Engineering Physics (PHYS 4A) Exam 1
Wednesday, 2 March 2022
Name
There are 15 MCQS, 4 problems, and an extra credit question. Each MCQ is worth
2 points. Thus you can earn up to 62 points out of 60. You have 125 minutes.
Show your work.
Good luck!
1
Problem A:
A) (6 points) In the control tower at a regional airport, an air traffic controller
monitors two aircraft as their positions change with respect to the control tower.
One plane is a Boeing 747 climbing at 10◦ above the horizontal, and moving 30◦
north of west The other plane is a Douglas DC-3 climbing at 5◦ above the horizontal,
and cruising directly west. (a) Find the position vectors of the planes relative to the
control tower. (b) Find the position vector of the Boeing 747 with respect to the
Douglas DC-3.
B) (8 points) In the year 2040, society has broken down and you live in a small
community trying to defend itself from possible invaders. Your community’s cannon
was recently damaged and is now stuck to a launch angle of 30 degrees above the
horizontal. The cannon is perched atop a 10-m high wall that surrounds your com-
munity. Invaders are approaching in a tank, very slowly making forward progress
through muddy terrain and man-made obstacles (that serve as distance indicator).
What launch speed should you set your cannon to, when the tank is near the 500-m
mark?
C) (8 points) You are driving at 15 m/s towards a traffic light that is 200 m away
when it turns red. You instantly lift your foot off the gas pedal and start decelerating
at 0.5 m/s2 . At this rate, would you stop before or after the light? At this rate,
where will you be when the light turns greens again, in 15 seconds? Should you start
actively braking or can you keep coasting?
D)
(8 points) Above is the velocity-versus-time graph for two objects, A and B. You
and your podmates Zach and Victoria are asked to tell stories that correspond to
the motion of the objects. Zach says, ”The graph could represent two cars traveling
in opposite directions that pass each other.” Victoria says, ”No, I think they could
be two rocks thrown vertically from a bridge; rock A is thrown upward and rock B
is thrown downward.” Explain to podmates why you think their scenario are correct
or incorrect. Bonus (2 points): come up with a correct scenario.
1. Two metal balls are the same size, but one weighs twice as much as the other.
The balls are dropped from the roof of a single-story building at the same instant of
time. The time it takes the balls to reach the ground below will be
(A) about half as long for the heavier ball as for for the lighter one.
(B) about half as long for the lighter ball as for for the heavier one.
(C) about the same for both balls.
(D) considerably less for the heavier ball, but not necessarily half as long.
(E) considerably less for the lighter ball, but not necessarily half as long.
2. The positions of two block at successive 0.20-second time intervals are represented
by the numbered squares in the figure below. The blocks are moving to the right.
Do the blocks ever have the same speed?
(A) No.
(B) Yes, at instant 2.
(C) Yes, at instant 5.
(D) Yes, at instants 2 and 5.
(E) Yes, at some time during the interval 3 to 4.
3. Which one of the following answers would give the correct number of significant
figures when the following masses are added together: 3.6 kg, 113 kg, and 4.19 kg?
(A) 121 kg
(B) 120.79 kg
(C) 120 kg
(D) 120.8 kg
(E) 1.20 ×102 kg
4. The positions of two block at successive 0.20-second time intervals are represented
by the numbered squares in the figure below. The blocks are moving to the right.
Which is true?
(A) The acceleration of ”a” is greater than the acceleration of ”b”.
(B) The acceleration of ”a” equals the acceleration of ”b”. Both accelerations are
greater than zero.
(C) The acceleration of ”b” is greater than the acceleration of ”a”.
(D) The acceleration of ”a” equals the acceleration of ”b”. Both accelerations are
zero.
(E) Not enough information is given to answer the question.
5. A light year is the distance light travels in a year. If the speed of light is
c = 3.00 × 108 m/s, how many meters are there in a light year?
(A) 1.58 × 1014
(B) 2.63 × 1012
(C) 3.94 × 1014
(D) 2.59 × 1013
(E) 9.46 × 1015
6. A cuboid is measured to have sides of length 1.27 ± 0.36 cm, 2.1 ± 0.1 cm, and
3.47 ± 0.2 cm. What is its volume to the correct number of significant figures?
(A) 9.25 ± 0.39 cm3
(B) 9.3 ± 3.6 cm3
(C) 9.25 ± 3.6 cm3
(D) 9.3 ± 4 cm3
(E) 9.3 ± 0.39 cm3
7. A student drove to the university from her home and noted that the odometer
reading of her car increased by 12.0 km. The trip took 18.0 min. What was her
instant speed half way through the trip?
(A) 40.0 km/h
(B) 0.667 km/h
(C) 1.50 km/h
(D) 5.40 km.h
(E) It is impossible to tell from the information above.
8. In preparation for a trip to Disneyland, a physics professor wants to know the
height of her child (to know which roller coaster they can all go on). Her husband
sends her this picture of the top of the head of the child near the decorative height
chart in the child’s room. After some initial mumblings about her husband, the
professor’s training kicks in and she measures the height of the child to be
(A) 42.5 ± 0.2 in
(B) 42 ± 0.2 in
(C) 42.1 ± 0.1 in
(D) 42.5 ± 0.1 in
(E) 42.5 in
9. You want to swim straight across a river that is wide. You find that you can do
this if you swim at an angle of θ = 28◦ from the upstream direction at a constant rate
of relative to the water. At what rate does the river flow? The angle θ is measured
from the river bank (directly upstream is θ = 0◦ while directly across the river is
θ = 90◦ )
(A) 1.3 m/s
(B) 0.70 m/s
(C) 1.6 m/s
(D) 1.8 m/s
(E) None of these
10. A satellite orbits the earth a distance of 1.50 ×107 m above the planet’s surface
and takes 8.65 hours for each revolution about the earth. The earth’s radius is 6.38
×106 m. The acceleration of this satellite is closest to
(A) 0.0690 m/s2 .
(B) 0.870 m/s2 .
(C) 1.91 m/s2 .
(D) 2.72 m/s2 .
(E) 9.80 m/s2 .
11. The figure shows the velocity of a particle as it travels along the x-axis. What
is the direction of the acceleration at t = 0.5 s?
(A) in the +x direction
(B) in the -x direction
(C) the acceleration is 0
(D) not enough information to tell
12. You walk 53 m to the north, then turn 60◦ to your right and walk another 45 m.
Which is the direction of your displacement vector?
(A) 63° N of E
(B) 50° N of E
(C) 57° N of E
(D) 69° N of E
(E) none of these
A satellite in orbit travels around the Earth in uniform circular motion. In the figure,
the satellite moves counterclockwise (ABCDA)
13. What is the direction of the satellite’s instantaneous velocity at point D?
(A) +x
(B) +y
(C) -x
(D) -y
(E) none of these
14. What is the direction of the satellite’s instantaneous acceleration at point D?
(A) +x
(B) +y
(C) -x
(D) -y
(E) none of these
~ are Ax = +2.2 and Ay = −6.9, and the components
15. The components of vector A
~ are Bx = −6.1 and By = −2.2. What is the magnitude of the vector
of vector B
~ − A?
B ~
(A) 0.76
(B) 6.1
(C) 9.5
(D) 9.9
(E) None of these
