Rotary Homework #6:

1. (I) A 55-kg person riding a bike puts all her weight on each pedal when climbing a
hill. The pedals rotate in a circle of radius 17 cm. (a) What is the maximum torque she
exerts? (b) How could she exert more torque?

2. (I) A person exerts a force of 55 N on the end of a door 74 cm wide. What is the
magnitude of the torque if the force is exerted (a) perpendicular to the door, and (b) at a
45º angle to the face of the door?

3. (II) Calculate the net torque about the axle of the

wheel shown in the figure at right. Assume that a
friction torque of 0.40 m  N opposes the motion.

4. (II) Two blocks, each of mass m, are attached to the ends of a massless rod which
pivots as shown in the figure below. Initially the rod is held in the horizontal position and
then released. Calculate the magnitude and direction of the net torque on this system.

5. (II) The bolts on the cylinder head of an engine require tightening to a torque of
88 m  N. If a wrench is 28 cm long, what force perpendicular to the wrench must the
mechanic exert at its end? If the six-sided bolt head is 15 mm in diameter, estimate the
force applied near each of the six points by a socket wrench (figure below).
6. (I) Find the center of mass of the three-mass system shown in the figure below.
Specify relative to the left-hand 1.00-kg mass.

7. (I) The distance between a carbon atom  m C  12 u  and an oxygen atom  mO  16 u 

in the CO molecule is 1.13  10 10 m. How far from the carbon atom is the center of
mass of the molecule?

8. (I) The CM of an empty 1050-kg car is 2.50 m behind the front of the car. How far
from the front of the car will the CM be when two people sit in the front seat 2.80 m from
the front of the car, and three people sit in the back seat 3.90 m from the front? Assume
that each person has a mass of 70.0 kg. HINT: Treat all masses as if they were point
masses located at the positions given, including the car.

9. (II) Three cubes, of sides l 0 , 2l 0 , and 3l 0 , are placed next to one another (in
contact) with their centers along a straight line and the l  2l 0 cube in the center (figure
below). What is the position, along this line, of the CM of this system? Assume the cubes
are made of the same uniform material. Hint: mass is proportional to L3.
Solutions:
1. (a) The maximum torque will be exerted by the force of her weight, pushing tangential to the
circle
in which the pedal moves.
 
t  r^ F  r^ mg   0.17 m   55 kg  9.8 m s 2  92 mgN
(b) She could exert more torque by pushing down harder with her legs, raising her center of
mass.
She could also pull upwards on the handle bars as she pedals, which will increase the
downward force of her legs.
2. The torque is calculated by t  rF sin q . See the diagram, from the top view.
r
(a) For the first case, q  90o .
t  rF sin q   0.74 m   55 N  sin 90 o  41 m gN
q r
(b) For the second case, q  45o . F
t  rF sin q   0.74 m   55 N  sin 45o  29 m gN

3. Each force is oriented so that it is perpendicular to its lever arm. Call counterclockwise
torques positive. The torque due to the three applied forces is given by
t applied   28 N   0.24 m    18 N   0.24 m    35 N   0.12 m   1.8 m gN .
forces

Since this torque is clockwise, we assume the wheel is rotating clockwise, and so the
frictional
torque is counterclockwise. Thus the net torque is
t net   28 N   0.24 m    18 N   0.24 m    35 N   0.12 m  + 0.40 m gN  1.4 mgN
 1.4 m gN , clockwise

4. There is a counterclockwise torque due to the force of gravity on the left block, and a
clockwise torque due to the force of gravity on the right block. Call clockwise the positive
direction.
�t  mgL 2
 mgL1  mg  L2  L1  , clockwise

5. (a) The force required to produce the torque can be found from t  rF sin q . The force is
applied
perpendicularly to the wrench, so q  90o . Thus
t 88 mgN
F   3.1 �10 2 N
r 0.28 m
(b) The net torque still must be 88 m gN . This is produced by 6 forces, one at each
of the 6 points.
Those forces are also perpendicular to the lever arm, and so
t 88 m gN
t net   6 Fpoint  rpoint � Fpoint    2.0 �10 3 N
6r 6  0.0075 m 

6. Use Eq. 7-9a, extended to three particles.

 mA xA + mB xB + mC xC  1.00 kg   0  +  1.50 kg   0.50 m  +  1.10 kg   0.75 m 
xCM  
mA + mB + mC 1.00 kg + 1.50 kg + 1.10 kg
 0.44 m
7. Choose the carbon atom as the origin of coordinates.

xCM 
mC xC + mO xO  12 u   0  +  16 u  1.13 �10 m

10
 
 6.5 �1011 m from the C
mC + mO 12 u + 16 u
atom.

8. Find the CM relative to the front of the car.

mcar xcar + mfront xfront + mback xback
xCM 
mcar + mfront + mback
 1050 kg   2.50 m  + 2  70.0 kg   2.80 m  + 3  70.0 kg   3.90 m 
  2.74 m
1050 kg + 2  70.0 kg  + 3  70.0 kg 

9. By the symmetry of the problem, since the centers of the cubes are along a straight line, the
vertical CM coordinate will be 0, and the depth CM coordinate will be 0. The only CM
coordinate to calculate is the one along the straight line joining the centers. The mass of
each cube will be the volume times the density, and so
m1  r  l0  , m2  r  2l0  , m3  r  3l0  . Measuring from the left edge of the smallest
3 3 3

block, the locations of the CM’s of the individual cubes are x1  12 l0 , x2  2l0 , x3  4.5l0 .
Use Eq. 7-9a to calculate the CM of the system.
m1 x1 + m2 x2 + m3 x3 r l0  12 l0  + 8 r l0  2l0  + 27 r l0  4.5l0 
3 3 3

xCM  
m1 + m2 + m3 r l03 + 8 r l03 + 27 r l03
 3.8 l0 from the left edge of the smallest cube