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PC1431 Physics IE
2014 2015 Semester I
TERM TEST
3rd October
Time Allowed: ONE hour THIRTY minutes
INSTRUCTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.

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8.

This is a closed book test.

This paper contains 20 multiple choice questions.
Answer all questions. Marks will NOT be deducted for wrong answers.
Each of the questions or incomplete statements is followed by the suggested answers or
completions. Select the one that is best in each case and then shade the corresponding
bubble on the answer sheet.
Only the answer sheet will be collected at the end of the test.
Use 2B pencil only. Using any other type of pencil or pen may result in answers
unrecognizable by the machine.
Take the acceleration due to gravity,
9.80 ms .
You may find the following mathematical formulae useful:
4

0
2
1
1

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1.

A juggler throws two balls to the same height so that one is at the halfway point going up
when the other is at the halfway point going down. At that point,
(a) their velocities are equal to their accelerations.
(b) their velocities and accelerations are both equal.
(c) their velocities and accelerations are both equal and opposite.
(d) their velocities are equal but their accelerations are equal and opposite.
(e) their accelerations are equal but their velocities are equal and opposite.

2.

An 80.0 kg person is parachuting and experiencing a downward acceleration of

2.50 ms . The mass of the parachute is 5.00 kg. What is the downward force on the
parachute from the person? You may ignore the forces on the person from the air.
(a) 61.5 N
(b) 584 N
(c) 621 N
(d) 784 N
(e) 984 N

3.

A car passenger buckles himself in with a seat belt and holds his 18 kg toddler on his lap.
He was travelling at a speed of 25 ms. Suddenly, the driver has to make an emergency
stop over a distance of 45 m. Assuming constant acceleration, which is true about the
force that the parent will need to exert on the child during this period?
(a) It would be quadrupled if the initial speed is doubled.
(b) It would be doubled if the initial speed is doubled.
(c) It is 150 N.
(d) It is 200 N.
(e) It is 300 N.

4.

When a 5.0 kg box is hung from a spring, the spring stretches to 5.0 cm beyond its
unstretched length. In an elevator accelerating downward at 2.0 ms , how far does the
spring stretch with the same box attached?
(a) 3.0 cm
(b) 4.0 cm
(c) 5.0 cm
(d) 6.0 cm
(e) 10.0 cm

5.

A 17 000 kg jet takes off from an aircraft carrier via a catapult over a distance of 85 m.
The gases thrust out from the jets engines exert a constant force of 130 kN on the jet. In
contrast, the force exerted on the jet by the catapult reduces linearly from 1100 kN to
65 kN in the process. What is the work done on the jet by the catapult during the launch?
(a) 1.1 10 J
(b) 3.0 10 J
(c) 4.1 10 J
(d) 5.0 10 J
(e) 6.1 10 J

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6.

Bob uses a slingshot to shoot a 20 g pebble straight up with a speed of 25 ms. If air
resistance is negligible, how high does the pebble go?
(a) 9.8 m
(b) 25 m
(c) 28 m
(d) 32 m
(e) 64 m

7.

A 1200 kg car rolling on a horizontal surface has a speed of

66 kmh when it strikes
a horizontal coiled spring and is brought to rest in a distance of 2.2 m. What is the spring
constant of the spring?
(a) 1.1 10 Nm
(b) 8.3 10 Nm
(c) 1.1 10 Nm
(d) 2.2 10 Nm
(e) 8.3 10 Nm

8.

To help Kim practice for the Special Olympics, Sally runs beside him for half the required
distance. She runs the remaining distance at her regular speed and arrives 90 s ahead of
is the total time taken by Kim to complete the total distance. What is
Kim. Suppose
the ratio of Sallys regular speed to Kims speed?
(a)
: 90 s
: 180 s
(b)
(c)
:
90 s
(d)
:
180 s
(e)
90 s:
180 s

9.

A ball is put into a frictionless cone and made to move at a constant speed of 1.50 ms in
a horizontal circle, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1
The height at which the ball is circling above the bottom of the cone
(a) is approximately 0.920 m.
(b) is approximately 0.460 m.
(c) is approximately 0.230 m.
(d) cannot be determined, since the mass of the ball is not given.
(e) cannot be determined, since the radius of the horizontal circle is not given.

