MEI AS mathematics Kinematics

Topic assessment
Use g = 9.8 ms-2 unless stated otherwise.

1. A particle travelling in a straight line at 15 ms-1 is brought to rest by a constant

deceleration in a distance of 22.5 m. Find the time taken for the particle to come to rest.
[2]

2. A plant pot falls from a balcony. It hits the ground after 2.24 seconds.

(a) By modelling the plant pot as a particle, find the height of the balcony from the
ground. [2]
(b) State one further assumption used to model this situation. [1]

3. A particle accelerates uniformly from 7 ms-1 to 21 ms-1 in 8 s. How far does it travel in
this time? [2]

4. A particle is projected at a speed of 12 ms-1 up a straight inclined track. Whilst on the

track the particle experiences a constant acceleration down the track of 5 ms-2. Find the
length of time that the displacement of the particle up the track from the point of
projection is greater than 8 metres. [4]

5. A train passes through station A travelling at 10 ms-1 along a straight track.

For the first 5 seconds after leaving the station the train has a constant acceleration of
7 ms-2.
The train then travels with constant velocity for a time, T, until it decelerates uniformly
for 15 seconds, coming to rest at the station B which is 2.68 km away from A.

Sketch a velocity time graph for the motion of the train and calculate the time taken to get
between the two stations. [5]

6. A particle travels in a straight line.

The motion is modelled by the v-t diagram below.

velocity in v
metres per 20
second

10

0 t
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
time in
seconds
-10

(a) Calculate the acceleration of the particle in the part of the motion from t = 1 to t = 4.
[2]
(b) Calculate the displacement of the particle from its position when t = 0 to its position
when t = 7. [4]

1 of 6 13/09/21 © MEI
integralmaths.org
 MEI AS Mathematics Kinematics topic assessment solns

7. A ball A is thrown vertically upwards at 25 ms-1 from a point P. Three seconds later a
second ball B is also thrown vertically upwards from the point P at 25 ms-1. Taking the
acceleration due to gravity to be 10 ms-2, calculate

(a) the time for which ball A has been in motion when the balls meet [6]
(b) the height above P at which A and B meet. [2]

8. Cars A and B are travelling in the same direction along a straight road. The time t is in
seconds.

At t = 0, car A is at rest. It accelerates at 3 ms-2 for 0  t  10 and then travels at a

constant speed.

Car B travels at 15 ms-1 for 0  t  30 and then accelerates at 1 ms-2 until it reaches a
speed of 25 ms-1, after which it continues at this constant speed.

(a) Draw v-t diagrams for the motion of car A and of car B, where v is the speed
in ms-1 and 0  t  80 . [4]
(b) Show that, in the first 40 seconds, car A travels 400 m further than car B. [4]
(c) Given that car A is 500 m behind car B at t = 0, at what value of t does car A
catch up with car B? [2]

Total 40 marks

2 of 6 13/09/21 © MEI
integralmaths.org
 MEI AS Mathematics Kinematics topic assessment solns

Solutions to Topic Assessment

1. u = 15 v = 0 s = 22.5 t = ?
s = 21 (u + v )t
22.5 = 21 (15 + 0)t
45 = 15t
t =3
The deceleration takes 3 seconds. [2]

2. (a) u = 0 a = 9.8 s = ? t = 2.24

s = ut + 21 at 2
s = 0 + 21  9.8  2.242
s = 24.6m
The balcony is 24.6m above the ground. [2]

(b) By modelling as a particle there is no air resistance acting upon the particle.
[1]

3. u = 7 v = 21 t = 8 s = ?
s = 21 (u + v )t
= 21 (7 + 21)  8
= 112
The particle travels 112 m. [2]

4. u = 12 a = −5 t = ? s = 8
s = ut + 21 at 2
8 = 12t − 2.5t 2
2.5t 2 − 12t + 8 = 0
t = 4 and t = 0.8
Time above 8m =4 − 0.8
= 3.2s

The ball is 8m or more away from point of projection for 3.2 seconds. [4]

3 of 6 13/09/21 © MEI
integralmaths.org
 MEI AS Mathematics Kinematics topic assessment solns

5.
Acceleration at 7ms-2 for 5 seconds
v = u + at
v = 10 + 7  5
v = 45ms −1

Displacement in first 5 seconds (area under graph)

s = 21 (10 + 45)  5
s = 137.5m
Displacement during last 15 seconds (area under graph)
s = 21  45  15
s = 337.5m
Displacement whilst at constant velocity
s = 2680 − 337.5 − 137.5 = 2205
Time spent at constant velocity
t = 2205  45 = 49s
Total time between stations = 69 s [5]

change in velocity
6. (a) Acceleration =
time taken
10
= ms-2
3
[2]
(b) Displacement = area under graph
Displacement between t = 0 and t = 6 is
( 1
2
 1 10 ) + ( 1
2 )
 3  (10 + 20 ) + ( 21  2  20 )
= 70 m
Displacement between t = 6 and t = 7 is 1
2
 1 −10 = −5 m
Displacement between t = 0 and t = 7 is 70 – 5 = 65 m. [4]

7. (a) When the balls meet:

For ball A: u = 25 For ball B: u = 25

a = -10 a = -10
t=T t=T-3
s=h s=h

4 of 6 13/09/21 © MEI
integralmaths.org
 MEI AS Mathematics Kinematics topic assessment solns

s = ut + 21 at 2 s = ut + 21 at 2
h = 25T − 5T 2 h = 25(T − 3) − 5(T − 3)2

25T − 5T 2 = 25(T − 3) − 5(T − 3)2

5T − T 2 = 5(T − 3) − (T − 3)2
5T − T 2 = 5T − 15 − T 2 + 6T − 9
6T = 24
T =4
A has been in motion for 4 seconds when the balls meet. [6]

(b) h = 25T − 5T 2
= 25  4 − 5  42
= 100 − 80
= 20

The balls meet 20 metres above P.

[2]

8. (a) Car A: v

30

t
10 80
v
Car B:
25

15

30 40 80 t
[4]

(b) In the first 10 seconds, car A travels 1

2
 10  30 = 150 m.
In the next 30 seconds, car A travels 30  30 = 900 m.
Total distance travelled by A in the first 40 seconds = 1050 m.

In the first 30 seconds, car B travels 15  30 = 450 m.

In the next 10 seconds, car B travels 21 (15 + 25)  10 = 200 m.

5 of 6 13/09/21 © MEI
integralmaths.org
MEI AS Mathematics Kinematics topic assessment solns

Total distance travelled by B in the first 40 seconds = 650 m.

So in the first 40 seconds, extra distance travelled by car A

= 1050 – 650 = 400 m. [4]

(c) After the first 40 seconds, car A is 100 m behind car B.

At this point car A is travelling at 30 ms-1 and car B is travelling at 25 ms-1.
Distance travelled by A in t seconds is 30t, and distance travelled by B is 25t.
When A catches up with B, 30t − 25t = 100
5t = 100
t = 20
so the extra time taken is 20 seconds.
So A catches up with B when t = 60. [2]

6 of 6 13/09/21 © MEI
integralmaths.org