving up the plane at a constant speed, what is the
force applied to pull the object up the plane? (53. 1 N)
c. If the object is accelerating up the plane at 0.25 m/s2 what is the force
applied to pull the object up the plane? (55.0 N)

10. An object that has a mass of 25 kg is pushed along a horizontal surface

with a force of 95 N. If the force of friction is 50 N, what is the acceleration
of the object? (1.8 m/s2)

11. An object that has a mass of 45 kg is pulled along a horizontal surface by a

rope that makes an angle of 32o above the horizontal. If the coefficient of
friction for the surface is 0.13 and the tension in the rope is 95 N, what is
the acceleration of the object along the horizontal? (0.66 m/s2)

12. An object is pulled west along a horizontal frictionless surface with a steady
horizontal force of 12.0 N. If the object accelerates from rest to a speed of
4.0 m/s while moving 5.0 m west, what is the mass of the object? (7.5 kg)

13. An elevator with a mass of 900 kg is moving upward at a constant speed of

2.0 m/s. What is the tension in the cable? (8.8 × 103 N)

14. An elevator with a mass of 900 kg is accelerating downward at 1.30 m/s2.

What is the tension in the cable? (7.66 × 103 N)

15. A 6.3 kg object is thrown upward with an acceleration of 0.45 m/s2. What is
the force required to accelerate the object? (65 N upward)

37
16. Two masses (6.0 kg and 4.0 kg) are hung over a frictionless pulley.
a. What is the acceleration of the system? (1.96 m/s2 toward the 6.0 kg
mass)
b. What is the tension in the rope when the masses are released? (47 N)

17. A 1.0 kg box is on a horizontal surface is accelerated by attaching a 1.5 kg

mass as shown below.
1.0 kg

1.5 kg

a. i. What is the acceleration of the box if the surface is frictionless?

(5.9 m/s2 towards the pulley)
ii. What is the tension in the rope? (5.9 N)
b. i. What is the acceleration of the box if the surface has a coefficient
of friction equal to 0.50? (3.9 m/s2 toward the pulley)
ii. What is the tension in the rope? (8.8 N)

18. Given the diagram below where the surface has a coefficient of friction of
0.30

100 N
10 kg 20 kg

a. Find the acceleration of the system. (0.39 m/s2)

b. Find the tension in the rope connecting the 10 kg block to the 20 kg
block. (33 N)

19. Given the mass of Venus (4.83 x 1024 kg), the mass of the Earth (5.98 x
1024 kg), the distance from the Sun to Venus (1.08 x 1011 m), and the
distance from the Sun to Earth (1.49 x 1011 m), determine the maximum
force of gravitational attraction between Venus and Earth. (1.15 x 1018 N)

20. If you weigh 445 N on Earth, what will you weigh on Venus? The radius of
Venus is 6.31 x 106 m. (367 N)

21. If you were placed on a line between Earth and Venus. At what point
measured from Earth would you experience equal gravitational pull from
each planet? (2.16 x 1010 m )

22. If you weigh 890 N on Earth, what is the gravitational pull at a distance of
19320 km above the surface of the Earth? (54.7 N)

38
23. If you weigh 667.5 N on Earth, what will you weigh on a planet that has 5
times the mass of Earth but only twice the radius of Earth? (834 N)

24. What is the gravitational field strength on the surface of the moon if the
radius of the moon is 1.764 x 106 m and the mass of the moon is 7.24 x 1022
kg. (1.62 N/kg or 1.62 m/s2)

25. What is the gravitational field strength 1.27 x 107 m above the surface of the
Earth? (1.09 N/kg)

26. On the surface of Planet X an object has a weight of 63.5 N and a mass of
22.5 kg. What is the gravitational field strength on the surface of Planet X?
(2.82 N/kg)

27. At what distance from the Earth's surface is the gravitational field strength
equal to 7.33 N/kg? (1.01 x 106 m)

Uniform Circular Motion Problems

1. A 5.00 kg object is attached to a rope. What is the tension in the rope if the
object is travelling at 6.0 m/s in a circle with a radius of 4.50 m? (40 N)
2. If a centripetal force of 80.0 N causes a 6.00 kg object to travel in a circle
once every 0.75 s, what is the radius of the circle? What is the speed of the
object? (0.19 m, 1.6 m/s)
3. A force of 45.0 N causes an object to travel in a circle with a diameter of
7.50 m with a frequency of 0.60 Hz. What is the mass of the object? (0.84
kg)
4. An object rotates around a circle of radius 4.75 m. If the object completes
15 cycles in 35 s, what is the centripetal acceleration? (34.4 m/s2)
5. What is the centripetal acceleration of a small girl sitting on the outer edge
of a merry-go-round which has a radius of 5.0 m an completes one
revolution every 5.0 seconds? (7.9 m/s2)
6. An airplane flies in a horizontal circle of radius 1000 m. If its centripetal
acceleration is 25 m/s2, how long does it take to complete one circuit? (40
s)
7. If a 7.95 kg object requires 5.00 minutes to complete 25 revolutions around
a circle with radius 19.5 m, what is the centripetal force required? (42.5 N)

39
8. A string can exert a 4.0 N force without breaking. The string is used to whirl
a 0.75 kg mass in a horizontal circle with a radius of 0.85 m. What is the
minimum time to complete one revolution without breaking the string? (2.5
s)
9. The moon orbits the earth at a distance of 3.9 x 108 m. The moon requires
27.3 days to complete its orbit. What is the centripetal acceleration
experienced by the moon? (2.77 x 10-3 m/s2)
10. Europa is a moon of the planet Jupiter. Europa requires 3.551 days to orbit
Jupiter at a distance of 6.71 x 108 m. If the mass of Europa is 4.88 x 1022
kg, what is the centripetal force exerted on Europa by Jupiter? What kind of
force is supplying the centripetal force? (1.37 x 1022 N)
11. A 1500 kg car enters a curve with a radius of 120 m. If the frictional force
between the tires and the road is 4500 N, with what maximum speed could
the car enter the curve without slipping off the road? (19.0 m/s)
12. An electron (m = 9.11 x 10-31 kg) moves in a circle whose radius is 2.00 x
10-2 m. If the force acting on the electron is 4.60 x 10-14 N, what is the
speed of the electron? (3.18 x 107 m/s)
13. An athlete whirls a 3.7 kg shot-put in a horizontal circle with a radius of 0.90
m. If the period of rotation is 0.30 s,
A. What is the speed of the shot-put when released? (18.85 m/s)
B. What is the centripetal force acting on the shot-put? (1461 N)
C. How far would the shot-put travel horizontally if it is released 1.2 m
above the level ground? (9.3 m)