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10. City lies directly west of city . When there is no wind, an airliner makes the 5310 km
round trip flight between them in 6.60 hours of flying time while travelling at the same
speed in both directions. When a strong steady wind is blowing from west to east, and the
airliner has the same air speed as before, the round trip takes 6.70 hours of flight time.
How fast is the wind blowing?
(a) 12 kmh
(b) 24 kmh
(c) 48 kmh
(d) 98 kmh
(e) 531 kmh
11. You push down on a book of mass resting on a horizontal table with a force
away from vertical, as shown in Figure 2.
at an angle 0

directed

Figure 2
The coefficient of static friction between book and table is . Which of the following
statements is true?
(a) If
tan
, you cannot get the book to slide no matter how hard you push.
(b) If
tan
, you can always get the book to slide regardless of the magnitude of
.
(c) As long as both the magnitude of and the angle are small enough, you can always
get the book to slide.
(d) As long as the magnitude of is large enough, you can get the book to slide regardless
of the value of the angle .
(e) None of the above.
12. Sam, whose mass is 75 kg, straps on his skis and starts down a 50 m high, 20 frictionless
slope. A strong headwind exerts a horizontal force of 200 N on him as he skis. Sams
speed at the bottom is
(a) 11 ms
(b) 13 ms
(c) 14 ms
(d) 15 ms
(e) 16 ms

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13. In Figure 3, three boxes, , , and have masses

,
, and
respectively. They are
connected by light inextensible cords, one of which wraps over a pulley having negligible
friction on its axle and negligible mass.

Figure 3
When the assembly is released from rest, what is the tension in the cord connecting
and ? You may ignore friction between and the horizontal table.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

14. A gardener pushes a 12 kg lawnmower whose handle is tilted up 37 above horizontal.

The lawnmowers coefficient of friction is 0.15. How much power does the gardener have
to supply to push the lawnmower at a constant speed of 1.2 ms? Assume his push is
along the handle.
(a) 30 W
(b) 32 W
(c) 20 W
(d) 24 W
(e) 25 W
15. A cart is moving with a constant horizontal velocity of 5.00 ms. A small pebble is
launched from the front of the cart with a velocity of 8.00 ms at 60.0 above the
horizontal as measured relative to the cart. Just as the pebble returns to the level from
which it was launched, its distance from the front of the cart is about
(a) 2.83 m
(b) 4.60 m
(c) 5.66 m
(d) 9.19 m
(e) 11.3 m

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16. In Figure 4, blocks of masses

and
are connected by a light inextensible cord, which
wraps over a pulley having negligible friction on its axle and negligible mass.

Figure 4
The assembly is released from rest. Find an expression for the speed of the block in
Figure 4 just before it hits the floor if the coefficient of kinetic friction for the block on the
table is .
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
17. A boy whirls a stone by a string in a horizontal circle of radius 1.20 m, at a height of
1.80 m above the ground. The string breaks and the stone flies off horizontally, striking
the ground 9.10 m away. What is the centripetal acceleration during the circular motion?
(a) 124 ms
(b) 178 ms
(c) 188 ms
(d) 225 ms
(e) 376 ms

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18. In Figure 5, blocks , , and have masses

,
, and
respectively. and are
connected by a light inextensible cord, which wraps over a pulley having negligible
friction on its axle and negligible mass. The coefficient of static friction between and
the horizontal table is . Block is just able to keep from sliding.

Figure 5
Now, block is suddenly lifted off . And, the acceleration of block is . Which of
the following is true? (Hint: coefficient of kinetic friction between and table
.)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
19. The velocity of a particle moving along the -axis for time
0 is given by
32.0
2.00 ms,
where is in s. What is the acceleration of the particle when it achieves its maximum
displacement in the positive -direction?
(a) 64 ms
(b) 32 ms
(c) Zero
(d) 32 ms
(e) 128 ms

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20. A ball of mass is connected by means of two massless strings that do not stretch, each
of length , to a vertical, rotating rod. The strings are tied to the rod with a separation
and are taut.

Figure 6
The tension in the upper string is . The speed
(a)
(b)

of the ball is given by

.
2

(c)

(d)

(e)

.
.
End of Paper

Department of Physics, National University of Singapore