Revision questions set 1

1. The graph shows the

speed of a driver driving up
a hill (positive = uphill,
negative = downhill). The
driver is initially waiting at a
red traffic light. At t = 0, the
1.2 2.4 light turns green, and he
continues driving up the hill
until he encounters yet
another red traffic light and
stops.

(a) At roughly what time did the man step on the accelerator pedal?
(b) The man’s car briefly rolls down the hill before it starts moving forward
again. How can you tell from the graph?
(c) As the man is passing the first green light, what is his acceleration?
(d) What is the distance between the two traffic lights? (Assume that, at
both red lights, the distance between the man’s car and the traffic light is
negligible.)

2. A car is traveling at 60km/h when the driver is forced to brake suddenly,

bringing the car to a complete halt in 1 second.
(a) Assuming that the car has a total mass of 500kg and decelerates
uniformly, what is the total force exerted on the car?
(b) A wise passenger in the back seat has her safety belt on, keeping her in
her seat as the car brakes. If her mass is 45kg, show that the minimum
force that the safety belt exerts on her is about 750N.

3. A typical cumulonimbus cloud might contain 1.25 x 108 kilograms of water, with
a center of mass at 2.0km above the ground.
(a) When all the water in the cloud has fallen to the ground, how much
gravitational potential energy is lost?
(b) A typical raindrop has a speed of about 10m/s just before hitting the
ground. If all the water in the cloud falls as rain, how much kinetic energy
will it have?

4. You have just had a plate of nasi lemak for breakfast when, realizing that it
contains 400 calories, you feel guilty and decide to work it off by walking on a
treadmill. (A calorie, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, is the amount of energy needed
to heat up 1kg of water by 10C.)
(a) A typical treadmill setting is “20 minutes per mile”, or 1.3m/s, and you
require 0.160 kilowatts of power to maintain that speed. If this is entirely
due to frictional forces acting on you, what is their magnitude? How long
will you take to work off your nasi lemak?
(b) You have too much physics homework and can’t spend that much time
on the treadmill. Explain physically how you can burn calories faster by:
(i) increasing the treadmill speed
(ii) setting an incline (i.e. making the treadmill slope upwards as you are
walking)
Use diagrams as needed.
Answers

1. It is very, very helpful to diagram the question before answering! Here is a

step-by-step description of what is happening:
• 0-1s: Car rolling downwards with increasing downwards speed
• 1-1.2s: Car rolling downwards with decreasing downwards speed
• 1.2-2.4s: Car rolling upwards with increasing upwards speed
• 2.4-8s: Car rolling upwards with constant upwards speed
• 8-10s: Car rolling upwards with decreasing upwards speed
a) 1s – that is when the acceleration changes, and a changing
acceleration denotes a novel force. Up to that point the acceleration
has been constant denoting no new forces. But no explanation was
asked for so “1s” gets full marks.
b) The velocity is negative OR the displacement is negative from 0s to
1.2s. Note that between 1s and 1.2s both velocity and displacement
are still both negative!!
c) (30-0)ms-1/(2.4-1.2)s = 25ms-2 or (30 – (-5))ms-1 / (2.4-1)s = 25 ms-2.
d) If you diagram the total sequence of events, you will see that the
question is simply asking for the total displacement from 0 to 10
s. This is simply the area of the trapezium (216m) minus the area of
the triangle (3m) to give 213m. Students gave the following related,
but incorrect, answers:
a. 216m: this is the distance between the car’s minimum height
and the car’s maximum height. But since the car rolled
backwards 3m from the first traffic light, this distance is 3m too
much.
b. 219m: this is the total distance which the car traveled. But this
double-counts the 3m which the car rolled back. In fact, that 3m
has to be subtracted!

2. a) a = (v-u)/t = (0-16.7)ms-1 / 1s = 16.7 ms-2

F = ma = 500kg x 16.7 ms-2 = 8300N (+/- 50N would be acceptable due
to rounding errors)
b) If she is still in the car, then her acceleration must be the same as that of
the car. This is the key conceptual step. In an exam, a mark would be
awarded for stating this, either explicitly or implicitly (by substituting 16.7
ms-2 into the formula F = ma).
Then F = ma = 45kg x 16.7ms-2 = 750N.

3. Straightforward use of formulas:

a) ΔEgrav = mgΔh = 1.25 x 108 kg x 9.8 N/kg x 2,000m = 2.45 x 1012 J
b) KE = ½mv2 = ½ x 1.25 x 108 kg x (10ms-1)2 = 6.25 x 109 J

4. a) P = F x v
v = P/F = 0.160kW / 1.30 m/s = 123 N
Also P = E/t
t = E/P = (400 cal x 4184 J/cal) / 160 W = 10460 s = 2.9 hours
b) (i) Since P = F x v, increasing the treadmill speed v will increase the power
it takes to maintain the speed on the treadmill. (Also note that it would
increase the drag slightly!)
 (ii) Again P = F x v, where F is the force parallel to the velocity. When the
treadmill is slightly inclined, there is a component of your weight acting
parallel to the velocity of you walking on the treadmill, which means that
the power you expend is again increased.