Olympiad Physics Competition F=ma Intensive Practice Camp
Compiled and Lectured by
Chunlai Yang
Ph.D. in Physics
Copyright Reserved
Yang F=ma Intensive Practice Camp Mock Exam – 5
25 Questions 75 Minutes
Submit before the class time to
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1flRP2oDysNCIc5FwRi0gCo6XaPx3QvA4H9P_aOBf_ag/edit
1. As shown below, Bob is using the rope through a fixed pulley to move a box with constant speed v. The
coefficient of kinetic friction between the box and the ground is μ < 1. Assume that the fixed pulley is massless
and there is no friction between the rope and the fixed pulley. While the box is moving, which of the following
statements is correct?
A. The magnitude of the force on the rope is constant.
B. The magnitude of friction between the ground and the box is decreasing.
C. The magnitude of the normal force of the ground on the box is increasing.
D. The pressure of the box on the ground is increasing.
E. The pressure of the box on the ground is constant.
2. An inelastic ball is dropped from a height and sticks on the ground. Which graph best represents the acceleration
of the center of mass of the ball as a function of time?
3. A basketball is dropped from the height and bounces on the ground. Considering only the ball just before and just
after the bounce, which of the following statements must be true?
A. The momentum and the total mechanical energy of the ball are conserved.
B. The momentum of the ball is conserved, but not the kinetic energy.
C. The total mechanical energy of the ball is conserved, but not the momentum.
D. The kinetic energy of the ball is conserved, but not the momentum.
E. The momentum of the ball is not conserved.
4. A ball enters a 90∘ bend tube lying on the ground (as shown in the figure). Both the ball and the bend tube can
slide freely on the ground. What is the direction of the velocity of the ball (relative to the ground) when it exits the
tube?
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5. A projectile is launched at an angle of 25.0° from the horizontal. Is there any point on the trajectory where the
velocity 𝑣⃗ and the acceleration 𝑎⃗ are parallel to each other? If so, where?
A. An instant before impact on the ground.
B. At the highest point.
C. They are never parallel.
D. An instant after launch.
E. Somewhere in the middle when the projectile is going down.
6. A cannon car can fire a cannonball in any direction at a fixed speed u with respect to itself. Now the cannon car,
initially at rest, can move towards North by firing two cannon balls to propel itself. Ignore all frictions. Which of
the following situations will give the cannon car the highest speed after firing the two cannonballs?
A. Fire both cannonballs horizontally towards South at the same time.
B. Fire one cannonball horizontally towards South, then wait for 5 seconds and fire another one towards South
again.
C. Fire one cannonball at 45∘ to the ground towards South, then wait for 5 seconds and fire another one towards
South again.
D. Fire one cannonball horizontally towards South-West and another towards South-East at the same time.
E. Both A and B. will give the car the same speed.
7. Consider the following two cases:
Case A: A boy is pulling himself up on a movable platform hung on a frictionless pulley at a constant speed.
Case B: The boy on the platform is pulled by another boy standing on the ground.
Suppose the total weight of the boy on the platform and the platform is Mg. The rope is massless. The boy and
the platform eventually moved 2 m vertically upwards. Which of the following statements is/are true?
Ⅰ.The pulling force applied by the boy in case A is half of the force applied by the boy on the ground in case B.
II. To move up 2 m, the work done by the boy in case A is less than the work done by the boy on the ground in
case B.
III. The tension on the rope in both cases are the same.
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. II and III only
D. I, II and III
E. None of them
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8. Four identical springs, with spring constant k, are mounted on 3 rigid and vertical thin plates as following in their
equilibrium situation. Now, we compress the whole assembly as a whole in the direction perpendicular to the
plates. What is the effective spring constant as a whole? Assume the masses of both the springs and the plates can
be neglected and the displacement is small.
