PHYS 1007 Midterm Section A04 - ThurPM

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Problem 1 In an amusement park rocket ride, cars are suspended from 4.25-m cables attached to a rotating pole. The cables swing out at an angle of 45 when the ride is operating. The mass of each car (including passengers) is 335 kg. (a) Draw a free body diagram of the forces acting on one of the cars. (b) What is the tension in the cables? Take g = 9.81 m/s2 . (c) What is the radial acceleration?
4.25 m 45 car car

SOLUTION (a)
T 45 y x

mg

(b) Apply Newtons second law in y to nd the tension in the cable: Fy = T cos mg = 0 mg T = cos (335)(9.81) T = cos(45 ) T = 4647.6 N the tension in the cables is 4647.6 N.

(b) Apply Newtons second law in x to nd the acceleration: Fx = T sin = mar T sin m (4647.6) sin(45 ) ar = (335) ar = ar = 9.81 m/s2 the radial acceleration is 9.81 m/s2 .

Problem 2 A spring gun with spring constant k = 53 N/m is used to shoot a 76-g ball horizontally. The spring is compressed by 7.5 cm. (a) What is the change in kinetic energy of the ball? (b) What is the speed of the ball when it leaves the gun? Take g = 9.81 m/s2 , if needed. (c) If the gun is 5.1 m above the ground, what is the change in gravitational potential energy when the ball hits the ground? SOLUTION (a) Use the conservation of energy, knowing the ball is initially at rest: K = Uel
2 2 K = (1/2)kx2 f (1/2)kxi = (1/2)kxi

K = (1/2)(53)(0.075)2 K = 0.149 J the change in kinetic energy of the ball is 0.149 J. (b)
2 2 2 K = (1/2)mvf (1/2)mvi = (1/2)mvf

vf = vf =

2K m 2(0.149) (0.076)

vf = 1.98 m/s the speed of the ball when it leaves the gun is 1.98 m/s. (c) Ug = mgh Ug = (0.076)(9.81)(5.1) Ug = 3.81 J the change in gravitational potential energy is -3.81 J.

Problem 3 A honeybee lands on one end of a Popsicle stick oating in water(the stick has a mass of ms = 3.87 g). After sitting at rest for a moment, the bee runs toward the other end of the stick with a constant velocity of vb = 5.2 cm/s relative to the still water. The stick moves in the opposite direction at a constant velocity of vs = 0.156 cm/s. What is the mass mb of the bee? Assume only internal forces are acting on the bee-popsicle stick system.

SOLUTION Apply conservation of momentum: pb + ps = 0 pb = ps mb vb = ms vs mb = (3.87)(0.156) ms vs = vb (5.20) mb = 0.150 g the mass of the bee is 0.116 g.