December 8, 2011

Physics 130 - a

Dr. Schmidt

Final Exam
Put your name on the front of the blue book. Put all your answers in the blue book. Start a new
page for each problem. Partial credit will be given for incomplete answers. When the exam is over,
fold your test papers and all equation sheets in half and place it inside your blue book to hand in.
1.(15 points) For each of the following statements indicate whether it is True or False. If the
statement is False rewrite it to make the statement true.
a) The Specific Gravity is a unitless quantity True.
equal
b) The earth pulls on the moon with a force larger in magnitude than the force that the moon
pulls on the earth. False.
c) For a mass resting on an incline the normal force of the surface of the incline acting on the
less
mass is greater than the weight of the mass. False.
d) An object in a free fall trajectory will have no horizontal acceleration. True.
e) Work is a vector quantity.True.
2.(10 points) For an object in simple harmonic motion, choose the value: zero, maximum (absolute
value) or neither to describe the specified quantity. Assume that the equilibrium position is at x =
0.
a) The speed of the object when it is at its equilibrium (zero) position. Max.
b) The position of the object when it is at its maximum potential energy. Max.
c) The speed of the object when it is at half its amplitude. Neither.
d) The position of the object when it has no kinetic energy. Max.
e) The speed of the object when it has no kinetic energy. Zero.
3.(10 points) A romantic sailor proposes to his fiance by placing a ring in a small boat floating in
her Champaign glass at dinner. Before she notices the ring she bumps the glass and the ring falls
out of the boat and sinks to the bottom of the glass. The empty boat remains floating. Briefly
describe Archimedes Principle and use it to tell whether the level of Champagne in the glass rose,
fell or remained the same as before the ring fell out of the boat.
A floating object displaces the volume of water equal to its weight.
The level of Champagne in the glass drops. The ring in the boat displaces the volume of
Champagne equal to the weight of the ring (and the boat). The ring submerged only displaces
the volume of the ring, which is less than the volume of Champagne equal to its weight. (The
boat still floats displacing its weight. )

4.(10 points) Experts warn that a large part of an underwater ridge near the Azores is ready to
collapse into the valley below. Besides causing a catastrophic tsunami, the shifting of the earths
mass will alter the rotation of the earth. Describe the terms
angular momentum and moment of inertia and use them to tell
whether this event will cause the earths day to become longer
or shorter by a small amount.
The angular momentum is the product of the moment of
inertia and the angular speed. The moment of inertia is the
summation of the products of elements of mass times their distance from the axis of rotation.
For the earth the angular momentum is conserved, so when some mass drops from an
elevation to a point closer to the center of the earth the moment of inertia decreases and the
angular speed increases causing the days to get shorter
5. (10 points) Four masses form a rectangle with the short side 3.0 m and the long side 4.0 m. Four
equal masses each 2.5 kg are at each corner of the rectangle. Find the net gravitational force both
magnitude and direction on any one mass due to the other three masses.
F
F1

F2
F3

F = mMG/r2
F1 = G(m/r)2 = G(2.5 kg/3.0 m)2 = 0.6944 G
F2 = G(2.5 kg/5.0 m)2 = 0.2500 G
F3 = G(2.5 kg/4.0 m)2 = 0.3906 G
Fx = F3 + F2cos = 0.3906 G + 0.2500 G(0.80) = 0.5906 G
Fy = F1 + F2sin = 0.6944 G + 0.2500 G(0.60) = 0.8944 G
F = [Fx2 +Fy2] = [(0.5906 G)2 +(0.8944 G)2] = 1.072 G = 7.15 x 10-11 N
tan = Fy/Fx = 0.8944 G/0.5906 G = 1.514
= 56.5o (north of east)
6. A soapbox derby racecar has a very light wooden body and steel axels, which altogether have a
mass of 35 kg. Each wheel is a bicycle wheel that can be approximated by a
36 cm diameter hoop with a mass of 3.1 kg. The rider has a mass of 36 kg,
and when racing in the car, attains a speed of 2.5 m/s by rolling down a hill
to the bottom where the road levels out.
a) (4 points) What amount of energy is tied up in rotational motion?
KE R = 4( I ) = 2(mR2)(v/R)2 = 2mv2 = 2(3.1 kg)(2.5 m/s) 2 = 38.75 J
KE R = 39 J
2

b) (4 points) What amount of energy is tied up in translational motion?

