University of Waterloo

Final Examination
Fall 2014

Course Number:

ECE 105

Course Title:

Physics of Electrical Engineering I

Professors:

M. Balogh, H. Hosseinzedeh and G. Scholz

First Name: _______________________

Lecture Section __________

Last Name: _______________________

ID #: ____________________________

Signature ___________________________

Date of Exam:

Dec 10, 2014

Time Period:

12:30 pm 3:00 pm

Duration of Exam:

2.5 hours

Number of Exam Pages:

(Including this cover sheet)

13

Aids Allowed:

Calculator, formula sheet provided

Exam Type

Closed Book

Exam is printed single sided on white paper.

Select this box if second side of paper is to be used for rough work calculations.

1. Write your answers in the spaces provided whenever applicable.

2. Make sure your calculator is in either radians or degrees, as required. If you use a
programmable calculator, make sure that the memory is cleared.
3. Ask a proctor to clarify a question if you think it is necessary. If the student proctor cannot
answer your question satisfactorily ask him / her to call the Professor.
4. Questions in Part C are worth 12 marks each. Answer only 5 of the 6 questions. If you answer

more than five, only the first five will be marked. Write full solutions directly in the exam
booklet, and put your final answer in the boxes provided. Use the back of the opposite page if
necessary; indicate clearly if you have done so. These will be hand-marked, with partial credit
given for correct procedure.
MARKING SCHEME
#A1
#A2
Part A
(1 each)

Part B
(3 each)

Part C
(12
each)

#A3

#A4

#A5

#A6

#A7

#A8

#A9

#A10

#B1

#B2

#B3

#B4

#B5

#B6

#C1

#C2

#C3

#C4

#C5

#C6

#B7

#B8

#B9

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 2 of 13

Part A: Answer all questions. Each question is worth 1 mark.

1. An object is held in place by friction on an inclined surface. The angle of inclination is

increased until the object starts moving. If the surface is kept at this angle, the object
a. slows down.
b. moves at uniform speed.
c. speeds up.
d. impossible to tell

2. Consider a person standing in an elevator that is accelerating upward. The magnitude of the
normal force N exerted by the elevator floor on the person is:
a. larger than
b. identical to
c. smaller than
the magnitude of the force of gravity on the person.

3. What force is responsible for changing a cars direction as it rounds a frictionless

banked curve?
a. The cars weight
b. The vertical component of the normal force
c. The horizontal component of the normal force
d. The force of friction

4. A parallel translation of an objects axis of rotation always

changes the moment of inertia.

4) True

or

False

5. If an object is rotating there must be nonzero net torque acting

on it at that instant.

5) True

or

False

6. A larger net force on an object always produces a larger

change in its momentum compared with a smaller net force.

6) True

or

False

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 3 of 13

7. What is the direction of the velocity of a particle at point P on the following wave, which is
traveling to the left?
a. Left
v
y
b. Right
c. Up
d. Down
P
e. None of the above
x

8. A wheel is rolling without slipping, and the velocity of its centre of mass is v. What is the
velocity of a bug that sits on the face of the wheel, directly above the centre and halfway
between the centre and top of the wheel?
a. v
v
b. 2v
c. 1.5v
d. 0.5v
e. None of the above

9. Rank the following objects in order of decreasing magnitude of net torque. All forces
(indicated with arrows) have the same magnitude, and all rods are uniform, with the same
length. In each case, X marks the pivot point.
a. c > d > a = b
b. b > d > a > c
c. d > a > c > b
d. d > c = a > b
e. None of the above
A

10. Rank the following objects, which all have the same mass, in order of decreasing moment of
inertia. The first three objects (two hoops and a uniform disk) have the same radius, R, and
the fourth object (thin rod) has length 2R. In each case the X marks the pivot point.
a. b > d > a > c
b. b > a = c > d
c. b = d > c > a
d. d > b > a > c
e. None of the above

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 4 of 13

Part B: Answer all nine questions. Each question is worth 3 marks.

1. A 200 g block hangs from a spring with spring constant of 10 N/m. At time t=0s the
block is 20cm below the equilibrium point and moving upward with a speed of 100 cm/s.
What is the blocks oscillation frequency?

f=

Hz

2. Hail rains onto a flat 5.0 m2 roof. Half the stones bounce off and the other half remain
on the roof. If the roof can maximally withstand 500 N/m2 of force, at what rate can it
hail onto the roof (hailstones/s) before the roof collapses? Each hailstone weighs 25 g
and has a terminal speed of 25 m/s.

