PHY – MECH

DIAGNOSTIC TEST
Part I
Multiple Choice
1. All of the following are base units of the SI system
except:
A) kilogram.
B) kelvin.
C) meter.
D) volt.
2. The metric prefix for one one-thousandth is
A) milli.
B) centi.
C) kilo.
D) mega.
3. When is the average velocity of an object equal to the
instantaneous velocity?
A) always
B) never
C) only when the velocity is constant
D) only when the velocity is increasing at a constant rate
4. If the velocity of an object is zero, does it mean that
the acceleration is zero? Support your answer with an
example.
A) no, and an example would be an object starting from
rest
B) no, and an example would be an object coming to a
stop
C) yes, because of the way in which velocity is defined
D) yes, because of the way in which acceleration is
defined
5. Suppose that an object is moving with constant
acceleration. Make a statement concerning its motion
with respect to time.
A) In equal times its speed increases by equal amounts.
B) In equal times its velocity changes by equal amounts.
C) In equal times it moves equal distances.
D) A statement cannot be made using the information
given.
6. Two objects are thrown from the top of a tall building.
One is thrown up, and the other is thrown down, both
with the same initial speed. What are their speeds when
they hit the street?
A) The one thrown up is traveling faster.
B) The one thrown down is traveling faster.
C) They are traveling at the same speed.
D) It is impossible to tell because the height of the
building is not given.
7. The area under a curve in a velocity versus time graph
gives
A) acceleration.
B) velocity.
C) displacement.
D) position.
8. Three forces, each having a magnitude of 30 N, pull on
an object in directions that are 120 degrees apart from
each other. Make a statement concerning the resultant
force.
A) The resultant force is zero.
B) The resultant force is greater than 30 N.
C) The resultant force is equal to 30 N.
D) The resultant force is less than 30 N.
9. Ignoring air resistance, the horizontal component of a
projectile's velocity
A) is zero.
B) remains constant.
C) continuously increases.
D) continuously decreases.
10. You are throwing a ball for the second time. If the ball
leaves your hand with twice the velocity it had on your
first throw, its horizontal range R (compared to your first
serve) would be
A) 1.4 times as much.
B) half as much.
C) twice as much.
D) four times as much.
11. The acceleration of gravity on the Moon is only one-
sixth of that on Earth. If you hit a baseball on the Moon
with the same effort (and at the speed and angle) that
you would on Earth, the ball would land
A) the same distance away.
B) one-sixth as far.
C) 6 times as far.
D) 36 times as far.
12. Your motorboat can move at 30 km/h in still water.
How much time will it take you to move 12 km
downstream, in a river flowing at 6.0 km/h?
A) 20 min
B) 22 min
C) 24 min
D) 30 min
13. When you sit on a chair, the resultant force on you is
A) zero.
B) up.
C) down.
D) depending on your weight.
14. A constant net force acts on an object. Describe the
motion of the object.
A) constant acceleration
B) constant speed
C) constant velocity
D) increasing acceleration
15. Action-reaction forces
A) sometimes act on the same object.
B) always act on the same object.
C) may be at right angles.
D) always act on different objects.
16. A brick and a feather fall to the earth at their
respective terminal velocities. Which object experiences
the greater force of air friction?
A) the feather
B) the brick
C) Neither, both experience the same amount of air
friction.
D) It cannot be determined because there is not enough
information given
17. The force that keeps you from sliding on an icy
sidewalk is
A) weight.
B) kinetic friction.
C) static friction.
D) normal force.
18. Consider a particle moving with constant speed such
that its acceleration of constant
magnitude is always perpendicular to its velocity.
A) It is moving in a straight line.
B) It is moving in a circle.
C) It is moving in a parabola.
D) None of the above is definitely true all of the time.
19. What force is needed to make an object move in a
circle?
A) kinetic friction
B) static friction
C) centripetal force
D) weight
20. A coin of mass m rests on a turntable a distance r
from the axis of rotation. The turntable rotates with a
frequency of f. What is the minimum coefficient of static
friction between the turntable and the coin if the coin is
not to slip?
A) (4π2f2r)/g
B) (4π2fr2)/g
C) (4πf2r)/g
D) (4πfr2)/g
21. A car of mass m goes around a banked curve of radius
r with speed v. If the road is frictionless due to ice, the car
can still negotiate the curve if the horizontal component
of the normal force on the car from the road is equal in
magnitude to
A) mg/2.
B) mg.
C) mv2/r.
D) tan[v2/(rg)].
