PHYSICS QUESTIONS.

1. Three kids in a parking lot launch a rocket that rises into the air along a 380-m long arc in
40s.Determine its average speed.
2. An ant walked 10.0 cm across the floor in 6.2 s. What was its average speed in m/s? [Hint: 2
significant figures. You are given s and t and must find Uav. Watch out for units.]
3. A 12-mg housefly has a maximum speed of 4.5 mph; what is that in m/s? [Hint: 2 significant
figures. 1 mph = 0.447 07 m/s.]
4. According to its computer, a robot that left its closet and traveled 1200 m, had an average speed
of 20.0 m/s. How long did the trip take?
5. A car’s odometer reads 22 687 km at the start of a trip and 22 791 km at the end. The trip took
4.0 hours. What was the car’s average speed in km/h and in m/s?
6. A model plane flew 100 m in 25.0 s followed by another 240 m in an additional 60.0 s,
whereupon it crashed into the ground. How far did it travel in total? How long was it in the air?
What was its average speed? [Hint: The overall average is not equal to the average of the
averages. When you have several segments in a problem, label them like this: l1 and l2 and t1
and t2, such that l = l1 + l2 and t = t1 + t2.]
7. A toy car traveled at an average speed of 2.0 m/s for 20 s, followed by 40 s at an average speed
of 1.0 m/s, whereupon it came to a stop. How far in total did it go? How long in time did it
travel? What was its average speed?
8. An auto travels at the rate of 25 km/h for 4.0 minutes, then at 50 km/h for 8.0 minutes, and
finally at 20 km/h for 2.0 minutes. Find (a) the total distance covered in km and (b) the average
speed for the complete trip in m/s.
9. Starting from the center of town, a car travels east for 80.0 km and then turns due south for
another 192 km, at which point it runs out of gas. Determine the displacement of the stopped
car from the center of town.
10. A little turtle is placed at the origin of an xy-grid drawn on a large sheet of paper. Each grid box
is 1.0 cm by 1.0 cm. The turtle walks around for a while and finally ends up at point (24, 10), that
is, 24 boxes along the x-axis, and 10 boxes along the y-axis. Determine the displacement of the
turtle from the origin at the point. A bug starts at point A, crawls 8.0 cm east, then 5.0 cm south,
3.0 cm west, and 4.0 cm north to point B. (a) How far south and east is B from A? (b) Find the
displacement from A to B both graphically and algebraically.
11. A runner travels 1.5 laps around a circular track in a time of 50 s. The diameter of the track is 40
m and its circumference is 126m. Find (a) the average speed of the runner and (b) the
magnitude of the runner’s average velocity. Be careful here; average speed depends on the total
distance traveled, whereas average velocity depends on the displacement at the end of the
particular journey.
12. During a race on an oval track, a car travels at an average speed of 200 km/h. (a) How far did it
travel in 45.0 min? (b) Determine its average velocity at the end of its third lap.
13. The following data describe the position of an object along the x axis as a function of time. Plot
the data, and find, as best you can, the instantaneous velocity of the object at (a) t = 5.0 s, (b) 16
s, and (c) 23 s.
14. For the object whose motion is described in Problem 10, as best you can, find its velocity at the
following times: (a) 3.0 s, (b) 10 s, and (c) 24 s.
15. Find the scalar x- and y-components of the following displacements in the xy-plane: (a) 300 cm
at 127° and (b) 500 cm at 220°.
16. Starting at the origin of coordinates, the following displacements are made in the xy-plane (that
is, the displacements are coplanar): 60 mm in the +y-direction, 30 mm in the −x-direction, 40
mm at 150°, and 50 mm at 240°. Find the resultant displacement both graphically and
algebraically.
17. Compute algebraically the resultant of the following coplanar displacements: 20.0 m at 30.0°,
40.0 m at 120.0°, 25.0 m at 180.0°, 42.0 m at 270.0°, and 12.0 m at 315.0°. Check your answer
with a graphical solution.
18. What displacement at 70° has an x-component of 450 m? What is its y-component?
19. What displacement must be added to a 50-cm displacement in the +x-direction to give a
resultant displacement of 85 cm at 25°?
20. Refer to Fig. 1-20. In terms of vectors and, express the vectors (a), (b), (c), and (d).

21. Refer to Fig. 1-21. In terms of vectors A and B, express the vectors (a), (b) −, and (c) + –.
22. Find (a) B, (b) D, and (c) B=D-C if A=7i – 6j, B= -3i + 12j, C= -4i – 4j.
23. Find the magnitude and angle of R if R= 7i -12j
24. Determine the displacement vector that must be added to the displacement m to give a
displacement of 7.0 m pointing in the +x-direction?