R=

3. A horizontal bar of non-uniform density and length L=2m is

supported at both ends with a string, as shown. If the angles
are = 24 and = 38 , find the location of the bars center
of mass (com), relative to the length L.

x/L =

s-1

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 5 of 13

4. A car rounds a curve with radius R=70m, that is banked at 15 degrees. The coefficient
of static friction between the car wheels and the road is 0.6. Find the maximum speed at
which the car can round the corner without slipping.

vmax =

m/s

5. A transverse pulse is propagating on a 2.0 m long string of mass 50 g. The pulse is

!
described by the equation: , =
! , with x and y in meters, and t in seconds.
!!
Find the tension in the string.

!! ! !!"

T=

6. Two gliders are set on a horizontal air track. A spring

of spring constant k=200 N/m is attached to the back
end of the second glider. As shown in the figure, the
first glider, of mass m1=1.5 kg, moves to the right
with speed v1=2 m/s, and the second glider, of mass
m2=5kg, moves more slowly to the right with speed
v2=0.5 m/s. When m1 collides with the spring attached to m2, the spring compresses by a
distance xmax, and then the gliders move apart again.
Find the speed v at the moment of maximum compression (before gliders start moving
apart), and the amount of maximum compression, xmax.

v=

m/s

xmax =

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 6 of 13

7. A uniform sphere of mass M=2kg and radius r=30cm rolls perfectly down a plane with
friction (s=0.6, k=0.2) inclined at an angle =30 degrees with respect to the horizontal.
If it starts from rest, find the magnitude of the velocity of a point at the top of the sphere,
directly above the centre of mass, by the time the wheel has dropped a vertical distance
of 2m.

v=

8. Two blocks lie on a frictionless surface. The top block

has a mass of 0.5kg, and the lower block has a mass of
3kg. You apply a force of F=5N to the top block as
shown. If the coefficient of friction between the two
blocks is s=0.6 and k=0.2, find the magnitude of the
acceleration of the bottom block.

m/s

m/s2

a=

9. A continuous harmonic wave travels to the left, with speed v=3m/s, along an infinite
string. A point on the string experiences an acceleration that varies with time, ranging in
magnitude from 0 to 25 m/s2. The vertical distance between the points of maximum
upward and maximum downward acceleration is 5cm. Find the wavelength of the wave.

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 7 of 13

Part C: Answer five (5) of the following questions. If you answer more than five, please
indicate which ones you want marked. Otherwise, only the first five will be marked.

1. A 0.1 kg mass is on a frictionless horizontal surface and has

springs attached on both ends with constants k1 and k2 and
undergoes simple harmonic motion (SHM). The two constants
are related by k1 = k2 /2. When the mass is 4 cm to the right of
its equilibrium position, its speed is 90 cm/s to the right, and
the angular frequency of the oscillations, , is 30 s-1.
a. (1 marks) What is the period of the oscillations?

k1

T =

k2

b. (2 marks) When the system is in equilibrium, how is the amount by which spring
1 is compressed or stretched related to that of spring 2?

x1 =

x2

c. (4 marks) What is the amplitude of the oscillations ?

A =

cm

d. (3 marks) What is the speed of the block, 3s later?

v =

m/s

k1 =

N/m

k2 =

N/m

e. (2 marks) What are the values of k1 and k2 ?

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 8 of 13

2. A 10kg pulley of constant thickness has a radius of R=30cm. The

mass distribution is uniform, and it rotates about a frictionless pivot
through the centre. Blocks of masses m=5kg and M=8kg are
suspended from the pulley as shown. The string attached to mass
M is wound around an axis that is a distance r=20cm from the
pivot.

R
! r!

!
m
!
M

a. (1 mark) Find the moment of inertia of the pulley.

kgm2

I =

b. (6 marks) Find the acceleration of each block, and the angular acceleration of the
pulley.

am =

m/s2

aM =

m/s2

rad/s2

c. (3 marks) If the system starts from rest, how long does it take for the pulley to
make one full rotation?

t =

d. (2 marks) What is the displacement of each mass after that time? (Choose up to
be positive displacement)

ym =

yM =

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 9 of 13

3. A ruler of mass m = 100 g and length L = 30 cm is fixed to a table via a

frictionless pivot, and is released from rest in its vertical position. At the
instant just before the ruler is exactly horizontal find:
a. (3 marks) The angular velocity

rad/s

b. (3 marks) The angular acceleration

rad/s2

=
c. (3 marks) The tangential acceleration of the centre of mass.

a =

m/s2

d. (3 marks) The magnitude of the total acceleration of the centre of mass

a =

m/s2

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 10 of 13

4. A pulley of mass M=10kg has an outer radius 0.5m, and a central hole
of radius 0.1m. Massless struts (not shown) allow the pulley to rotate
about a frictionless pivot at its centre. Two masses (m1=2kg and
m2=5kg) are hung from the pulley as shown, and are attached to two
springs with spring constants k1=250 N/m and k2=350 N/m.
a. (3 marks) Find the moment of inertia of the pulley