A. k/2
B. k/√2
C. k
D.√2k
E. 2k
9. A lifeguard at point A on the beach, 10 m from the coastline, is going to save a swimmer in the sea at point B,
also 10 m from the coastline. The alongshore distance is 2m between points A and B, as shown in the figure (not
in scale). The lifeguard can run at 6 m/s on the beach and swim at 2 m/s in the sea. Suppose the lifeguard will go
in a straight line from A to C, a point on the coastline and another straight line from C to B. Find the distance x,
i.e. the alongshore distance between A and C if he would like to minimize the total time to reach point B.
A. 0 m
B. 0.5 m
C. 1.0 m
D. 1.5 m
E. 2.0 m
10. The escape velocity is the minimum speed needed for an object to escape from the gravitational influence of a
planet without burning fuel. The acceleration due to gravity on the surface of an unknown planet X is given as
7.44 m/s2 and the escape velocity on the surface is given as 10.06 km/s. Estimate the radius of the Planet X.
A. 1.7 × 106 m B. 3.4 × 106 m C. 5.0 × 106 m D. 6.8 × 106 m E. 13.6 × 106 m
11. A 15 kg uniform ladder, with a length 2.5 m, is at rest at the corner between a vertical wall and the ground at an
angle of θ = 60∘ Suppose the vertical wall is smooth. Find the frictional force on the ground to keep the ladder
at rest without sliding.
A. 36.8 N
B. 42.4 N
C. 84.9 N
D. 127.3 N
E. None of the above
12. Although a photon does not have a mass, it carries a momentum p along its propagation direction, which is
related to its energy E by p = E/c where c is the light speed. A solar sail is a proposed method of spacecraft
propulsion by shining sunlight on it to exert pressure to push the sail. Suppose the area of the sail is A and there
are n photons per unit area per second for the sunlight. What is the maximum resultant force on the spacecraft by
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the sunlight? Hint: assume the sail is a perfect mirror to reflect the light off completely, i.e. 100% reflection of
light.
A. E/√𝐴 B. 2E/√𝐴 C. pnA D. 2pnA E. None of the above
13. A tuning fork undergoes simple harmonic motion at one of its ends and fires a middle C musical note at a fixed
frequency of 261 Hz. The simple harmonic motion has a maximum amplitude of 0.4 mm. Find the acceleration
when the end has a displacement of +0.2 mm.
A. +537.9 m/s2 B. −537.9 m/s2 C. +268.9 m/s2 D. −268.9 m/s2 E. 0 m/s2
14. You are given a large collection of identical heavy balls and lightweight rods. When two balls are placed at the
ends of one rod and interact through their mutual gravitational attraction (as is shown on the left), the
compressive force in the rod is F. Next, four balls and four rods are placed at the vertexes and edges of a square
(as is shown on the right). What is the compressive force in each rod in the latter case?
A. F
B. √2 F
C. 2F
D. (1+ )F
√
E. 2√2F
15. A block of mass m= 3.0 kg slides down one ramp and then up a second ramp smoothly
without flipping. The coefficient of kinetic friction between the block and each ramp is 𝜇 =
0.40. The block begins at a height ℎ1 = 1.0 m above the horizontal. Both ramps are at a 30 ∘
incline above the horizontal. To what height ℎ2 above the horizontal does the block rise on
the second ramp?
A. 0.18 m
B. 0.52 m
C. 0.59 m
D. 0.69 m
E. 0.71 m
16. Two cannons are arranged vertically under the Earth’s gravity, with the lower cannon pointing upward (towards
the upper cannon) and the upper cannon pointing downward (towards the lower cannon), 200m above the lower
cannon. They fire a projectile at the same time. The initial speed of the projectiles are both equal to 50m/s. How
long after the cannons fire do the projectiles collide?
A. 0.5 s
B. 1.0 s
C. 1.5 s
D. 2.0 s
E. 4.0 s
17. Following the above question, how far above the lower cannon do the projectiles collide? Choose the closest
value.
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A. 50 m B. 60 m C. 80 m D. 100 m E.120 m
18. A 0.100 kg object is released from rest at the height of 3.30 m above the ground and slides along a frictionless
track with a loop of diameter 3.00 m. While the object is moving along the loop, it can be considered to be
rotating about the center of the loop. When it is at point P (the far-right-most position of the loop), what is the
net force exerting on the object (to 3 sig. fig.)?