14. A 932 kg car is travelling around an unbanked curve that has a radius of 82
m. What is the maximum speed that this car can round this curve if:
A. the coefficient of friction is 0.95? (27.6 m/s)
B. the coefficient of friction is 0.40? (17.9 m/s)

15. A boy is riding a merry-go-round at a distance of 7.00 m from its center.

The boy experiences a centripetal acceleration of 7.50 m/s2. What
centripetal acceleration is experienced by another person who is riding at a
distance of 3.00 m from the center? (HINT: The speed of the boys is NOT
the same. What is the same for both boys?) (3.21 m/s2)

16. A space station is rotating to create artificial gravity, as the

drawing indicates. The rate of rotation is chosen so the
outer ring (rA = 2150 m) simulates the acceleration due to
gravity on the surface of Venus (8.62 m/s2).

40
 A. How long does it take the space station to turn around once on its
axis; in other words, what is its period of rotation? (99.2 s)
B. What should be the radius rB, so the inner ring simulates the
acceleration of gravity on the surface of Mercury (3.63 m/s2)? (905.4
m)

Uniform Circular Motion – Vertical Plane

1. Ms. Voong is rotating a pail of water with a mass of 2.00 kg in a vertical
circle. Her arm is 70 cm long.
A. If the pail has a speed of 3.00 m/s, what is the tension in Ms.
Voong’s arm:
i. At the top of the swing? (6.09 N)
ii. At the bottom of the swing? (45.3 N)

2. What is the minimum speed required so that a roller coaster car will safely
go around a vertical loop which has a radius of 5.0 m? (7.0 m/s)

3. For each situation below, draw accurate free-body diagrams showing all
forces acting on the rock.
A. Swinging on a rope, at lowest B. Tied to a post and moving in a circle
position. No friction. at constant speed on a frictionless
horizontal surface. Coming straight
out of the paper.

C. Tied to point A by a string. Moving in a D. Swinging on a rope. No friction.

horizontal circle at constant speed. Not
resting on a solid surface. No friction.
Coming straight out of the paper.

41
E. Swinging on a rope, at the top of a F. Riding on a horizontal disk that is rotating at
vertical circle. constant speed about its vertical axis. Friction
prevents rock from sliding. Rock is moving
straight out of the paper.

3. You are riding your bike on a track that forms a vertical circular loop. If the
diameter of the loop is 7.0 m, how fast would you have to be travelling when
you reached the top of the loop so that you would not fall? (5.86 m/s)

4. You are rotating a bucket of water in a vertical circle. Assuming that the
radius of the rotation of the water is 0.95 m, what is the minimum velocity of
the bucket at the top of its swing if the water is not to spill? (3.05 m/s)
5. A student has a weight of 655 N. While riding on a roller-coaster this same
student has an apparent weight of 1.96 x 103 N at the bottom of the dip that
has a radius of 18.0 m. What is the speed of the roller-coaster? (18.76 m/s)

6. A string requires a 186 N force in order to break. A 1.50 kg mass is tied to

this string and whirled in a vertical circle with a radius of 1.90 m. What is
the maximum speed that this mass can be whirled without breaking the
string? (14.73 m/s)

7. A 2.2 kg object is whirled in a vertical circle whose radius is 1.0 m. If the

time of one revolution is 0.97 s, what is the tension in the string (assume
uniform speed)
(a) when it is at the top? (70.7 N)
(b) when it is at the bottom? (113.9 N)

Banked Curves
1. What is the maximum speed a car is able to round a 125 m curve in a
highway under very icy conditions (friction is negligible) if the banking angle is
18°? (20 m/s)

2. A 745 m curve on a racetrack is too banked for cars traveling at 90 m/s. At

what angle should it be banked if it is going to be used under very icy
conditions? (48°)

42
3. A car rounds a very icy curve in the highway that is banked at an angle of 16°,
while traveling at a speed of 100 km/h. What is the maximum radius of the
curve? (2.7 × 102 m)

4. A car travels on a circular banked track of radius 300 m and having a banked
angle of 22°. What is the minimum time for one lap of the track if the car does
not rely on friction to hold it on to the track? (55 s)

5. A car rounds a curve of radius 50 m at a speed of 50 km/h. What is the

banked angle so that friction is not required? (21°)

6. A car is required to round a curve of radius 50 m banked at an angle of 16°. If

the 1200 kg car is traveling at 70 km/h, will frictional force be required? (yes
friction will be required)

Kepler’s Laws
1. What is the speed required to place an object in orbit just above the Earth’s
surface? (7.89 x 103 m/s)

2. The space shuttle orbits the Earth at an average altitude of 500 km. What
is its period of orbit? (5.67 x 103 s)

3. If the average distance from the Sun to the Earth is 1.49 x 1011 m, what is
the mass of the Sun? (Hint: How long does the Earth take to orbit the
Sun?) (2.00 x 1030 kg)

4. A geosynchronous orbit is where a satellite maintains the same position

above a certain point on the Earth's surface. At what height above the
Earth's surface must a satellite be positioned in order to have a
geosynchronous orbit? (3.59 x 107 m)

5. A satellite is located 250 km above the surface of the Earth. How long
would it take for the satellite to complete one orbit of the Earth? (5.36 x 10 3
s)

