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Mechanics Exam Questions
Mechanics Exam Questions
1. A stone and a ping pong ball are both dropped from a 4th floor window at the same time and land in the
pond 35m below.
a) Model the stone as a particle, and find the velocity with which the stone strikes the water’s (3)
surface.
Despite being released at the same time, the ping-pong ball hits the water after the stone.
b) What additional factors would we need to include in our model to explain why the objects strike (2)
the water at different times?
5 marks
It then continues at a steady speed for t seconds before decelerating uniformly to rest at 3 ms −2 .
c) Now draw a Displacement-Time graph for entire duration of motion, making the time and (3)
displacement values clear at each change of phase.
9 marks
3. A cyclist heads off along a road at a steady speed of 8 ms-1, and overtakes a stationary car.
Exactly 5 seconds after the bike overtakes, the car starts to accelerate at 4 ms-1 per second uniformly, until
it reaches 72 km/h, at which point it keeps the same steady speed.
a) Draw a velocity-time graph (SI units) for the motion of each vehicle, on the same graph, from the
point where the bike overtakes, up until the point when the car catches up the bike. (4)
b) Find the time that has elapsed between the two moments they are coincident. (3)
7 marks
4. A ball is dropped from the top of a 100m cliff at the same time as another is launched upwards from the
ground below with a speed of 25m/s.
a) Find the exact time it takes for the balls to collide. (4)
c) If air resistance was factored in to the model, would they meet sooner or later than in part (a) ? (1)
You must justify your answer.
7 marks
5. An object (P) is projected with an initial velocity of 6 ms −1 and experiences a constant acceleration of
2 ms −2 .
A second object (Q) is projected 2 seconds later, with an initial speed of 20 ms −1 in the opposite direction,
but experiences an acceleration of size 10 ms −2 in the direction of P that slows it to stop and then
continues to accelerate Q in the direction of P’s motion.
Given that the direction of P is considered the positive direction, up to the point where Q catches P:
12 marks
TOTAL: 40 Marks