LAWS OF MOTION

EXERCISES
(For simplicity in numerical calculations, take g = 10 m s-2)

1. Give the magnitude and direction of the net force acting on

(a) a drop of rain falling down with a constant speed,
(b) a cork of mass 15 g floating on water,
(c) a kite skillfully held stationary in the sky,
(d) a car moving with a constant velocity of 25 km/h on a rough road,
(e) a high-speed electron in space far from all material objects, and
free of electric and magnetic fields.

2. A pebble of mass 0.07 kg is thrown vertically upwards. Give the direction

and magnitude of the net force on the pebble,
(a) during its upward motion,
(b) during its downward motion,
(c) at the highest point where it is momentarily at rest. Do your
answers change if the pebble was thrown at an angle of 60° with
the horizontal direction?
Ignore air resistance.

3. Give the magnitude and direction of the net force acting on a stone of mass
0.2 kg,
(a) just after it is dropped from the window of a stationary train,
(b) just after it is dropped from the window of a train running at a
constant velocity of 26 km/h,
(c ) just after it is dropped from the window of a train accelerating with 2 m s-2,
(c) lying on the floor of a train which is accelerating with 1 m s-2, the
stone being at rest relative to the train.

4. Neglect air resistance throughout.

One end of a string of length l is connected to a particle of mass m and the
other to a small peg on a smooth horizontal table. If the particle moves in a
circle with speed v the net force on the particle (directed towards the
centre) is :

T is the tension in the string. [Choose the correct alternative].

5. A constant force acting on a body of mass 2.5 kg changes its speed from 2.5 m s-1 to 3.5 m s-1 in 25 s. The
direction of the motion of the body remains unchanged. What is the magnitude and direction of the
force ?

6. The driver of a three-wheeler moving with a speed of 72 km/h sees a child standing in the middle of the
road and brings his vehicle to rest in 2.0 s just in time to save the child. What is the average retarding
force on the vehicle ? The mass of the three-wheeler is 200 kg and the mass of the driver is 75 kg.

7. A rocket with a lift-off mass 30,000 kg is blasted upwards with an initial acceleration of 4.0 m s-2.
Calculate the initial thrust (force) of the blast.

8. A man of mass 65 kg stands on a weighing scale in a lift which is moving

(a) upwards with a uniform speed of 12 ms-1,
(b) downwards with a uniform acceleration of 4 m s-2,
(c) upwards with a uniform acceleration of 6 m s-2.
What would be the readings on the scale in each case?
(d) What would be the reading if the lift mechanism failed and it
hurtled down freely under gravity ?
 9. Figure shows the position-time graph of a particle of mass 5 kg. What is the (a) force on
the particle for
t < 0, t > 4 s, 0 < t < 4 s? (b) impulse at t = 0 and t = 4 s ? (Consider one-dimensional
motion only).

10. A nucleus is at rest in the laboratory frame of reference. Show that if it

disintegrates into two smaller nuclei the products must move in opposite
directions.
11. Two billiard balls each of mass 0.08 kg moving in opposite directions with speed 8m s-
1
collide and rebound with the same speed. What is the impulse imparted to each ball due
to the other ?
12. A stone of mass 0.20 kg tied to the end of a string is whirled round in a circle of radius
1.0 m with a speed of 30 rev./min in a horizontal plane. What is the tension in the
string ? What is the maximum speed with which the stone can be whirled around
if the string can withstand a maximum tension of 250 N ?
13. If, in Exercise 12, the speed of the stone is increased beyond the maximum permissible
value, and the string breaks suddenly, which of the following correctly describes
the trajectory of the stone after the string breaks :
(a) the stone moves radially outwards,
(b) the stone flies off tangentially from the instant the string breaks,
(c) the stone flies off at an angle with the tangent whose magnitude depends on
the speed of the particle ?
14. Explain why
(a) a horse cannot pull a cart and run in empty space,
(b) passengers are thrown forward from their seats when a speeding bus
stops suddenly,
(c) it is easier to pull a lawn mower than to push it,
(d) a cricketer moves his hands backwards while holding a catch.
 ROTATIONAL MOTION
1. Give the location of the centre of mass of a (i) sphere, (ii) cylinder, (iii) ring, and (iv) cube, each
of uniform mass density. Does the centre of mass of a body necessarily lie inside the body
?