6. Ariel is a moon of Uranus. If Ariel orbits Uranus at a radius of 1.91 x 10 5

km, what is the period of rotation for Ariel around Uranus (in Earth days)?
(2.16 x 105 s)

7. Calculate the height above the Earth's surface for a satellite with a speed of
7600 m/s? (5.24 x 105 m)

43
8. If the moon is about 3.80 x 108 m away and its period of orbit is 2.36 x 106
s, calculate the speed of the moon in its orbit around the Earth. Using this
result, calculate the mass of the Earth. (6.21 x 1024 kg)

9. The Earth is 1.49 x 1011 m away from the Sun and it requires 365.25 days
to complete one orbit. Calculate the speed of the Earth in its orbit around
the Sun. Calculate the mass of the Sun. (1.97 x 1030 kg)

10. If a small planet were located 8 times as far as the Earth's distance from the
Sun, what would be its period in Earth years? (22.5 Earth years)

11. If a planet orbiting the Sun had a period of 7.82 x 109 s, how far is the
planet from the Sun? (5.89 x 1012 m)

12. In order for the Enterprise to use its transporter it must be in synchronous
orbit over the beam-down point. What height above the planet Mars must
the Enterprise be for a synchronous orbit? (1.69 x 107 m)

Hooke’s Law - Springs

1. A 500 g mass is vertically hung from a spring. If the spring stretches by
22.75 cm, what is the spring constant? (21.56 N/m)
2. An ideal spring requires 16.5 s to vibrate 25 times when a 200 g mass is
attached to the spring. What is the spring constant? Does it matter if the
spring vibrates horizontally or vertically? (18.1 N/m, no)
3. If a 500 g mass causes a vertical spring to stretch 79 cm, what is the spring
constant? (6.2 N/m)

4. Five people with a combined mass of 275.0 kg get into a car. The car's four
springs are each compressed a distance of 5.00 cm. Assuming the weight
is distributed evenly to each spring, determine the spring constant of the
springs. (1.35 x 104 N/m)

5. What mass must be attached to a vertical spring with a spring constant of

85 N/m in order to cause it to stretch by 95 cm? (8.2 kg)

6. Two springs are hooked together and one end is attached to a ceiling.
Spring A has a spring constant of 25 N/m, and spring B has a spring
constant of 60 N/m. A mass weighing 40.0 N is attached to the free end of
the spring system to pull it downward from the ceiling. What is the total
displacement of the mass? (–2.3 m)

44
7. Explain the effect that changing each of the following factors has on the
period of a mass-spring system:
(a) amplitude
(b) spring constant
(c) mass

8. A 4.5 kg mass is hung from a spring. If the force constant on the spring is
45 N/m,
A. What is the period of vibration for the spring? (2.0 s)
B. How long will it take for the spring to vibrate 150 times? (298 s)

9. A 1650 g mass is hung from a spring. If the spring vibrates 300 times in 8
minutes, what is the force constant of the spring? (25.4 N/m)

10. When a 5.75 kg mass is hung from a spring it stretches by 95.0 cm. If the
spring is then set into vibration, how long will it take the system to vibrate 500
times? (978 s)

Simple Harmonic Motion - Pendulums

1. What is the period and frequency for a 0.75 m pendulum? (1.74 s, 0.576
Hz)
2. A pendulum requires 56.74 s to swing 20 times. What is the period,
frequency, and length of the pendulum? (2.84 s, 0.352 Hz, 2.0 m)
3. On the moon, a simple experiment was done to measure the acceleration of
gravity. The period for a 1.0 m long pendulum was measured and found to
be 4.94 s. What is the acceleration due to gravity on the moon? (1.62 m/s 2)
4. Explain what effect changing each of the following factors has on the period
of a pendulum:
(a) amplitude
(b) gravitational field strength
(c) mass

5. A pendulum swings 400 times in 8 minutes and 20 seconds. What is its

frequency and period of vibration? (0.80 Hz, 1.25 s)

6. If a pendulum is 135 cm long:

A. What is the period of the pendulum? (2.33 s)
B. How many swings will it complete in 2.5 minutes? (64)

7. If a pendulum takes 4.0 minutes to swing 400 times, what is the length of
the pendulum? (0.089 m)

45
8. What is the acceleration due to gravity on a planet where an 80 cm
pendulum requires 162.15 s to swing 50 times? (3.0 m/s2)

9. A pendulum swings with a period of 5.00 s on the Moon, where the

gravitational field strength is 1.62 m/s2. What is the pendulum's length?
(1.03 m)

10. An inquisitive student brings a pendulum aboard a jet plane. The plane is in
level flight at an altitude of 12.31 km. What period do you expect for a 20.0
cm pendulum? (Hint: First determine the gravitational field strength.) (0.899
s)

11. An asteroid has a mean radius of orbit of 4.8 x 1011 m. What is its orbital
period around the sun? (1.8 x 108 s)

12. A spy satellite is located one Earth radius above the surface of the Earth.
What is its period of revolution? (1.43 x 104 s)

13. It is estimated that the Sun is 2.7 x 1020 m away from the centre of the Milky
Way Galaxy. If the period of revolution for the galaxy is about 200 million
years, what is the speed (in km/h) of the Sun going around the center of the
galaxy? (9.68 x 105 km/h)

Unit 3 Review – UCM & Oscillatory Motion

Uniform circular motion

1. A car travels around a curved path that has a radius of 195 m at a constant
speed of 22 m/s. What is the centripetal acceleration of the car? (2.5 m/s2 )

2. An amusement park ride has a radius of 2.5 m. lf the time of one revolution of
a rider is 0.75 s, what is the speed of the rider? (21 m/s )

3. Calculate the speed and acceleration of a point on the circumference of a 33

1/3 rotation per minute phonograph record. The diameter of the record is 30.0
cm. (0.524 m/s, 1.83 m/s2)

