General Physics I (Phys1011) November 29, 2019

Worksheet: Chapter 2

Regular Semester I

Mekelle University
College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Department of Physics

Kinematics in One and Two Dimensions

Set I: Can an object accelerate if its speed is constant? Can an object accelerate if its velocity
is constant?

Set II: State which of the following quantities, if any, remain constant as a projectile moves
through its parabolic trajectory: (a) speed, (b) acceleration, (c) horizontal component
of velocity, (d) vertical component of velocity.

Set III: Explain whether or not the following particles have an acceleration: (a) a particle
moving in a straight line with constant speed and (b) a particle moving around a curve
with constant speed.

Set IV: A projectile is launched on the Earth with some initial velocity. Another projectile is
launched on the Moon with the same initial velocity. Neglecting air resistance, which
projectile has the greater range? Which reaches the greater altitude? (Note that the
free-fall acceleration on the Moon is about 1.6 m/s2 .)

Set V: What is the fundamental difference between the unit vectors r̂ and θ̂ and the unit vectors
î and ĵ?

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Set VI: A jet lands on an aircraft carrier at 140 mi/h (≈ 63 m/s). (a) What is its acceleration
(assumed constant) if it stops in 2.0 s due to an arresting cable that snags the airplane
and brings it to a stop? (b) If the plane touches down at position xi = 0, what is the
final position of the plane?

Set VII: An object moving with uniform acceleration has a velocity of 12.0 cm/s in the positive
x direction when its x coordinate is 3.00 cm. If its x coordinate 2.00 s later is -5.00 cm,
what is its acceleration?

Set VIII: A particle moves along the x axis according to the equation x = 2.00 + 3.00t − 1.00t2 ,
where x is in meters and t is in seconds. At t = 3.00s, find (a) the position of the
particle, (b) its velocity, and (c) its acceleration.

Set IX: A fish swimming in a horizontal plane has velocity ~vi = (4.00î + 1.00ĵ) m/s at a point in
the ocean where the position relative to a certain rock is ~ri = (10.0î − 4.00ĵ) m. After
the fish swims with constant acceleration for 20.0 s, its velocity is ~v = (20.0î − 5.00ĵ)
m/s. (a) What are the components of the acceleration? (b) What is the direction of the
acceleration with respect to unit vector î? (c) If the fish maintains constant acceleration,
where is it at t = 25.0 s, and in what direction is it moving?

Set X: Figure 1 represents the total acceleration of a particle moving clockwise in a circle of
radius 2.50 m at a certain instant of time. At this instant, find (a) the radial acceleration,
(b) the speed of the particle, and (c) its tangential acceleration.

Figure 1: Circular motion

Set XI: A particle starts from the origin with an initial velocity having an x component of
20 m/s and a y component of -15 m/s. The particle moves in the xy plane with an
x component of acceleration only, given by ax = 4.0 m/s2 . Calculate the velocity at
~r = (150î − 75ĵ) m.

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Particle Dynamics and Planetary Motion

Set I: If a car is traveling westward with a constant speed of 20 m/s, what is the resultant
force acting on it?

Set II: What is wrong with the statement ”Because the car is at rest, there are no forces acting
on it”? How would you correct this sentence?

Set III: At what position in its elliptical orbit is the speed of a planet a maximum? At what
position is the speed a minimum?

Set IV: Explain why it takes more fuel for a spacecraft to travel from the Earth to the Moon
than for the return trip. Estimate the difference.

Set V: If the gravitational force on an object is directly proportional to its mass, why don’t
objects with large masses fall with greater acceleration than small ones?

Set VI: Two forces F~1 and F~2 act on a 5.00 kg object. If F~1 = 20.0 N and F~2 = 15.0 N, find
the accelerations in (a) and (b) of Figure 2.

Figure 2: Force

Set VII: Three forces acting on an object are given by F~1 = (−2.00î + 2.00ĵ) N, F~2 = (5.00î −
3.00ĵ) N, and F~3 = (−45.0î) N. The object experiences an acceleration of magnitude
3.75 m/s2 . (a) What is the direction of the acceleration? (b) What is the mass of the
object? (c) If the object is initially at rest, what is its speed after 10.0 s? (d) What are
the velocity components of the object after 10.0 s?