KET = (4M + M + M) v2 = (4(3.1 kg) + 35 kg + 36 kg) (2.5 m/s)2
KET = (83.4 kg) (2.5 m/s)2 = 260.6 J 260 J
c) (2 points) At what vertical height above the bottom of the hill did the racecar start? No
energy is lost to work done by friction.
mgh = KET + KER = 299.35 J
h = 299.35 J/mg = 299.35 J/83.4 kg(9.8 m/s2 = 0.3663 m = 0.37 m
7. (10 points) A person leaves his penthouse apartment on the ground floor as a 2.5 kg flowerpot
crashes next to him. He estimates the speed of the pot to be 12 m/s just before it impacts on the
ground. If it came from the ledge off the balcony outside his apartment 4.8 m above the pavement,
was it an accident or was the pot thrown down with an initial speed? If so, what speed was it
thrown at?
v2 = vo2 +2gh
vo2 = v2 -2gh
vo = [v2 -2gh] = [(12 m/s) 2 - 2(9.8 m/s2) 4.8 m] = 7.06 m/s 7.1 m/s Wasnt just dropped!
F1
8. (15 points) An 82 kg diver preparing to dive off the end of
F2
a diving board, stands at one end over the water. The board
is a 4.0 m long plank of mass 12 kg and has two points of
support, one at the rear of the board opposite where the diver
Mg
mg
stands and the other 1.2 m in from the rear. What are the
magnitudes and directions of the forces on the board at the
two support points?
Choose an axis at the point where F2 acts and it becomes apparent that F1 has to be down to
create a torque to balance the torques due to mg and Mg.
F1(1.2 m) mg(4.0 m/2 - 1.2 m) Mg(4.0 m 1.2 m) = 0
F1(1.2 m) mg(0.80 m) Mg(2.8 m) = 0
F 1 = [m (0.80 m) + M(2.8 m)]g/(1.2 m) = [12 kg (0.80 m) + 82 kg(2.8 m)]g/(1.2 m) = 1953 N
F 1 2000 N down
F2 F1 mg Mg = 0
F2 = F1 + [m + M]g = 1953 N + [12 kg + 82 kg]9.8 m/s2 = 2875 N 2900 N up
(Check: about an axis where F1 acts:
F2(1.2 m) mg(4.0 m/2) Mg(4.0 m) = 0
F2 = [mg(4.0 m/2) + Mg(4.0 m)]/(1.2 m) = [m(4.0 m/2) + M(4.0 m)]g/(1.2 m)
F2 = [12 kg(4.0 m/2) + 82 kg(4.0 m)]g/(1.2 m) = 2874 N 2900 N up)
9. A 30 kg child slides down a playground slide that makes an angle of 45o with the horizontal. She
starts 2.0 m vertically above the bottom of the slide. She ends up with a velocity of 3.0 m/s at the
bottom of the slide.
a) (5 points) How much work is done by the frictional force of the slide on the child?
Wf = mgh - mv2 = m[gh v2] = 30 kg[9.8 m/s2(2.0 m) (3.0 m/s)2] = 453 J 450 J
b) (5 points) What is the coefficient of friction between the slide and the child?
Wf = Ffx = Ffh/sin = FNh/sin = mg cos h/sin = mg h/tan
= Wf tan /mg h = 453 J tan 45o /30 kg (9.8 m/s2) 2.0 m = 0.770 0.77