Homework 4 Solutions

Kelly Douglass Phys 113 Contemporary Physics I Drexel University October 22, 2012
1. 3.P.57 - See HW2 #8 2. 3.P.63 Object A has mass mA  8 kg and initial momentum pA,i x20, 5, 0y kg m/s, just before it strikes object B, which has mass mB 11 kg. Just before the collision object B has initial momentum pB,i x5, 6, 0y kg m/s.

  

(a) Consider a system consisting of both objects A and B. What is the total initial momentum of this system just before the collision? The total momentum of the system just before the collision is equal to the sum of the momenta of each individual component at that instant. pi

 pA pB  p20 kg m/s 5 kg m/sq p5 kg m/s 6 kg m/sq pi  25 kg m/s 1 kg m/s

(b) The forces that A and B exert on each other are very large but last for a very short time. If we choose a time interval from just before to just after the collision, what is the approximate value of the impulse applied to the two-object system due to forces exerted on the system by objects outside the system? There are no external forces on the system, so the impulse is equal to 0. (c) Therefore, what does the Momentum Principle predict that the total nal momentum of the system will be just after the collision? Since the impulse is 0, the total momentum after the collison must equal the total momentum before the collision.

(d) Just after the collision, object A is observed to have momentum pA,f  x18, 5, 0y kg m/s. What is the momentum of object B just after the collision? Using the result from the last part,

 pf 25 kg m/s 1 kg m/s  p18 kg m/s 5 kg m/sq pB pB  7 kg m/s 4 kg m/s

pi

3. You have a spring with constant k What is the: (a) angular frequency?

 200 N/m attached to a 3 kg mass.

c k d 200 N/m
m

3 kg

 8.16 rad/s

(b) frequency?

 2 
2

1 2

ck
m

1 2

200 N/m 3 kg

 1.30 s1

(c) period? The period is the inverse of the frequency. P P

 
1

 2

cm
k

 2

3 kg 200 N/m

(1)

 0.770 s

(d) How long would you have to make a pendulum such that it swung at exactly the same rate as the oscillator? For a pendulum,  g , so l

g l

k m mg k

l

 p3 kgqp9.8 m/s q 200 N/m

2

l  0.147 m

(e) If you hung the mass from the spring, how much would the spring stretch? When hanging at its equilibrium position, the net force on the mass is equal to 0.

 0  mg kx kx  mg mg l x k x  0.147 m

4. 4.P.46 Two blocks of mass m1 and m3 , connected by a rod of mass m2 , are sitting on a low-friction surface, and you push to the left on the right block (mass m1 ) with a constant force. (a) What is the acceleration dvx of the blocks? dt In the non-relativistic limit, the net force on the system in the xdirection must be equal to the total mass of the system times the systems acceleration.

F  M dvx dt dvx  m F m dt m2 1 3
(b) What is the compression force in the rod (mass m2 ) near its right end? Near its left end?

All components in the system have the same acceleration. The compression force in the right-end of the rod is due to the acceleration of the block of mass m1 .

 m1 dvx dt m1 F FR  m1 m2 m3
FR Likewise, near its left end, the compression force is due to the block of mass m3 . FL FL

 m3 dvx dt  m m3 F m m2 1 3

(c) How would these results change if you pull to the left on the left block (mass m3 ) with the same force, instead of pushing the right block? If the left block was pulled instead of pushing on the right block, the compression forces would now be tension forces. The magnitudes at the ends would be the same the directions would be opposite. 5. 4.X.56 Bob is pushing a box across the oor at a constant speed of 1 m/s, applying a horizontal force whose magnitude is 20 N. Alice is pushing an identical box across the oor at a constant speed of 2 m/s, applying a horizontal force. (a) What is the magnitude of the force that Alice is applying to the box? Constant velocity implies that there is no net force on either box. The only two forces present in either system are the force applied by the individual and friction. In each case, they must be equal to each other, so the friction force on Bobs box is equal to the force he is applying Ff  FB  20 N. Likewise, the force Alice applies to the box is equal to the friction force. Since the boxes are identical, so are the friction forces. Thus, FA  Ff  FB  20 N  FA . (b) With the two boxes starting from rest, explain qualitatively what Alice and Bob did to get their boxes moving at dierent constant speeds. Both Bob and Alice had to push the boxes with enough force to overcome the static friction force. To end with twice the velocity, Alices box must have experienced double the acceleration as Bobs. To achieve this, she must either have pushed for half the time or with twice the force.

6. 4.P.82 It was found that a 20 gram mass hanging from a particular spring had an oscillation period of 1.2 seconds. (a) When two 20 gram masses are hung from this spring, what would you predict for the period in seconds? Explain briey. From the equation for the period of oscillations for a spring (seen in Eqn. 1), the period is proportional to the square root of the mass. Thus, c if the mass is doubled, the period will increase by a factor of 2.

c c  2P0  2p1.2 sq P  1.70 s

P

(b) When one 20 gram mass is supported by two of these vertical, parallel springs, what would you predict for the period in seconds? Explain briey. If the single mass is suspended by two springs in parallel, the eective c spring constant doubles. This reduces the period by a factor of 2. P P P c  c0  1.2 s 2 2

 0.849 s

(c) Suppose that you cut one spring into two equal lengths, and you hang one 20 gram mass from this half spring. What would you predict for the period in seconds? Explain briey. Imagine the whole spring as two equal springs hanging from one another, each with a spring constant k1{2 . The relation between the spring constants is

 k1 k1 1{2 1{2 k1{2  2k

1 k The spring constant of half the original spring is twice as large as the original, so the period will be the same as in the last part P  0.849 s (d) Suppose that you take a single (full-length) spring and a single 20 gram mass to the Moon and watch the system oscillate vertically there. Will the period you observe on the Moon be longer, shorter, or 5

the same as the period you measured on Earth? (The gravitational eld strength on the Moon is about one-sixth that on the Earth). Explain briey. The period of oscillation will remain unchanged, as it is independent of gravity. P  1.2 s 7. You push a 5 kg box across the oor with a force of 40 N at an angle of 30H with respect to the horizontal. The coecient of kinetic friction is k  0.2. (a) Draw a free-body diagram for the box. Please break down the applied force into x- and y-components, and compute the normal force 2 explicitly. Please use g  10 m/s throughout the problem.

The block is at rest in the y-direction, so the net force in y must be 0.

 0  FN Fg F sin 30H FN  Fg F sin 30H  50 N 20 N FN  70 N

(b) What is the acceleration of the block? The acceleration of the block is due to the net force in the x-direction. In the non-relativistic limit,

 F cos 30H Ff ma  F cos 30H k FN F FN N N a cos 30H k  40kg cos 30H p0.2q 70kg m m 5 5
x

a  4.13 m/s

(c) Using this constant acceleration, how long do you need to push to move the block 8 m? With constant acceleration, we can use our trusty old friend 1 x  x0 v0 t at2 2 Here, x0

 0 and v0  0, so
x t

c 2x d
a

1 2 at 2

2p8 mq 4.13 m/s

t  1.97 s

(d) How fast will it be moving at the end of that time? Again, from our old relation between velocity, acceleration, and time,

 v0 at  p4.13 m/s2 qp1.97 sq v  3.13 m/s

v