25. A vector is added to a vector. What is the magnitude of the resultant?
26. A truck is moving north at a speed of 70 km/h. The exhaust pipe above the truck cab sends out a
trail of smoke that makes an angle of 20° east of south behind the truck. If the wind is blowing
directly toward the east, what is the wind speed at that location? [Hint: The smoke reveals the
direction of the truck with-respect-to the air.]
27. A ship is traveling due east at 10 km/h. What must be the speed of a second ship heading 30°
east of north if it is always due north of the first ship?
28. A boat, propelled so as to travel with a speed of 0.50 m/s in still water, moves directly across a
river that is 60 m wide. The river flows with a speed of 0.30 m/s. (a) At what angle, relative to
the straight-across direction, must the boat be pointed? (b) How long does it take the boat to
cross the river?
29. A reckless drunk is playing with a gun in an airplane that is going directly east at 500 km/h. The
drunk shoots the gun straight up at the ceiling of the plane. The bullet leaves the gun at a speed
of 1000 km/h. According to someone standing on the Earth, what angle does the bullet make
with the vertical?
30. A car traveling at 30.0 mph uniformly accelerates up to 50.0 mph in 20.0 s. What was its average
speed in m/s? [Hint: 1 mph = 0.447 07 m/s.]
31. People working for National Geographic dropped a peregrine falcon from a plane at an altitude
of 4572 m (15 000ft). The bird dove down reaching a speed of about 81.8 m/s (183 mph).
Determine its acceleration assuming it to be constant. [Hint: The bird was dropped, not thrown
down].
32. With the previous problem in mind, supposed they dropped a heavy, smooth rock instead.
Neglecting friction, what speed would it attain?
33. If a vehicle accelerates at 10.0 m/s 2 from rest for 20.0 s, how far will it travel in the process?
[Hint: You are given a, ui, and t, and you need to find s.]
34. A drone on a runway accelerates from rest at a constant rate of 4.00 m/s 2. It travels 20.0 m
before lifting off the ground. What speed did it attain as it became airborne? [Hint: You are
given ui, a, and s, and you need to find uf.]
35. For the object whose motion is plotted in Fig. 2-2, find, as best you can, its instantaneous
velocity at the following times: (a) 1.0 s, (b) 4.0 s, and (c) 10 s.
36. A body with initial velocity 8.0 m/s moves along a straight line with constant positive
acceleration and travels 640 m in 40 s. For the 40 s interval, find (a) the average velocity, (b) the
final velocity, and (c) the acceleration.
37. A truck starts from rest and moves with a constant acceleration of 5.0 m/s 2. Find its speed and
the distance traveled after 4.0 s has elapsed.
38. A box slides down an incline with uniform acceleration. It starts from rest and attains a speed of
2.7 m/s in 3.0 s. Find (a) the acceleration and (b) the distance moved in the first 6.0 s.
39. A car is accelerating uniformly as it passes two checkpoints that are 30 m apart. The time taken
between checkpoints is 4.0 s, and the car’s speed at the first checkpoint is 5.0 m/s. Find the car’s
acceleration and its speed at the second checkpoint.
40. An auto’s velocity increases uniformly from 6.0 m/s to 20 m/s while covering 70 m in a straight
line. Find the acceleration and the time taken.
41. A plane starts from rest and accelerates uniformly in a straight line along the ground before
takeoff. It moves 600 m in 12 s. Find (a) the acceleration, (b) speed at the end of 12 s, and (c) the
distance moved during the twelfth second.
42. A train running along a straight track at 30 m/s is slowed uniformly to a stop in 44 s. Find the
acceleration and the stopping distance.
43. An object moving at 13 m/s slows uniformly at the rate of 2.0 m/s each second for a time of 6.0
s. Determine (a) its final speed, (b) its average speed during the 6.0 s, and (c) the distance
moved in the 6.0 s.
44. A body falls freely from rest. Find (a) its acceleration, (b) the distance it falls in 3.0 s, (c) its speed
after falling 70 m, (d) the time required to reach a speed of 25 m/s, and (e) the time taken to fall
300 m.
45. A marble dropped from a bridge strikes the water in 5.0 s. Calculate (a) the speed with which it
strikes and (b) the height of the bridge.
46. A stone is thrown straight downward with initial speed 8.0 m/s from a height of 25 m. Find (a)
the time it takes to reach the ground and (b) the speed with which it strikes.
47. A baseball is thrown straight upward with a speed of 30 m/s. (a) How long will it rise? (b) How
high will it rise? (c) How long after it leaves the hand will it return to the starting point? (d)
When will its speed be 16 m/s?
48. A bottle dropped from a balloon reaches the ground in 20 s. Determine the height of the
balloon if (a) it was at rest in the air and (b) it was ascending with a speed of 50 m/s when the
bottle was dropped.
