FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT:

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
SEMESTER TEST COVER PAGE

YEAR: 2023
SEMESTER: 1
SEMESTER TEST: 1
DATE OF ASSESSMENT: 11 March 2023
SUBJECT NAME: Physics
SUBJECT CODE: SEP115B
QUALIFICATION(S): BEng Tech
EXAMINER(S): MR FK Maphaha
MODERATOR(S): Dr N Nyangiwe
TOTAL MARKS: 75 TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES INCLUDING COVER PAGE: 13
FULL MARKS: 75 TOTAL NUMBER OF ANNEXURES:
PAPER DESCRIPTION: A4 CLOSED BOOK DURATION: 120min

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
NONE
NON-PROGRAMMABLE POCKET CALCULATOR
SCIENTIFIC CALCULATOR
COMPUTER ANSWER SHEET
GRAPH PAPER
DRAWING INSTRUMENTS
OPEN BOOK
OTHER:

Question Type % Question Mark Question Mark

RECALL 20 SEC A 20 Q4 16
APPLICATION 45 SEC B
INSIGHT 10 Q1 10
Q2 14
TOTAL 75 Q3 15

TOTAL: 75
FULL MARKS: 75 Signature of Examiner Signature of Moderator Signature of Exam
Committee Chairperson

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

SURNAME: STUDENT NUMBER:

INITIALS: GROUP:__________
DECLARATION
I hereby subject myself to the examination rules and regulation of Tshwane University
of Technology
 SECTION A [10×2 = 20 Marks]

1. Which one of the following pairs of units may not be added together, even after the appropriate
unit conversions have been made?

A) grams and milligrams

B) kilometers and kilograms
C) miles and kilometers
D) centimeters and yards
E) slugs and kilograms

2. Three vectors A, B, and C add together to yield zero: A + B + C = 0. The vectors A and
C point in opposite directions and their magnitudes are related by the expression: A =
2C. Which one of the following conclusions is correct?

A) A and B have equal magnitudes and point in opposite directions.

B) B and C have equal magnitudes and point in the same direction.
C) B and C have equal magnitudes and point in opposite directions.
D) A and B point in the same direction, but A has twice the magnitude of B.
E) B and C point in the same direction, but C has twice the magnitude of B.

3. A race car will make one lap around a circular track of radius R. When the car has
travelled halfway around the track, what is the magnitude of the car’s displacement
from the starting point?

A) 2R
B) R
C) πR
D) 2πR
E) Zero meters

4. A race car, traveling at constant speed, makes one lap around a circular track of radius r in
a time t. Which one of the following statements concerning this car is true?

A) The displacement of the car does not change with time.

B) The instantaneous velocity of the car is constant.
C) The average speed of the car is the same over any time interval.
D) The average velocity of the car is the same over any time interval.
E) The average speed of the car over any time interval is equal to the magnitude of the
average velocity over the same time interval.

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 1
5. Which one of the following statements must be true if the expression 𝑥 = 𝑣𝑜 𝑡 + 2 𝑎𝑡 2 is
to be used?

A) x is constant.
B) v is constant.
C) t is constant.
D) a is constant.
E) Both v0 and t are constant.

6. Which one of the following terms is used to indicate the natural tendency of an object to
remain at rest or in motion at a constant speed along a straight line?

A) velocity
B) force
C) acceleration
D) equilibrium
E) inertia

7. A 2.0-N force acts horizontally on a 10-N block that is initially at rest on a horizontal surface. The
coefficient of static friction between the block and the surface is 0.50. Suppose that the block now moves
across the surface with constant speed under the action of a horizontal 3.0-N force. Which statement
concerning this situation is not true?

A) The block is not accelerated.

B) The net force on the block is zero newtons.
C) The frictional force on the block has magnitude 3.0 N.
D) The coefficient of kinetic friction between the block and the surface is 0.30.
E) The direction of the total force that the surface exerts on the block is vertically
upward.