4. An athlete whirls a 3.7 kg shot-put in a horizontal circle with a radius of 0.90

m. If the period of rotation is 0.30 s:
a. What is the speed of the shot-put when released? (19 m/s)
b. What is the centripetal force acting on the shot put while it is rotated? (1.5
x 103 N)
c. How far would the shot-put travel if it is released 1.2 m above the ground?
(9.4 m)

46
5. A 2700 kg satellite orbits the Earth at a distance of 18000 km from the Earth's
center at a speed of 4700 m/s. What is the force acting on the satellite? (3314
N)

6. How fast can a 1200 kg car round an unbanked curve of radius 62 m if the
coefficient of friction between the tires and the road is 0.44? (16 m/s)

7. A 925 kg car rounds an unbanked curve at a speed of 25 m/s. If the radius of

the curve is 72 m, what is the minimum coefficient of friction between the tires
and the road required so that the car does not skid? (0.88 )

Vertical uniform circular motion

1. A 2.2 kg object is whirled in a vertical circle whose radius is 1.0 m. If the time
for one revolution is 0.97 s, what is the tension in the string
a. When it is at the top? ( 70.7 N )
b. When it is at the bottom? ( 114 N)

2. A 2.0 kg mass is swung in a vertical circle of radius 1.2 m using a cord that
will break if it is subjected to a force greater than 252 N. What is the
maximum speed that this mass can travel as it passes through the bottom of
the circle? (12 m/s)

Universal gravitation

1. Given the mass of Venus (4.83 x 1024 kg), the mass of the Earth (5.98 x 1024
kg), the distance from the Sun to Venus (1.08 x 1011 m), and the distance
from the Sun to Earth (1.49 x 1011 m), determine the maximum force of
gravitational attraction between Venus and Earth. ( 1.15 x 1018 N )
2. If you weigh 445 N on Earth, what will you weigh on Venus? The radius of
Venus is 6.31 x 106 m. (367 N)
3. If you were placed on a line between Earth and Venus. At what point
measured from Earth would you experience equal gravitational pull from each
planet?( 2.16 x 1010 m)
4. If you weigh 890 N on Earth, what is the gravitational pull at a distance of
19320 km above the surface of the Earth? (55.6 N )
5. If you weigh 667.5 N on Earth, what will you weigh on a planet that has 5
times the mass of Earth but only twice the diameter of Earth? (834 N )
6. What is the gravitational field strength on the surface of the moon if the radius
of the moon is 1.764 x 106 m and the mass of the moon is 7.24 x 1022 kg (1.62
N/kg or 1.62 m/s2)
7. What is the gravitational field strength 1.27 x 10' m above the surface of the
Earth? (1.09 N/kg)

47
8. On the surface of Planet X an object has a weight of 63.5 N and a mass of
22.5 kg. What is the gravitational field strength on the surface of Planet X?
(2.82 N/kg)
9. At what distance from the Earth's surface is the gravitational field strength
equal to 7.33 N/kg? (1.0 x 106 m)

Orbits and satellites

1. What is the speed of an artificial 625 kg satellite which is placed in an orbit

1.00 x 106 m above the surface of planet Z which has a mass of 3.18 x 1023 kg
and a radius of 2.43 x 106 m. (2.49 x 103 m/s)
2. An artificial 572 kg satellite is placed into a circular orbit around the Earth with
a radius of the orbit of 1.2 x 107 m. How long will it take to make one
revolution? (1.3 x 104 s)
3. Calculate Kepler's constant for objects rotating around the sun given that the
Earth has a period of 3.16 x 107 s and an orbital radius of 1.49 x 1011 m. ( 3.3
x 1018 m3/s2)
4. Knowing that the Earth's orbital radius is 1.49 x 1011 m and its period of
revolution is 365 days; calculate the period of revolution of the planet Mercury
whose orbital radius is 5.79 x 1010 m? (88.4 days)

Simple harmonic motion

1. If a pendulum has a period of 2.75 minutes, what is its frequency? (0.006 Hz)
2. What is the period of a pendulum that has a length of 3.75 m on Earth?
(3.88 s )
3. What is the length of a pendulum that will swing 80 times in two minutes on
Earth? (0.56 m)
4. On the planet QUINLAN a pendulum that is 16 cm long has a frequency of
0.637 Hz. What is the gravitational field strength of this planet? ( 2.56 N/kg )
5. How many bounces will a spring make in 4 minutes when a 520 gram mass is
attached to it if it has a force constant of 10 N/m? (167.5)
6. A 5.04 kg mass attached to a spring causes a stretch of 24.7 cm. How long
would it take for this spring with its attached mass to vibrate 500 times?
(499 s)

48
Unit 4 Review – Waves
1. What is the speed of a vibration that has a wavelength of 4.75 m and a
frequency of 9.0 kHz? (42.8 km/s)

2. A series of waves travel 95 m in 4.5 minutes. If the waves arrive every 1/5
of a s, what is the wavelength of the waves? (0.07 m)

3. The wavelength of orange light is 630 nm. What is the period of the wave?
(2.10 x 10-15 s)

4. If sound waves travel at 335 m/s what is the wavelength of sound that has a
period of 0.01 s? (3.35 m)

5. 9.5 waves break on a beach in 1.0 minutes. What is the frequency of these
waves? (0.16 Hz)

6. A radio station broadcasts at a frequency of 1 MHz. If the speed of radio

waves is the speed of light, what is the wavelength of the radio wave? (300
m)

7. Waves travel from deep water into shallow water. If the speed in the deep
water is 5.0 cm/s and 3.0 cm/s in the shallow water calculate the
wavelength in the shallow water when the wavelength in deep water is 10.0
cm. (6.0 cm)

8. Waves travel from shallow water into deep water. The angle of incidence is
25° and the angle of refraction is 32°. If the speed of the wave is 12 cm/s in
the shallow water, what is the speed in the deep water? (15.0 cm/s)
9. Calculate the amplitude of the combined wave when waves with the
following amplitudes combine in phase:
a. 2.3 cm and 1.9 cm ( 4.2 cm )
b. 5.2 cm and 2.5 cm ( 7.7 cm )