49. Two balls are dropped to the ground from different heights. One is dropped 1.5 s after the
other, but they both strike the ground at the same time, 5.0 s after the first was dropped. (a)
What is the difference in the heights from which they were dropped? (b) From what height was
the first ball dropped?
50. A nut comes loose from a bolt on the bottom of an elevator as the elevator is moving up the
shaft at 3.00 m/s. The nut strikes the bottom of the shaft in 2.00 s. (a) How far from the bottom
of the shaft was the elevator when the nut fell off? (b) How far above the bottom was the nut
0.25 s after it fell off?
51. A marble, rolling with speed 20 cm/s, rolls off the edge of a table that is 80 cm high. (a) How
long does it take to drop to the floor? (b) How far, horizontally, from the table edge does the
marble strike the floor?
52. A body projected upward from the level ground at an angle of 50° with the horizontal has an
initial speed of 40 m/s. (a) How long will it take to hit the ground? (b) How far from the starting
point will it strike? (c) At what angle with the horizontal will it strike?
53. A body is projected downward at an angle of 30.0° with the horizontal from the top of a building
170 m high. Its initial speed is 40.0 m/s. (a) How long will it take before striking the ground? (b)
How far from the foot of the building will it strike? (c) At what angle with the horizontal will it
strike?
54. A hose lying on the ground shoots a stream of water upward at an angle of 40° to the
horizontal. The speed of the water is 20 m/s as it leaves the hose. How high up will it strike a
wall that is a horizontal distance of 8.0 m away?
55. A World Series batter hits a home run ball with a velocity of 40 m/s at an angle of 26° above the
horizontal. A fielder who can reach 3.0 m above the ground is backed up against the bleacher
wall, which is 110 m from home plate. The ball was 120 cm above the ground when hit. How
high above the fielder’s glove does the ball pass?.
56. Prove that a gun will shoot three times as high when its angle of elevation is 60° as when it is
30°, but the bullet will travel the same horizontal distance.
57. A ball is thrown upward at an angle of 30° to the horizontal and lands on the top edge of a
building that is 20 m away. The top edge is 5.0 m above the throwing point. How fast was the
ball thrown?
58. A ball is thrown straight upward with a speed υ from a point h meters above the ground. Show
that the time taken for the ball to strike the ground

where g is positive.
59. A wheel spins around exactly 6 times. How many radians does that correspond to?
60. Given that a disk revolves through 81.681 turns, how many radians is that?
61. Convert (a) 50.0 rev to radians, (b) 48π rad to revolutions, (c) 72.0rps to rad/s, (d) 1.50 × 10 3
rpm to rad/s, (e) 22.0 rad/s to rpm, (f) 2.000 rad/s to deg/s.
62. Express 40.0 deg/s in (a) rev/s, (b) rev/min, and (c) rad/s.
63. A 2.00-m-long steel rod, pivoted at one end, swings in a vertical plane such that its lower end
sweeps out an arc 10.0 cm long. Determine the angle, in degrees and radians, through which the
rod swings. 9.22 [I] A pendulum swings through an angle of 20.0°, while its bob sweeps along an
arc 100 cm long. Determine the length of the pendulum. [Hint: Convert 20.0° to radians.]
64. A pebble is stuck in the tread of a tire having a diameter of 80.0 cm. The tire spins through 23.5
rotations in 75.0 s. How far does the pebble travel in that time?
65. A sphere rotates about a fixed axis 10.0 times in 10.0 s. What is its angular speed? [Hint:
Angular speed is always in rad/s.] .
66. A flywheel turns at 480 rpm. Compute the angular speed at any point on the wheel and the
tangential speed 30.0 cm from the center.
67. It is desired that the outer edge of a grinding wheel 9.0 cm in radius moves at a constant rate of
6.0 m/s. (a) Determine the angular speed of the wheel. (b) What length of thin thread could be
wound on the rim of the wheel in 3.0 s when it is turning at this rate?
68. Through how many radians does a point fixed on the Earth’s surface (anywhere off the poles)
move in 6.00 h as a result of the Earth’s rotation? What is the linear speed of a point on the
equator? Take the radius of the Earth to be 6370 km.
69. A wheel 25.0 cm in radius turning at 120 rpm uniformly increases its frequency to 660 rpm in
9.00 s. Find (a) the constant angular acceleration in rad/s, and (b) the tangential acceleration of
a point on its rim.
70. The angular speed of a disk decreases uniformly from 12.00 to 4.00 rad/s in 16.0 s. Compute
the angular acceleration and the number of revolutions made in this time.
71. A car wheel 30 cm in radius is turning at a rate of 8.0 rev/s when the car begins to slow
uniformly to rest in a time of 14 s. Find the number of revolutions made by the wheel and the
distance the car goes in the 14 s.