8. Which one of the following has the largest kinetic energy?

A) a raindrop falling
B) a woman swimming
C) a jet airplane flying at its maximum speed
D) the earth moving in its orbit around the sun
E) the space shuttle orbiting the Earth

9. A donkey pulls a crate up a rough, inclined plane at constant speed. Which one of the
following statements concerning this situation is false?

A) The gravitational potential energy of the crate is increasing.

B) The net work done by all the forces acting on the crate is zero joules.
C) The work done on the crate by the normal force of the plane is zero joules.
D) The donkey does "positive" work in pulling the crate up the incline.
E) The work done on the object by gravity is zero joules.

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10. Two balls of equal size are dropped from the same height from the roof of a building. One ball has twice
the mass of the other. When the balls reach the ground, how do the kinetic energies of the two balls
compare?

A) The lighter one has one fourth as much kinetic energy as the other does.
B) The lighter one has one half as much kinetic energy as the other does.
C) The lighter one has the same kinetic energy as the other does.
D) The lighter one has twice as much kinetic energy as the other does.
E) The lighter one has four times as much kinetic energy as the other does.

1 A B C D E
2 A B C D E
3 A B C D E
4 A B C D E
5 A B C D E
6 A B C D E
7 A B C D E
8 A B C D E
9 A B C D E
10 A B C D E

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SECTION B [55 Marks]

Question 1 VECTORS [10]

1. The gondola ski lift at Keystone, Colorado, is 2830 m long. On average, the ski lift rises
14.6° above the horizontal. How high is the top of the ski lift relative to the base? [4]

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2. Use the component method of vector addition to find the resultant of the four displacements
shown in the figure. The magnitudes of the displacements are: A = 2.25 cm, B = 6.35 cm, C =
5.47 cm, and D = 4.19 cm. [6]

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Question 2 MOTION IN ONE DIMENSION [14]

1. The Space Shuttle travels at a speed of about 7.6 × 103 m/s. The blink of an astronaut’s eye
lasts about 110 ms. How many football fields (length = 91.4 m) does the Shuttle cover in the
blink of an eye? [5]

2. A locomotive is accelerating at 1.6 m/s2. It passes through a 20.0-m-wide crossing in a time

of 2.4 s. After the locomotive leaves the crossing, how much time is required until its speed
reaches 32 m/s? [5]

3. You step onto a hot beach with your bare feet. A nerve impulse, generated in your foot,
travels through your nervous system at an average speed of 110 m/s. How much time does it
take for the impulse, which travels a distance of 1.8 m, to reach your brain? [4]
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Question 3 NEWTON’S LAW AND FORCES [15]

1. Two forces FA and FB are applied to an object whose mass is 8.0 kg. The larger force is
FA. When both forces point due east, the object’s acceleration has a magnitude of 0.50
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 m/s2. However, when FA points due east and FB points due west, the acceleration is 0.40
m/s2, due east. Find the magnitude of FA. [5]

2. The drawing shows a 25.0-kg crate that is initially at rest. Note that the view is one looking
down on the top of the crate. Two forces, F1 and F2, are applied to the crate, and it begins
to move. The coefficient of kinetic friction between the crate and the floor is µk = 0.350.
Determine the magnitude and direction (relative to the x axis) of the acceleration of the
crate. [5]

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3. Two blocks made from different materials connected together by a thin cord, slide down a
plane ramp inclined at an angle of 32o. mA=5 kg, mB=7 kg and μA=0.23 and μB=0.32 .
Determine the tension on the cord. [5]

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Question 4 WORK AND ENERGY [16]

1. A person pushes a 16.0-kg shopping cart at a constant velocity for a distance of 22.0 m.
She pushes in a direction 29.0° below the horizontal. A 48.0-N frictional force opposes
the motion of the cart.
1.1 Determine the work done by the pushing force. [5]

1.2 Determine the work done by friction force. [3]

1.3 Determine the work done by the gravitational force. [3]

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2. A 55.0-kg skateboarder starts out with a speed of 1.80 m/s. He does +80.0 J of work on
himself by pushing with his feet against the ground. In addition, friction does –265 J of
work on him. In both cases, the forces doing the work are nonconservative. The final
speed of the skateboarder is 6.00 m/s. Calculate the change in the gravitational potential
energy. [5]