2. In the HC1 molecule, the separation between the nuclei of the two atoms is about 1.27 Å
(1 Å = 10-10 m). Find the approximate location of the CM of the molecule, given that a
chlorine atom is about 35.5 times as massive as a hydrogen atom and nearly all the mass of
an atom is concentrated in its nucleus.

3. A child sits stationary at one end of a long trolley moving uniformly with a speed V on a
smooth horizontal floor. If the child gets up and runs about on the trolley in any manner,
what is the speed of the CM of the (trolley + child) system ?

4. Show that the area of the triangle contained between the vectors a and b is one half of the
magnitude of a × b.

5. Show that a.(b × c) is equal in magnitude to the volume of the parallelepiped formed on the
three vectors , a, b and c.

6. Find the components along the x, y, z axes of the angular momentum l of a particle, whose
position vector is r with components x, y, z and momentum is p with components px, py
and pz. Show that if the particle moves only in the x-y plane the angular momentum has
only a z-component.

7. Two particles, each of mass m and speed v, travel in opposite directions along parallel lines
separated by a distance d. Show that the vector angular momentum of the two particle
system is the same whatever be the point about which the angular momentum is taken.

8. A non-uniform bar of weight W is suspended at rest by two strings of negligible weight as

shown in Fig. The angles made by the strings with the vertical are 36.9 and 53.1
respectively. The bar is 2 m long. Calculate the distance d of the centre of gravity of the
bar from its left end.

9. A car weighs 2000 kg. The distance between its front and back axles is 2.0 m. Its centre of
gravity is 1.10 m behind the front axle. Determine the force exerted by the level ground on
each front wheel and each back wheel.

10. (a) Find the moment of inertia of a sphere about a tangent to the sphere, given the moment
of inertia of the sphere about any of its diameters to be 2MR2/5, where M is the mass of the
sphere and R is the radius of the sphere.
(b) Given the moment of inertia of a disc of mass M and radius R about any of its
diameters to be MR2/4, find its moment of inertia about an axis normal to the disc
and passing through a point on its edge.
11. Torques of equal magnitude are applied to a hollow cylinder and a solid sphere,
both having the same mass and radius. The cylinder is free to rotate about its
standard axis of symmetry, and the sphere is free to rotate about an axis passing
through its centre. Which of the two will acquire a greater angular speed after a
given time.

12. A solid cylinder of mass 25 kg rotates about its axis with angular speed 130 rad s-
1. The radius of the cylinder is 0.5 m. What is the kinetic energy associated with
the rotation of the cylinder? What is the magnitude of angular momentum of the
cylinder about its axis?
13. (a) A child stands at the centre of a turntable with his two arms outstretched. The
turntable is set rotating with an angular speed of 50 rev/min. How much is the
angular speed of the child if he folds his hands back and thereby reduces his
moment of inertia to 3/5 times the initial value ? Assume that the turntable rotates
without friction.
(b) Show that the child’s new kinetic energy of rotation is more than the initial kinetic
energy of rotation. How do you account for this increase in kinetic energy?

14. To maintain a rotor at a uniform angular speed or 210 rad s-1, an engine needs
to transmit a torque of 170 N m. What is the power required by the engine ?
(Note: uniform angular velocity in the absence of friction implies zero torque. In
practice, applied torque is needed to counter frictional torque). Assume that the
engine is 100% efficient.
15. From a uniform disk of radius R, a circular hole of radius R/2 is cut out. The
centre of the hole is at R/2 from the centre of the original disc. Locate the centre
of gravity of the resulting flat body.
16. A solid sphere rolls down two different inclined planes of the same heights but
different angles of inclination. (a) Will it reach the bottom with the same speed in
each case? (b) Will it take longer to roll down one plane than the other? (c) If so,
which one and why?
17. A hoop of radius 2.5 m weighs 120 kg. It rolls along a horizontal floor so that its
centre of mass has a speed of 25 cm/s. How much work has to be done to stop
it?
18. The oxygen molecule has a mass of 5.30 × 10-26 kg and a moment of inertia of
1.94×10-46 kg m2 about an axis through its centre perpendicular to the lines joining
the two atoms. Suppose the mean speed of such a molecule in a gas is 500 m/s and
that its kinetic energy of rotation is two thirds of its kinetic energy of translation.
Find the average angular velocity of the molecule.

19. A solid cylinder rolls up an inclined plane of angle of inclination 25 . At the
bottom of the inclined plane the centre of mass of the cylinder has a speed of 5
m/s.
(a) How far will the cylinder go up the plane?

(b) How long will it take to return to the bottom?