72. A wheel revolving at 6.00 rev/s has an angular acceleration of 4.00 rad/s 2 . Find the number of
turns the wheel must make to reach 26.0 rev/s, and the time required.
73. A thin string wound on the rim of a wheel 20 cm in diameter is pulled out at a rate of 75 cm/s
causing the wheel to rotate about its central axis. Through how many revolutions will the wheel
have turned by the time that 9.0 m of string have been unwound? How long will it take?
74. A mass of 1.5 kg out in space moves in a circle of radius 25 cm at a constant 2.0 rev/s. Calculate
(a) the tangential speed, (b) the acceleration, and (c) the required centripetal force for the
motion.
75. (a) Compute the radial acceleration of a point at the equator of the Earth. (b) Repeat for the
North Pole of the Earth. Take the radius of the Earth to be 6.37 × 10 6 m.
76. A mass is whirling in a circle at the end of a cable, out in the far reaches of space. If its speed is
doubled, all else kept constant, what happens to the tension in the cable?
77. A mass is whirling in a circle at the end of a cable, out in the far reaches of space. If the length of
the cable is halved, all else kept constant, what happens to the tension in it?
78. Imagine a weightless 2.00-kg mass far out in space. Suppose it is whirling at the end of a string
in a 2.00-m-diameter circle at a speed of 4.00 m/s. Compute the tension in the string.
79. The old Bohr model of the hydrogen atom has a single electron circling the nucleus at a speed of
roughly 2.19 × 10 6 m/s. The orbital radius is about 5.31 × 10 −11 m. Find the approximate
centripetal acceleration of the electron.
80. With the previous problem in mind, what is the centripetal force on the electron in the Bohr
model of the hydrogen atom? [Hint: Use Appendix G.]
81. An Earth satellite in a circular orbit is at an altitude of 3185.5 km. The acceleration due to gravity
at that distance is 4.36 m/s 2, and the mean radius of the Earth is 6371 km. (a) What is the radius
of the orbit? (b) Find the speed of the satellite.
82. A car moving at 5.0 m/s tries to round a corner in a circular arc of 8.0 m radius. The roadway is
flat. How large must the coefficient of friction be between wheels and roadway if the car is not
to skid?
83. A box rests at a point 2.0 m from the central vertical axis of a horizontal circular platform that is
capable of revolving in the horizontal plane. The coefficient of static friction between box and
platform is 0.25. As the rate of rotation of the platform is slowly increased from zero, at what
angular speed will the box begin to slide?
84. A stone rests in a pail which is tied to a rope and whirled in a vertical circle of radius 60 cm.
What is the least speed the stone must have as it rounds the top of the circle (where the pail is
inverted) if it is to remain in contact with the bottom of the pail.
85. A pendulum 80.0 cm long is pulled to the side so that its bob is raised 20.0 cm from its lowest
position, and is then released. As the 50.0 g bob moves through its lowest position, (a) what is
its speed and (b) what is the tension in the pendulum cord?
86. Refer back to Fig. 9-6. How large must h be (in terms of R) if the frictionless wire is to exert no
force on the bead as it passes through point-B? Assume the bead is released from rest at A.
87. If, in Fig. 9-6 and in Problem 9.33, h = 2.5R, how large a force will the 50-g bead exert on the
wire as it passes through point-C?

88. A satellite orbits the Earth at a height of 200 km in a circle of radius 6570 km. Find the linear
speed of the satellite and the time taken to complete one revolution. Assume the Earth’s mass is
6.0 × 10 24 kg. [Hint: The gravitational force provides the centripetal force.]
89. A roller coaster is just barely moving as it goes over the top of the hill. It rolls nearly without
friction down the hill and then up over a lower hill that has a radius of curvature of 15 m. How
much higher must the first hill be than the second if the passengers are to exert no forces on
their seats as they pass over the top of the lower hill?
90. The human body can safely tolerate a vertical acceleration 9.00 times that due to gravity. With
what minimum radius of curvature may a pilot safely turn the plane upward at the end of a dive
if the plane’s speed is 770 km/h?
91. A 60.0-kg pilot in a glider traveling at 40.0 m/s wishes to turn an inside vertical loop such that
his body exerts a force of 350 N on the seat when the glider is at the top of the loop. What must
be the radius of the loop under these conditions? [Hint: Gravity and the seat exert forces on the
pilot.]
92. Suppose the Earth is a perfect sphere with R = 6370 km. If a person weighs exactly 600.0 N at
the North Pole, how much will the person weigh at the equator? [Hint: The upward push of the
scale on the person is what the scale will read and is what we are calling the weight in this case.]
93. A mass m hangs at the end of a pendulum of length L, which is released at an angle of 40.0° to
the vertical. Find the tension in the pendulum cord when it makes an angle of 20.0° to the
vertical. [Hint: Resolve the weight along and perpendicular to the cord.]