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 Formulae sheet

∆𝑥
𝑣̅ =
∆𝑡 𝑣2 𝑉𝑐𝑦𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 = 𝜋𝑟 2 ℎ
tan 𝜃 =
𝑟𝑔
∆𝑣 5
𝑎̅ = 𝑜
𝐶 = ( 𝑜𝐹 − 32)
∆𝑡 𝑊 = (𝐹 cos 𝜃)𝑠 9
𝑣𝑓 = 𝑣𝑖 + 𝑎𝑡 1 ∆𝐿 = 𝛼𝐿𝑜 ∆𝑇
𝐾𝐸 = 𝑚𝑣 2
2
1 ∆𝑉 = 𝛽𝑉𝑜 ∆𝑇
𝑥 = (𝑣𝑓 + 𝑣𝑖 )𝑡
2 𝑃𝐸 = 𝑚𝑔ℎ
𝑄 = 𝑚𝑐∆𝑇
1 𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 = ∆𝐾𝐸
𝑥 = 𝑣𝑖 𝑡 + 𝑎𝑡 2
2 𝑄 = 𝑚𝐿
𝑊𝑛𝑐 = ∆𝑀𝐸
𝑣𝑓2 = 𝑣𝑖2 + 2𝑎𝑥 𝐾𝐴∆𝑇𝑡
𝑊 𝑄=
𝐿
𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑠 = 𝑚𝑎 𝑃̅ =
𝑡
𝑄 = 𝜎𝜖𝑇 4 𝐴𝑡
𝑚1 𝑚2 𝐹𝑙
𝐹=𝐺 𝑌=
𝑟2 𝐴∆𝑙 𝑣 = 𝑐 = 𝜆𝑓
𝑊 = 𝑚𝑔 𝑚
𝜌= 𝐹
𝑣 𝑣 = √𝑚
𝑓𝑠𝑀𝐴𝑋 = 𝜇𝑠 𝐹𝑁 ⁄𝑙
𝐹
𝑃=
𝑓𝑘 = 𝜇𝑘 𝐹𝑁 𝐴 2𝜋𝑥
𝑦 = 𝐴 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑡 ± )
𝜆
2𝜋𝑟 𝑃 = 𝜌𝑔ℎ
𝑣=
𝑇 𝑃
𝑃2 = 𝑃1 + 𝜌𝑔ℎ 𝐼=𝑆=
𝐴
𝑣 = 𝜔𝑟
𝐹1 𝐹2 𝐼 = 𝐼𝑜 cos 2𝜃
=
𝑣2 𝐴1 𝐴2
𝑎𝑐 =
𝑟 𝐼
𝐹𝐵 = 𝑊𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 = 𝜌𝑔𝑉 𝛽 = (10𝑑𝐵) log( )
𝐼𝑜
𝑚𝑣 2
𝐹𝑐 =
𝑟 𝜌1 𝐴1 𝑣1 = 𝜌2 𝐴2 𝑣2 𝑣
1 ± 𝑣𝑜
𝑓𝑜 = 𝑓𝑠 ( 𝑣)
𝜏 = 𝐹𝑙 𝑄 = 𝐴𝑣 1 ± 𝑣𝑠

𝑃 = 𝑚𝑣 1 1 1 1 1
𝑃1 + 𝜌𝑣12 + 𝜌𝑔𝑦1 = 𝑃2 + 𝜌𝑣22 + 𝜌𝑔𝑦2 = +
2 2 𝑓 𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖
𝐹𝑡 = 𝑚(𝑣𝑓 − 𝑣𝑖 )
𝐴𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑒 = 𝜋𝑟 2 ℎ𝑖 𝑑𝑖
𝑚= =−
ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑜
𝐴𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 = 4𝜋𝑟 2
𝑛1 sin 𝜃1 = 𝑛2 sin 𝜃2
4
𝑉𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 = 𝜋𝑟 2
3

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