A. 2.35 N
B. 0.98 N
C. 2.55 N
D. 2.04 N
E. 1.56 N
19. A car heading north collides at an intersection with a truck heading east. The mass of the truck is twice the mass
of the car. If they lock together and travel at 28 m/s at 46° north of east just after the collision, how fast was the
car initially travelling? Assume that any forces exerted by objects other than the car or the truck are negligible.
A. 60 m/s
B. 20 m/s
C. 30 m/s
D. 40 m/s
E. 58 m/s
20. A 5.00-kg box is sliding down along an incline. The incline makes an angle of 30.0 ∘ to the horizontal and the
friction between the box and the inclined surface is non-zero. The box is sliding at a constant speed of 0.60 m/s.
Find the magnitude of the power by the friction on the box.
A. 14.7 W B. 29.4 W C. 25.5 W D. 0 W E. 21.3 W
21. An art sculpture made of material with uniform density is placed on the horizontal ground as shown below. The
sculpture is formed by three identical bars with length L, each with a mass M. The bars are firmly attached
together. Neglect the thickness of the bar. Find the difference in the normal force, ΔN = N2 – N1, exerting on the
sculpture.
A. ΔN = Mg
B. ΔN = 2Mg
C. ΔN = Mg/2
D. ΔN = 3Mg
E. ΔN = 0
22. A motorcycle moves with constant speed v along a circular track with radius R. The rider leans his body and the
motorcycle inwards so that the line joining the track-motorcycle contact point and the center of mass of the
whole system (rider + motorcycle) makes an angle θ with the vertically upward direction, as shown in the figure
below.
Find θ if v=50 m/s, R = 100 m, and M = 200 kg, where M is the total mass of the motorcycle and the rider.
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A. θ= 35°
B. θ= 48°
C. θ= 57°
D. θ= 69°
E. θ= 73°
23. Two point particles A and B move on the x-y plane. There may be interacting forces between the two particles,
but the system as a whole is isolated. At a certain moment, particle A is at 𝑟⃗ =𝚤̂ and particle B is at 𝑟⃗ =𝚥̂, where 𝚤̂
and 𝚥̂ are the unit vectors along the x and y direction respectively. Denote the respective accelerations of A and B
at this moment by and 𝑎⃗ and 𝑎⃗ Which of the following is/are possible?
Ⅰ.𝑎⃗ =-𝚤̂+3𝚥̂, 𝑎⃗ =𝚤̂+3𝚥̂
Ⅱ. 𝑎⃗ =𝚤̂-3𝚥̂, 𝑎⃗ =3𝚤̂-9𝚥̂
Ⅲ. 𝑎⃗ =3𝚤̂-𝚥̂, 𝑎⃗ =-6𝚤̂+2𝚥̂
Ⅳ. 𝑎⃗ =2𝚤̂-2𝚥̂, 𝑎⃗ =-3𝚤̂+3𝚥̂
A. III only B. IV only C. III and IV only D. II, III, and IV only E. I, II, III, and
24. A point object is under simple harmonic oscillation on the x-axis centered at the origin. The amplitude is A. At
time t = τ , its position is x = A/2. At time t = 2τ, its position is x = – A/2. What is its position at t = 3τ?
I. – A II. −A/2 III. 0 IV. A/2
A. I only B. II only C. IV only D. I or IV E. II or III
25. Two tennis balls A and B with the same mass, move with respective velocities u A and uB on the x-axis. B is
located in the +x direction with respect to A and uA > uB, so that A will hit B. After the collision, the final
velocities of A and B are vA and vB, respectively. What are the possible values of vA? Ignore all external forces
acting on A and B.
A. 0 ≤ vA ≤ uA B. 0 ≤ vA ≤ C. uB ≤ vA≤
D. uB ≤ vA ≤ uA E. ≤ vA ≤