Set VIII: When a falling meteoroid is at a distance above the Earth’s surface of 3.00 times the
Earth’s radius, what is its acceleration due to the Earth’s gravitation?

Set IX: Io, a moon of Jupiter, has an orbital period of 1.77 days and an orbital radius of
4.22 × 105 km. From these data, determine the mass of Jupiter.

Set X: The free-fall acceleration on the surface of the Moon is about one sixth of that on the
surface of the Earth. If the radius of the Moon is about 0.250RE , find the ratio of their
average densities, ρMoon /ρEarth .

Set XI: An object is released from rest at an altitude h above the surface of the Earth. Show
that its speed at a distance r from the Earth’s center, where RE ≤ r ≤ RE + h, is given

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 by s  
1 1
v= 2GME − .
r RE + h

Work, Energy and Linear Momentum

Set I: In an elastic collision between two particles, does the kinetic energy of each particle
change as a result of the collision?

Set II: Can the center of mass of an object be located at a position at which there is no mass?

Set III: A force F~ = (6î − 2ĵ) N acts on a particle that undergoes a displacement 4~r = (3î + ĵ)
m. Find (a) the work done by the force on the particle and (b) the angle between F~
and 4~r.

Set IV: A particle is attached between two identical springs on a horizontal frictionless table.
Both springs have spring constant k and are initially unstressed. (a) If the particle is
pulled a distance x along a direction perpendicular to the initial configuration of the
springs, as in Figure 3, show that the force exerted by the springs on the particle is
 
L
F~ = −2kx 1 − √ î.
x2 + L2
(b) Determine the amount of work done by this force in moving the particle from x =
A to x = 0. (c) Show that the potential energy of the system is
 p 
U (x) = kx2 + 2kL L − x2 + L2 .

(d) If the particle is pulled 0.500 m to the right and then released, what is its speed
when it reaches the equilibrium point x = 0? (Assume that L = 1.20 m and k = 40.0
N/m.)

Figure 3: Elastic force Figure 4: Center of Mass.

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Set V: Three particles of masses m1 = 1.2 kg, m2 = 2.5 kg, and m3 = 3.4 kg form an equilateral
triangle of edge length a = 140 cm. Where is the center of mass of this system? (Hint:
m1 is at (0,0), m2 is at (140 cm,0), and m3 is at (70 cm, 120 cm), as shown in the figure
4.)

Set VI: A rod of length 30.0 cm has linear density (mass-per-length) given by
2
λ = 50.0 g/m + 20.0x g/m ,

where x is the distance from one end, measured in meters. (a) What is the mass of the
rod? (b) How far from the x = 0 end is its center of mass?

Set VII: A 6.0-kg block initially at rest is pulled to the right along a horizontal surface by a
constant horizontal force of 12 N. (a) Find the speed of the block after it has moved
3.0 m if the surfaces in contact have a coefficient of kinetic friction of 0.15. (b) Suppose
the force F~ is applied at an angle θ as shown in Figure 5(b). At what angle should the
force be applied to achieve the largest possible speed after the block has moved 3.0 m
to the right?

Set VIII: In a crash test, a car of mass 1.5 × 103 kg collides with a wall and rebounds as in
figure 6. The initial and final velocities of the car are vi = −15 m/s and vf = 2.6 m/s,
respectively. If the collision lasts for 0.15 s, find (a) the impulse delivered to the car due
to the collision (b) the size and direction of the average force exerted on the car

Figure 5: (a) A block pulled to the right

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Set IX: A neutron in a nuclear reactor makes an elastic head on collision with the nucleus of
a carbon atom initially at rest. (a) What fraction of the neutron’s kinetic energy is
transferred to the carbon nucleus? (b) If the initial kinetic energy of the neutron is
1.60 × 10−13 J, find its final kinetic energy and the kinetic energy of the carbon nucleus
after the collision. (The mass of the carbon nucleus is nearly 12.0 times the mass of the
neutron.)

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