AP Physics 1 Test Booklet

Kinematics FRQ Quiz 1 Name

1. iii. When the toy was released, the center of the string was moving with an initial speed of at a
angle above the horizontal. Calculate the speed of the center of the string at the instant shown
above, when the center of the string reaches the top of its trajectory.

Please respond on separate paper, following directions from your teacher.

ii. On the dot below, which represents the whole toy (the spheres-string system), draw and label the
forces (not components) that act on the system at this instant. Represent each force by a distinct arrow
starting on, and pointing away from, the dot. The dashed line is drawn at the same angle as the string.

Please respond on separate paper, following directions from your teacher.

(b) The figure above shows the toy at the instant the center of the string reaches the top of its trajectory.
This is a side view: the sphere on the left is higher than the sphere on the right.

i. On the dot below, which represents the left sphere only, draw and label the forces (not components)
exerted on the left sphere at this instant. Represent each force by a distinct arrow starting on,
and pointing away from, the dot. The dashed line is drawn at the same angle as the string.

Copyright © 2021. The College Board. These materials are part of a College Board program. Use or distribution of these materials online or in print beyond your
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Page 1 of 5
 AP Physics 1 Test Booklet

Kinematics FRQ Quiz 1

Please respond on separate paper, following directions from your teacher.

PHYSICS 1

Section II

Time - 1 hour and 30 minutes

5 Questions

Directions: This question is a short free-response question. Show your work for each part of the
question.​

1. (7 points, suggested time 13 minutes)

A toy consists of two identical solid spheres connected by a string with negligible mass. The toy is
thrown at an angle above the horizontal (not straight up) such that the string remains taut and both
spheres are revolving counterclockwise in a vertical plane around the center of the string, as shown
above.

(a) Sketch graphs of the horizontal and vertical components of the velocity of the center of the string as
a function of time, from the instant the spheres are released at time until the instant the system
returns to its initial height at time . Take the positive direction to be toward the right for the horizontal

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school’s participation in the program is prohibited.
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 AP Physics 1 Test Booklet

Kinematics FRQ Quiz 1

component and the positive direction to be upward for the vertical component.

Please respond on separate paper, following directions from your teacher.

2.

A long track, inclined at an angle θ to the horizontal, has small speed bumps on it. The bumps are
evenly spaced a distance d apart, as shown in the figure above. The track is actually much longer than
shown, with over 100 bumps. A cart of mass M is released from rest at the top of the track. A student
notices that after reaching the 40th bump the cart’s average speed between successive bumps no longer
increases, reaching a maximum value vavg. This means the time interval taken to move from one bump
to the next bump becomes constant.

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school’s participation in the program is prohibited.
Page 3 of 5
 AP Physics 1 Test Booklet

Kinematics FRQ Quiz 1

a. Consider the cart’s motion between bump 41 and bump 44.

i. In the figure below, sketch a graph of the cart’s velocity v as a function of time from the
moment it reaches bump 41 until the moment it reaches bump 44.
ii. Over the same time interval, draw a dashed horizontal line at v = vavg. Label the
line"vavg"
b. Suppose the distance between the bumps is increased but everything else stays the same. Is the
maximum speed of the cart now greater than, less than, or the same as it was with the bumps
closer together? ____Greater than ____Less than ____The same as Briefly explain your
reasoning.
c. With the bumps returned to the original spacing, the track is tilted to a greater ramp angle θ. Is
the maximum speed of the cart greater than, less than, or the same as it was when the ramp angle
was smaller? ____Greater than ____Less than ____The same as Briefly explain your reasoning.
d. Before deriving an equation for a quantity such as vavg , it can be useful to come up with an
equation that is intuitively expected to be true. That way, the derivation can be checked later to
see if it makes sense physically. A student comes up with the following equation for the cart's
maximum average speed: , where C is a positive constant.
i. To test the equation, the student rolls a cart down the long track with speed bumps many
times in front of a motion detector. The student varies the mass M of the cart with each
trial but keeps everything else the same. The graph shown below is the student’s plot of
the data for vavg as a function of M. Are these data consistent with the student’s
equation? ____Yes ____No Briefly explain your reasoning.
ii. Another student suggests that whether or not the data above are consistent with the
equation, the equation could be incorrect for other reasons. Does the equation make
physical sense? ____Yes ____No Briefly explain your reasoning.

Please respond on separate paper, following directions from your teacher.

3.

A car is stopped at a traffic light. The light turns green, and at time t = 0 the car starts moving and
travels with a constant acceleration. At that instant a truck traveling at constant speed vt is alongside the
car, with the front of each vehicle at position x = 0 , as shown above. The truck passes the car, but the
car later catches up to the truck in front of a house, such that at time tD the front of each vehicle is at
position x = D.

a. On the axes below, sketch and label graphs of the velocity of the car and the velocity of the truck

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school’s participation in the program is prohibited.
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 AP Physics 1 Test Booklet

Kinematics FRQ Quiz 1

as a function of time. Indicate any important velocities or times.

b. Two students are discussing how the speed of the car compares to the speed of the truck when
both vehicles are in front of the house. Student 1 says, “The distance traveled by the car and the
truck is the same, and the time is the same, so they must have the same speed.” Student 2 says, “I
don’t see how that can be. The car catches up to the truck, so the car has to be going faster.”
i. Which aspects of Student 1’s reasoning, if any, are correct? Support your answer in terms
of relevant features of your graphs in part (a).
ii. Which aspects of Student 2’s reasoning, if any, are correct? Support your answer in terms
of relevant features of your graphs in part (a).
c. Derive an expression for the acceleration of the car. Express your answer in terms of D and vt
d. Determine the time at which the speed of the car is equal to the speed vt of the truck. Express
your answer in terms of tD. Justify your answer.

Please respond on separate paper, following directions from your teacher.

4. A world-class runner can complete a 100 m dash in about 10 s. Past studies have shown that runners in
such a race accelerate uniformly for a time tu and then run at constant speed for the remainder of the
race. A world-class runner is visiting your physics class. You are to develop a procedure that will allow
you to determine the uniform acceleration au and an approximate value of tu for the runner in a 100 m
dash. By necessity your experiment will be done on a straight track and include your whole class of
eleven students.

(a) By checking the line next to each appropriate item in the list below, select the equipment, other than
the runner and the track, that your class will need to do the experiment.

____ Stopwatches ____ Tape measures ____ Rulers____ Masking tape

____ Metersticks ____ Starter’s pistol ____ String ____ Chalk

(b) Outline the procedure that you would use to determine au and tu, including a labeled diagram of the
experimental setup. Use symbols to identify carefully what measurements you would make and include
in your procedure how you would use each piece of the equipment you checked in part (a).

(c) Outline the process of data analysis, including how you will identify the portion of the race that has
uniform acceleration, and how you would calculate the uniform acceleration.

Please respond on separate paper, following directions from your teacher.

Copyright © 2021. The College Board. These materials are part of a College Board program. Use or distribution of these materials online or in print beyond your school’s participation in the
program is prohibited.
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