10. Calculate the amplitude of the combined wave when waves with the
following amplitudes combine out of phase:
a. 2.3 cm and 1.9 cm ( 0.4 cm )
b. 5.2 cm and 2.5 cm ( 2.7 cm )

11. Waves with a wavelength of 8 cm leave point A and travel 40 cm to point C.

Waves with a wavelength of 6 cm leave point B and travel 135 cm to point
C. If the waves leave point A and B completely out of phase, is the area
around point C, a point of constructive or destructive interference?
(constructive)

49
12. An observer is moving at a speed of 22.0 m/s toward a stationary sound
source of 1000 Hz. If the speed of sound is 341 m/s, what is the apparent
frequency heard by the observer? (1.06 × 103 Hz)

13. A 2000 Hz sound source is moving north at a speed of 30 m/s while you are
also moving north along the same path at 25.0 m/s. If the speed of sound
is 341 m/s, what is the apparent frequency you hear assuming you are in
front of the sound source? (2.0 × 103 Hz)

14. A 2200 Hz whistle is moving away from a stationary observer. The apparent
frequency heard by the observer is 2080 Hz. If the speed of sound is 340
m/s, what is the speed of the source? (19.6 m/s)

15. You are moving toward a stationary whistle at a speed of 30 m/s. The
sound you hear has a frequency of 1500 Hz. If the speed of sound is 340
m/s, what is the frequency of the whistle? (1.4 × 103 Hz)

Energy, Work, Power

Discussion Questions

1. Can work be done on an object that remains at rest? Explain.

2. A train traveling at a constant speed makes a 180o turn on a semicircular

section of track and heads in a direction opposite to its original direction.
Even though a centripetal force acts on the train, no work is done. Why?

3. A book at one end of a table is lifted up into the air. The book is then
moved to the other end of the table and lowered onto the table. Explain
why no net work was done on the book.

4. A sailboat is moving at a constant speed of 10 knots. Is work being done

on the sail boat by the wind on the sails? Is work being done by the water
resistance? Is work being done by the net force on the sail boat?

Word Problems

1. A 600 kg object is dragged 40 m over a surface that has a coefficient of

friction equal to 0.60. How much work against friction was done? (1.4 x 10 5
J)

2. How much work is done in carrying a 40 kg object 50 m horizontally? (0)

50
3. A student using a push broom exerts a force of 20 N while pushing the
broom 30 m across the floor. If the broom handle is set at 70º to the floor,
how much work is done? (2.1 x 102 J)

4. What is the kinetic energy of a 1200 kg car traveling at 60 km/h? (1.7 x 10 5

J)

5. A spring with a spring constant of 150 N/m has 4.69 J of stored energy. By
how much has the spring been compressed? (0.250 m)

6. What power is consumed in lifting a 500 kg object over a vertical distance of

500 m in a 30 minute time period? (1.4 kW)

Work Problems

1. Given the following force-displacement graphs, determine the work done in

each case. (56 J, -26 J)

2. The cable of a large crane applies a force of 2.2 x 104 N to a demolition ball
as the ball is lifted vertically a distance of 7.6 m. How much work does this
force do on the ball? Is this work positive or negative? Explain. (+1.7 x 10 5
J)

3. Fred is moving into an apartment at the beginning of the school year. Fred
weighs 685 N and his belongings weigh 915 N. How much work does the
elevator do in lifting Fred and his belongings up five stories (15.2 m)? How
much work does the elevator do on Fred on the downward trip? (+2.43 x
104 J, -1.04 x 104 J)

4. The drawing below shows a boat being pulled by two locomotives through a
two kilometre canal. The tension in each cable is 5.00 x 103 N and  = 20o.
What is the work done on the boat by the locomotives? (1.88 x 107 J)

51
5. A 2.40 x 102 N force, acting at 20o above the surface, is pulling on an 85.8
kg refrigerator across a horizontal floor. The frictional force opposing the
motion is 1.67 x 102 N and the refrigerator is moved a distance of 8.00 m.
Find the work done by the applied force and the work done by the frictional
force. (1.80 kJ, 1.34 kJ)

6. A 100 kg crate is pulled across a horizontal floor by a force P that makes a

30o angle with the floor. If the frictional force is 196 N, what would be the
magnitude of P so that the net work is zero? (226 N)

7. A window washer on a scaffold is hoisting the scaffold up the side of a

skyscraper by pulling down on a rope. The combined mass of the window
washer and the scaffold is 155 kg. If the scaffold is pulled up at a constant
velocity through a distance of 120 m:
a. How much work was done? (1.82 x 105 J)
b. What force must the window washer supply? (507 N)
c. How many meters of rope are required, assuming that the pulleys
touch at the top? (360 m)

52
Kinetic and Potential Energy Problems

1. A 65.0 kg jogger is running at a speed of 5.30 m/s. What is the jogger’s

kinetic energy? (913 J)

2. Relative to the ground, what is the energy of a 55.0 kg person at the top of
the Sear's Tower in Chicago, which is 443 m high? (239 kJ)

3. A 75.0 kg skier rides a 2830 m long chair lift to the top of a mountain. The
lift makes an angle of 14.6o with the horizontal. What is the change in the
skier's potential energy? (525 kJ)

4. A spring is compressed 0.045 m by a 120 N force. What is the spring

constant and how much energy is in the spring? (2.67 x 103 N/m, 2.7 J)

5. A spring with a spring constant of 25 N/m is compressed by 9.6 cm. How

much energy is in the spring? (0.12 J)

Power Problems

1. What is the standard unit of power? Is the unit kWh (kilowatt hour) a unit of
force, energy or power? Explain.

2. What is the power output of a machine which applies a force of 2.50 x 104 N
for 12.0 s in pulling a block through 60.0 m? (125 kW)

3. A machine has an output power of 10.0 kW. How long would it take for the
machine to raise a 5000 kg load through a height of 2.5 m? (12.3 s)