22. A 50-N object was lifted 2.0 m vertically and is being
held there. How much work is being done in holding the
box in this position?
A) more than 100 J
B) 100 J
C) less than 100 J, but more than 0 J
D) 0 J
23. If the net work done on an object is positive, then the
object's kinetic energy
A) decreases.
B) remains the same.
C) increases.
D) is zero.
24. Car J moves twice as fast as car K, and car J has half
the mass of car K. The kinetic energy of car J, compared to
car K is
A) the same.
B) 2 to 1.
C) 4 to 1.
D) 1 to 2.
25. What is the SI unit of momentum?
A) Nm
B) N/s
C) Ns
D) N/m
26. When a cannon fires a cannonball, the cannon will
recoil backward because the
A) energy of the cannonball and cannon is conserved.
B) momentum of the cannonball and cannon is
conserved.
C) energy of the cannon is greater than the energy of the
cannonball.
D) momentum of the cannon is greater than the energy
of the cannonball.
27. A small object collides with a large object and sticks.
Which object experiences the larger magnitude of
momentum change?
A) the large object
B) the small object
C) Both objects experience the same magnitude of
momentum change.
D) cannot be determined from the information given
28. A plane, flying horizontally, releases a bomb, which
explodes before hitting the ground.
Neglecting air resistance, the center of mass of the bomb
fragments, just after the explosion
A) is zero.
B) moves horizontally.
C) moves vertically.
D) moves along a parabolic path.
29. Angular velocity is expressed in units of
A) meters per second.
B) radians per second.
C) omegas per second.
D) arcs per second.
30. Rolling without slipping depends on
A) kinetic friction between the rolling object and the
ground.
B) static friction between the rolling object and the
ground.
C) tension between the rolling object and the ground.
D) the force of gravity between the rolling object and the
Earth.
31. Consider two uniform solid spheres where one has
twice the mass and twice the diameter of the other. The
ratio of the larger moment of inertia to that of the smaller
moment of inertia is
A) 2.
B) 8.
C) 4.
D) 10.
E) 6.
32. An ice skater performs a pirouette (a fast spin) by
pulling in his outstretched arms close to his body. What
happens to his rotational kinetic energy about the axis of
rotation?
A) It does not change.
B) It increases.
C) It decreases.
D) It changes, but it is impossible to tell which way.
33. A cube resting on a horizontal tabletop is in
A) stable equilibrium.
B) unstable equilibrium.
C) neutral equilibrium.
D) positive equilibrium.
34. Strain is
A) the ratio of the change in length to the original length.
B) the stress per unit area.
C) the applied force per unit area.
D) the ratio of stress to elastic modulus.
35. A mass is hung from identical wires made of
aluminum, brass, copper, and steel. Which wire will
stretch the least?
A) aluminum
B) brass
C) copper
D) steel
E) all the same
36. Which of the following is not a unit of pressure?
A) atmosphere
B) N/m
C) Pascal
D) mm of mercury
37. When atmospheric pressure changes, what happens
to the absolute pressure at the bottom of a pool?
A) It does not change.
B) It increases by a lesser amount.
C) It increases by the same amount.
D) It increases by a greater amount.
38. A simple pendulum consists of a mass M attached to a
weightless string of length L. For this
system, when undergoing small oscillations
A) the frequency is proportional to the amplitude.
B) the period is proportional to the amplitude.
C) the frequency is independent of the mass M.
D) the frequency is independent of the length L.
39. What happens to a simple pendulum's frequency if
both its length and mass are increased?
A) It increases.
B) It decreases.
C) It remains constant.
D) It could remain constant, increase, or decrease; it
depends on the length to mass ratio.
40. For a forced vibration, the amplitude of vibration is
found to depend on the
A) sum of the external frequency and the natural
frequency.
B) difference of the external frequency and the natural
frequency.
C) product of the external frequency and the natural
frequency.
D) ratio of the external frequency and the natural
frequency.
41. A block of mass m is sliding up a frictionless incline, as
shown. The block’s initial velocity is 3 m/s up the plane.
What is the component of the weight parallel to the plane?
A) mg
B) mg cos 40°
C) mg sin 40°
D) g sin 40°
E) g cos 40°
42. ball of mass m is spinning about a diameter. If
it were instead to make twice as many rotations
per second, what would happen to the ball’s
moment of inertia and its angular momentum?