M2
M1

k2

k1

I =

kg m2

b. (2 marks) When the system is in equilibrium, the spring k1 is unstretched. At

equilibrium, where is m2 located, relative to the unstretched position of k2? In
other words, by how much is k2 stretched or compressed?

x =

c. (2 marks) The system is now displaced from equilibrium. When m1 is a distance

y1 above its equilibrium position, how far from equilibrium is m2?

y2 =
d. (5 marks) Find the frequency of oscillations. Hint: Write down an expression for
the total energy of the system in part c, in terms of the variable y. Differentiate
with respect to time.

f =

Hz

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 11 of 13

5. A model rocket with a mass of 7kg is launched from the ground, at an angle of 30
degrees from the vertical. You know that its engine provides a constant thrust of 250 N
as it burns for a total of 4.5s. By neglecting air resistance, calculate:
a. (2 marks) The net impulse on the rocket in first 4.5s

I =

Ns

b. (4 marks) Maximum height the rocket can reach?

hmax =

c. (3 marks) The maximum horizontal distance traveled by the rocket by the time it
hits the ground.

hmax =

d. (3 marks) The total time for which the rocket is in the air

t =

ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Page 12 of 13

6. A lineman (mass m = 75 kg) sits on top of a vertical telephone pole (10.0 m tall and
mass of 175 kg) that is starting to tip because it hasnt been anchored in the ground
properly. To minimize the speed at which hell hit the ground, he decides to hold unto
the pole until his tangential acceleration equals the acceleration of gravity, g, and then let
go.
a. (4 marks) Find the height above the ground at which the lineman has to jump
from the top of the telephone pole ?

h =

b. (2 marks) What will his speed be when he lets go of the pole ?

v =

m/s

c. (3 marks) What is the speed with which he hits the ground if he lets go of the
pole?

v =

m/s

d. (3 marks) With what speed would he have hit the ground had he not let go of the
pole?

v =

m/s

Page 13 of 13
ECE 105 Final Fall 2014

Formula Sheet, ECE105

Mathematics
x=

=
=

c2 = a2 + b2

~B
~
A
~B
~
A
AB cos
AB sin

2ab cos

quadratic equation, ax2 + bx + c = 0 :

p
b2 4ac
2a
cosine law:
vectors:

Fundamental Constants
g = 9.80 m s

Mechanics

vis

+
+

as
vis

2
vis
+ 2as

si

t
1
t + as ( t)2
2

uniform linear acceleration a = const:

vfs
sf
2
vfs

Relative Velocity:

1 ~
Fnet
m

1 dP
=
m dt
~B on A
F

vAD = vAB + vBC + vCD

~a =

Newtons Laws:
Second:

s FN
k FN

k s

on B

~A
F

Fs =

Third:
Hookes Law:
friction:
fs
fk

Rotational motion:

ar

!
vr

at

=
=
=
=
=

!f

!i2 + 2

i + ! i

!i + t

s/r
d/dt
!r
d!/dt
r
v2
r

1
( t)2
2

kinematics of uniform angular acceleration:

p
~

=
=

~
net /I

2
i mi ri

~
dL/dt

Ibody =

~
~
rF

t=

p
~ = m~
v
~
J~ = F

or

~
ext

t+
!f2

Linear momentum:
Impulse:
Torque:

moment of inertia:
I = mr 2

Ithin

rod

Idisk =

1
ml2
12

1
mr 2
2

about an axis through the geometrical centre:

Ihoop = mr 2
2
Isphere = mr 2
5
Parallel axis theorem:

I = Icm + M d2

Work:

Energy:

= Fs ds
~ ~
=F
r

= mgy

( s)2

1
mv 2
2
1
I! 2
2

1
k
2

dW

Ug

Us

Kr

~ is constant)
(if F
~ is conservative)
(if F

(gravitational potential)

(translational kinetic)

(spring potential)

! = 2f

1
kx2
2

!2 x

k=

kx, U =

(rotational kinetic)

Waves and Sound

f = 1/T

simple harmonic oscillator, F =

x = A cos = A cos (!t +

v = A! sin (!t + )
a = A! 2 cos (!t + ) =

Travelling wave: y = Ap
sin(kx !t + )
with v = /T = f = T /
Superposition of two
waves traveling in the
same direction:
2A cos (
/2) sin kxavg !t + ( )avg

2L
, where m = 1, 2, 3... (fixed ends)
m

Superposition of two waves traveling in opposite directions:

2A sin (kx) cos (!t)
Standing waves: A(x) = 2a sin kx