4. Water flows over a section of Niagara Falls at the rate of 1.2 x 106 kg/s and
falls 50.0 m. How much power is generated by the falling water? (5.9 x 108
W)

5. A machine operates at a power consumption of 3.5 kW for ten minutes. In

the process it produces 500 kJ of waste heat energy. How much net work
was done? (1.6 MJ)

Simple Harmonic Motion – Dynamics & Energy

1. A pendulum bob (m = 250.0 g) experiences a restoring force of 0.468 N.
Through what angle is it displaced? (11 degrees)

2. A 0.50 kg pendulum is pulled back and released. When the height is 0.60 m
above its equilibrium position its speed is 1.9 m/s. What is the maximum
height of the pendulum? (0.78 m)

53
3. A 2.60 g mass experiences an acceleration of 20.0 m/s2 at a displacement
of 0.700 m on a spring. What is k for this spring? (0.0743 N/m)

4. A mass vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring (k = 125 N/m) along a

frictionless surface reaching a maximum speed of 7.0 m/s. If the maximum
displacement of the mass is 85.0 cm, what is the mass? (1.84 kg)

5. Why is the acceleration of a simple harmonic oscillator not uniform?

6. Describe the positions that a mass-spring system and pendulum are in

when: (a) acceleration is a maximum; (b) velocity is a maximum; (c)
restoring force is maximum

7. Determine the restoring force of a pendulum that is pulled to an angle of

12.0° left of the vertical. The mass of the bob is 300.0 g. (0.612 N [right])

8. At what angle must a pendulum be displaced to create a restoring force of

4.00 N on a bob with a mass of 500.0 g? (54.6°)

9. A 1.35 kg pendulum bob is hung from a 3.20 m string. When the pendulum
is in motion its speed is 2.40 m/s when its height is 85.0 cm above the
equilibrium point. What is the maximum speed of the pendulum? What is
the period of vibration for the pendulum? (4.74 m/s, 3.59 s)

10. A 2.50 kg pendulum bob is hung from a 2.75 m string. The pendulum is
pulled back and released from a height h above the equilibrium point. If its
maximum speed is 6.26 m/s what is h? What is the period of vibration for
the pendulum? (2.00 m, 3.33 s)

11. Tarzan swings on a 30.0 m long vine initially inclined at an angle of 37.0°
from the vertical. What is his speed at the bottom of the swing if he does
the following?
a. starts from rest (10.9 m/s)
b. pushes off with a speed of 4.00 m/s (11.6 m/s)

12. For each situation below, draw accurate free-body diagrams showing all
forces acting on the rock.

a. Suspended from a spring. Pulled b. Suspended from a spring.

downward slightly and released. No Instantaneously at rest at the top of
friction. its travel.

54
c. Suspended from a spring. Moving d. Suspended from a spring. Moving
downward through the equilibrium upward through the equilibrium
position. No friction. position. No friction.

13. A mass of 3.08 kg oscillates on the end of a horizontal spring with a period
of 0.323 s. What acceleration does the mass experience when its
displacement is 2.85 m to the right? (1.08 x 103 m/s2 [left])

14. A 4.0 kg mass vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring along a frictionless
surface reaching a maximum speed of 5.0 m/s. If the maximum
displacement of the mass is 11.0 cm, what is the spring constant? (8.3 x
103 N/m)

15. An object vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring, spring constant = 18

N/m, along a frictionless horizontal surface. If the maximum speed of the
object is 0.35 m/s and its maximum displacement is 0.29 m, what is the
speed of the object when the displacement is 0.20 m? (0.25 m/s)

16. A 0.750 kg object vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring (k = 995 N/m)
along a frictionless surface. The speed of the object is 2.50 m/s when its
displacement is 0.145 m. What is the maximum displacement and speed of
the object? (0.160 m, 5.84 m/s)

17. A mass of 2.50 kg is attached to a horizontal spring and oscillates with

amplitude of 0.800 m. The spring constant is 40.0 N/m. Determine:
a) the acceleration of the mass when it is at a displacement of
+0.300 m (–4.80 m/s2)
b) the maximum speed (3.20 m/s)
c) the period (1.57 s)

18. A horizontal mass-spring system has a mass of 0.200 kg, a maximum

speed of 0.803 m/s, and an amplitude of 0.120 m. What is the mass's
position when its acceleration is 3.58 m/s2 to the west? (0.0799 m [east])

55
19. An object vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring, k = 18 N/m, along a
frictionless horizontal surface. If the maximum speed of the object is 0.35
m/s and its maximum displacement is 0.29 m, what is the speed of the
object when the displacement is 0.20 m? (0.25 m/s)

Work & Conservation of Mechanical Energy Practice

1. What is the kinetic energy of an automobile with a mass of 1250 kg traveling
with a speed of 11 m/s? What speed would a fly with a mass of 0.55 g need
in order to have the same kinetic energy as the automobile? (7.6 x 104 J, 1.7
x 104 m/s)

2. A 5.00 g bullet moving at 600.0 m/s penetrate tree trunk to a depth of 4.00
cm.
a. Use work and energy considerations to find the average frictional force
that stops the bullet. (2.25 x 104 N)
b. Assuming that the frictional force is constant determine how much time
elapses between the moment the bullet enters the tree and the moment
the bullet stops moving. (1.33 x 10-4 s)

3. Below is a graph of the gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy of a

75 g yo-yo as it moves up and down on its string. Use the graph to answer
the following questions:
a. By what amount does the mechanical energy of the yo-yo decrease
after 6.0 s? (~120 mJ)
b. What is the speed of the yo-yo after 4.5 s? (~3.3 m/s)
c. What is the maximum height of the yo-yo? (82 cm)

4. A 0.25 kg pine cone falls from a branch 20 m above the ground. With what
speed would it hit the ground if air resistance is ignored? (20 m/s)