Moment of Inertia angular momentum
(A) remains the same quadruples
(B) doubles remains the same
(C) doubles quadruples
(D) doubles doubles
(E) remains the same doubles
43. A satellite orbits the moon far from its surface in
a circle of radius r. If a second satellite has a greater
speed, yet still needs to maintain a circular orbit around
the moon, how should the second satellite orbit?
(A) with a radius r
(B) with a radius greater than r
(C) with a radius less than r
(D)Only an eccentric elliptical orbit can be
maintained with a larger speed.
(E) No orbit at all can be maintained with a
larger speed.
44. Which of the following must be true of an object
in uniform circular motion?
(A) Its velocity must be constant.
(B) Its acceleration and its velocity must be in
opposite directions.
(C) Its acceleration and its velocity must be
perpendicular to each other.
(D) It must experience a force away from the
center of the circle.
(E) Its acceleration must be negative.
45. Which of the following is a scalar?
(A) velocity
(B) acceleration
(C) displacement
(D) kinetic energy
(E) force
46. Planet X is twice as massive as Earth, but its radius is
only half of Earth’s radius. What is the acceleration due to
gravity on Planet X in terms of g, the acceleration due to
gravity on Earth?
(A) 1/4 g
(B) 1/2 g
(C) g
(D) 4 g
(E) 8g
47. Two identical train cars move toward each other, each
with the same speed as the other. When the train cars
collide, they stick together and remain at rest. Which of
the following fundamental physics principles can best be
used to explain why the attached cars cannot move after
the collision?
(A) Conservation of mechanical energy
(B) Conservation of linear momentum
(C) Conservation of angular momentum
(D) Conservation of mass
(E) Conservation of rotational energy
48. A bicycle slows down with an acceleration whose
magnitude increases linearly with time. Which of the
following velocity–time graphs could represent the
motion of the bicycle?
49. In a carnival ride, people of mass m are
whirled in a horizontal circle by a floorless
cylindrical room of radius r, as shown in the
diagram above. If the coefficient of friction
between the people and the tube surface is µ,
what minimum speed is necessary to keep the
people from sliding down the walls?
 
50. The force F on a mass is shown above as a function of time t.
Which of the following methods can be used to determine the
impulse experienced by the mass?
I. multiplying the average force by tmax
II. calculating the area under the line on the graph
III. taking the integral
 
(A) II only
(B) III only
(C) II and III only
(D) I, II and III
(E) II only
Part II
Identification
51.
A statement of the relationship between
buoyancy and displaced fluid: An immersed object is
buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it
displaces.
52.
The rate at which work is done or energy is transformed
53.
The speed attained by an object at which the
resistive forces, often air resistance, counterbalance the
driving forces, so the motion is without acceleration.
54.
A collision in which colliding objects rebound
with no lasting deformation or heat generation.
55.
The net upward force exerted by a fluid on a submerged
or immersed object.
56.
The rise of a liquid in a fine, hollow tube or in a
Narrow space.
57.
Changes in pressure at any point in an enclosed
fluid at rest are transmitted undiminished to all points
in the fluid and act in all directions.
58.
The ratio of the output force to the input
force for a machine.
59.
Name of unit for solid angle
60.
The pivot point of a lever.
Part III
Computation
61 – 65
Suppose that a ball is dropped from a tower. How
far will it have fallen after 2 seconds?
66 - 70
A person throws a ball upward into the air with an
initial velocity of 15 m/s. Calculate how high it goes.
Ignore air resistance.
71 - 75
A movie stunt driver on a motorcycle speeds
horizontally off a 50.0-m-high cliff. How fast must
the motorcycle leave the cliff top to land on level
ground below, 90.0 m from the base of the cliff
where the cameras are? Ignore air resistance.
76 - 80
Two boxes are connected by a
cord running over a pulley. The
coefficient of kinetic friction
between box A and the table is
0.20. Find the acceleration, a, of
the system, which will have the
same magnitude
for both boxes assuming the cord
doesn’t stretch.
81 - 85
The Moon’s nearly circular orbit around the Earth
has a radius of about 384,000 km and a period T of
27.3 days. Determine the acceleration of the Moon
toward the Earth.
86 - 90
Estimate the impulse delivered by a karate blow
that breaks a board.
Assume the hand moves at roughly 10 m/s when it
hits the board.
91 - 95
How fast does water flow from a hole at the bottom
of a very wide, 4.7-m-deep storage tank filled with
water? Ignore viscosity.
96 - 100
A spider of mass 0.30 g waits
in its web of negligible mass.
A slight movement causes
the web to vibrate with a
frequency of about 15 Hz.
Estimate the value of the
spring stiffness constant k
for the web.