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5. An object is located 2.00 m above a table top that is 1.50 m above the floor.
If the mass of the object is 40.0 kg;
a. What is the gravitational potential energy of the object with respect to the
table top? (785 J)
b. What is the gravitational potential energy of the object with respect to the
floor? (1.37 × 103 J)

6. A 10 kg test rocket is fired vertically from Cape Canaveral. Its fuel gives it
1960 J of kinetic energy just as it leaves the pad. How high will the rocket
rise? (20 m)

7. A 20 kg mass is on the edge of a 100 m cliff.

a. What potential energy does it possess? (2.0 × 104 J)
b. The mass falls from the cliff. What kinetic energy does it possess just
before it strikes the ground? (2.0 × 104 J)
c. What speed does it have as it strikes the ground? (44 m/s)

8. A roller coaster trolley begins its journey 5.25 m above the ground. As a
motor tows it to the top of the first hill, it gains 4.20 × 10 5 J of gravitational
potential energy. If the mass of the trolley and its passengers is 875 kg, how
far is the top of the hill above the ground? (54.2 m)

9. What is the speed of a 4.50 kg cannon ball if, at a height of 275 m above the
ground, its mechanical energy relative to the ground is 6.27 × 104 J? (150
m/s)

10. An archer puts a 0.30 kg arrow to the bowstring. An average force of 201 N
is exerted to draw the string back 1.3 m.
a. With what speed will the arrow leave the bow? (42 m/s)
b. If the arrow is shot up, how high will it go? (89 m)

11. In the system shown below, the masses start from rest. Assuming a
frictionless surface and pulley, what is the speed of each mass if the 5.0 kg
mass is allowed to fall 1.2 m? (2.2 m/s)

20 kg

5.0 kg

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Conservation of Energy
1. A motorcycle rider is trying to leap across the canyon as shown in the figure
by driving horizontally off the cliff. When it leaves the cliff, the cycle has a
speed of 38.0 m/s. Ignoring air resistance, find the speed with which the
cycle strikes the ground on the other side. (46.2 m/s)

2. A 6.00 m rope is tied to a tree limb

and used as a swing. A person
starts from rest with the rope held in
a horizontal orientation, as in the
figure. Ignoring friction and air
resistance, determine how fast the
person is moving at the lowest point
on the circular arc of the swing.
(10.8 m/s)

3. One of the fastest roller coasters (2000 kg) in the world is the Magnum XL -
200 at Cedar Point Park in Sandusky, Ohio. This ride includes an initial
vertical drop of 59.3 m. Assume that the roller coaster has a speed of nearly
zero as it crests the top of the hill.
A. If the track was frictionless, find the speed of the roller coaster at the
bottom of the hill. (34.1 m/s)
B. The actual speed of the roller coaster at the bottom is 32.2 m/s. If the
length of track is 125 m, what is the average frictional force acting on
the roller coaster? (1.01 x 103 N)

4. An 80.0 kg box is pushed up a frictionless

58
 incline as shown in the diagram. How much work is done on the box in
moving it to the top? (Hint, think energy, not forces.) (5.49 kJ)

5. A 75 g arrow is fired horizontally. The bow string exerts an average force of

65 N on the arrow over a distance of 0.90 m. With what speed does the
arrow leave the bow string? (39 m/s)

6. In the high jump, the kinetic energy of an athlete is transformed into

gravitational potential energy. With what minimum speed must the athlete
leave the ground in order to lift his center of mass 2.10 m and cross the bar
with a speed of 0.80 m/s? (6.5 m/s)

7. A 50.0 kg pole vaulter running at 10.0 m/s vaults over the bar. Assuming
that the vaulter's horizontal component of velocity over the bar is 1.00 m/s
and disregarding air resistance, how high was the jump? (5.05 m)

8. If a 4.00 kg board skidding across the floor with an initial speed of 5.50 m/s
comes to rest, how much thermal energy is produced? (60.5 J)

9. A roller coaster is shown in the

drawing. Assuming no friction,
calculate the speed at points B, C,
D, assuming it has a speed of 1.80
m/s at point A. (24.3 m/s, 10.1 m/s,
18.9 m/s)

10. A water skier lets go of the tow rope upon

leaving the end of a jump ramp at a speed
of 14.0 m/s. As the drawing indicates, the
skier has a speed of 13.0 m/s at the
highest point of the jump. Ignoring air
resistance, determine the skier’s height H
above the top of the ramp at the highest
point. (1.38 m)

11. A roller coaster vehicle with occupants has a mass of 2.9 x 103 kg. It starts
at point A with a speed of 14 m/s and slides down the track through a
vertical distance of 25 m to B. It then climbs in the direction of point C
which is 36 m above B. An interesting feature of this roller coaster is that

59
 due to cost-over-runs and poor planning, the track ends at point C. The
occupant is the chief design engineer of the roller coaster ride. Estimate
the speed of the vehicle at point B and then determine whether the fellow
survives the ride. (26 m/s)

12. The speed of a hockey puck (mass = 100.0 g) decreases from 45.00 m/s to
42.68 m/s in coasting 16.00 m across the ice.
a. How much thermal energy was produced? (10.17 J)
b. What frictional force was acting on the puck? (0.6357 N)

13. During an automobile accident investigation, a police officer measured the

skid marks left by a car (mass = 1500 kg) to be 65 m long. If the frictional
force on the car was 7.66 kN during the skid, was the car going faster than
the 100 km/h speed limit before applying the brakes? (slower)

14. A 45.0 kg box initially at rest slides from the top of a 12.5 m long incline.
The incline is 5.0 m high at the top. If the box reaches the bottom of the
incline at a speed of 5.0 m/s, what is the force of friction on the box along
the incline? (1.3 x 102 N)

15. For the pulley system illustrated to the

right, when the masses are released,
what is the final speed of the 12 kg mass 12
just before it hits the floor? (7.0 m/s)
kg

5.0 m
4.0

kg
Conservation of Energy Practice Problems
1. A heavy object is dropped from a vertical distance of 12.0 m above the
ground. What is the speed of the object as it hits the ground? (15.3 m/s)

2. An object vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring (k = 32 N/m) along a

frictionless surface. If the object’s potential energy is 4.5 J, what is the
magnitude of its displacement? (0.53 m)

3. An object is thrown vertically down from the top of a 1.00 × 102 m building at a
velocity of 10.0 m/s. What is the speed as it reaches the ground? (45.4 m/s)

4. An object is dropped from a building. If it reaches the floor at a speed of 3.2

m/s, how tall is the building? (0.52 m)

60
5. A box slides down a frictionless incline as shown in the diagram below. If it
starts from rest at the top of the incline, what is its speed at the bottom? (8.9
m/s)

4.0 m 9.0 m

6. A pendulum is dropped from a height of 0.25 m above the equilibrium

position. What is the speed of the bob as it passes through the equilibrium
position? (2.2 m/s)

7. A 0.20 kg mass vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring (k = 15 N/m) along a

frictionless surface. What is the maximum displacement of the mass if it
reaches a maximum speed of 0.12 m/s? (1.4 × 10-2 m)

8. A ski jumper starts from rest 50.0 m above the ground on a frictionless track,
and flies off the track at a 45.0° angle above the horizontal and at a height of
10.0 m from the ground. Disregard air resistance.
a. What is the skier’s speed when leaving the track? (28.0 m/s)
b. What is the maximum height attained? (30.0 m above the ground)

Unit 5 Review – Energy, Work & Power

1. A 10.0 kg object is moved horizontally 5.00 m across a level floor using a
horizontal force of 3.00 N. How much work was done on the object? (15.0 J)
2. A 3.0 kg object is held 1.2 m above the floor for 15 s. How much work is
done on the object? (0 J)
3. A 50.0 kg box is pulled 11.0 m along a level surface by a rope. If the rope
makes an angle with the surface of 35.0°, and the force exerted through the
rope is 90.0 N, how much work is done on the box? (811 J)
4. A 1385 kg car traveling at 61 km/h is brought to a stop while skidding 42 m.
What is the work done on the car by the frictional force? (-2.0 × 10 5 J)
5. A 60.0 kg student runs at a constant velocity up the incline pictured below in
4.5 s. Calculate the power output by the student. (3.3 × 102 W)

4.0 m
2.5inmthe diagram. If the
6. A roller coaster is traveling without friction as shown
speed of the roller coaster at A is 3.0 m/s, what is the speed at B? (13 m/s)

61
7. At what speed would a heavy object hit the ground if it was lifted vertically
from the ground at a constant speed of 1.2 m/s for 2.5 s and then dropped?
(7.7 m/s)
8. What force is required to accelerate a 50.0 kg object from rest to 5.00 m/s
along a 3.00 m horizontal frictionless surface? (208 N)
9. A 2.0 kg object is thrown vertically downward at a speed of 5.0 m/s from a
height of 12.0 m above the ground. Calculate the speed of the object just
before it hits the ground. (16 m/s)
10. A 2.0 kg object slides from rest at the top of a 35° incline. If the length of the
incline is 2.5 m and the speed at the bottom is 1.0 m/s, what is the average
force of friction along the incline? (11 N)
11. An applied force of 25 N accelerates a 5.0 kg object from rest to a speed of
2.0 m/s as it travels 9.0 m along a horizontal surface. What is the average
force of friction on the object? (24 N)
12. A toy car (mass = 2.0 kg) starts from rest at point A and slides along the track
described in the diagram below. Assume the track is frictionless.

a. What is the speed of the car at point D? (4.4 m/s)

b. What is the total mechanical energy of the car at point B? Assume the
gravitational potential energy of the car is zero at point B. (1.6 × 102 J)

13. An 8.00 kg object is dropped from a height above the ground. When it is 2.00
m from the ground, it has 627 J of mechanical energy. Ignoring air
resistance, find
a. Its speed when it is 2.00 m above the ground (10.8 m/s)
b. The height from which it was dropped (7.99 m)

14. A 3.0 kg object has a speed of 2.0 m/s at the bottom of a 35° incline. How far
up the incline will the object slide if the coefficient of friction along the incline
is 0.22? (0.27 m)
15. A 3.5 kg object is dropped from a height of 0.50 m onto an ideal vertical
spring (k = 2.0 × 103 N/m). What is the maximum compression of the spring?
(0.13 m)

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16. A 0.35 kg arrow is shot vertically into the air from a bow. If an average
vertical force of 65 N is exerted in pulling back the bow string 0.60 m, to what
height will the arrow reach? (11 m)
17. A 2.0 kg mass vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring (k = 145 N/m) along a
horizontal frictionless surface. If the maximum displacement of the mass is
0.040 m, what is the maximum speed of the mass? (0.34 m/s)
18. A pendulum bob (m = 250 g) is suspended by a string that is 2.00 m long. It
is pulled sideways and released. At the highest point of its swing, the
pendulum bob is 25.0 cm above the floor. At the lowest point of its swing, the
pendulum bob is 5.00 cm above the floor.
a. What is the mechanical energy of the pendulum, relative to the floor, when
the bob is at its highest point? (0.613 J)
b. What is the mechanical energy of the pendulum, relative to the floor, when
the bob is as its lowest point? (0.613 J)
c. What is the kinetic energy of the bob when it is at its lowest point? (0.491
J)
d. What is the speed of the pendulum bob when it is at its lowest point? (1.98
m/s)

19. An object vibrates at the end of a horizontal spring (k = 20.0 N/m) along a
horizontal frictionless surface. If the maximum speed of the object is 1.5 m/s,
and its maximum displacement is 0.36 m, what is the displacement of the
object when its speed is 0.80 m/s? (0.30 m)
20. What is the maximum height that a pole-vaulter with a mass of 56.0 kg can
expect to attain if her approach speed is 8.00 m/s? Assume that her centre of
mass is initially 0.850 m above the ground. (4.11 m)

63