Jimma University

College of Natural Sciences

Physics Department
Worksheet I on the Course “General Physics” for Natural Sciences
Freshman Program Academic year: 2019/20

Part I: Conceptual Question

1. Under which of the following conditions is the magnitude of the average velocity of a
particle moving in one dimension smaller than the average speed over some time interval?
a) A particle moves in the +x direction without reversing
b) A particle moves in –x direction without reversing
c) A particle moves in the +x direction and then reverses the direction of its motion
d) There are no conditions for which this is true
2. Consider the following one-dimensional motions: (A) a ball thrown directly upward rises
to a highest point and falls back into the thrower’s hand; (B) a race car starts from rest and
speeds up to 100 𝑚⁄𝑠; (C) a spacecraft drifts through space at constant velocity. Are there
any points in the motions of these objects at which the instantaneous velocity has the same
value as the average velocity over the entire motion? If so, identify the point(s).
3. If a car is travelling eastward and slowing down, what is the direction of the force on the
car that causes it to slow down? (a) Eastward (b) Westward (c) neither of these.
4. Which of the following is true? (a) if car is travelling eastward, its acceleration is eastward,
(b) if a car is slowing down, its acceleration must be negative, (c) a particle with constant
acceleration can never stop and stay stopped.
5. If the average velocity of an object is zero in some time interval, what can you say about
the displacement of the object for that time interval?
6. Two cars are moving in the same direction in parallel lanes along a highway. At some
instant, the velocity of car A exceeds the velocity of car B. Does this mean that the
acceleration of A is greater than that of B? Explain.
7. A student at the top of a building of height h throws on ball upward and with a speed of 𝑣𝑖
and then throws a second ball downward with the same initial speed, 𝑣𝑖 . How do the final
velocities of the balls compare when they reach the ground?
8. If vector ⃗𝑩
⃗ is added to vector ⃗𝑨, under what condition does the resultant vector ⃗𝑨
⃗ + ⃗𝑩⃗ have
magnitude A+B? (a) 𝑨 ⃗⃗ and 𝑩
⃗⃗ are parallel and in the same direction. (b) 𝑨
⃗⃗ and 𝑩
⃗⃗ are parallel
and in opposite directions. (c) ⃗𝑨 and ⃗𝑩
⃗ are perpendicular.
 9. If vector ⃗𝑩
⃗ is added to vector ⃗𝑨
⃗ , which two of the following choices must be true in order
for the resultant vector to be equal to zero? (a) 𝑨 ⃗ and 𝑩⃗⃗ are parallel and in the same
direction. (b) ⃗𝑨
⃗ and ⃗𝑩
⃗ are parallel and in opposite directions. (c) ) ⃗𝑨 and ⃗𝑩
⃗ have the same
magnitude. (d) ) ⃗𝑨⃗ and ⃗𝑩
⃗ are perpendicular.
10. Suppose you are running at constant velocity and you wish to throw a ball such that you
will catch it as it comes back down. In what direction should you throw the ball relative to
the ground?
11. In an inertial frame of reference, if an object doesn’t have an acceleration then which of
the following can be true about the condition of the object?
a. Unbalanced force acts on the object
b. The object is moving with an arbitrary velocity
c. Forces act on the object, but the forces cancel out
12. Which of the following is the reaction force to the gravitational force acting on your body
as you sit in your chair?
a. The normal force exerted by the chair
b. The force you exert downward on the seat of the chair
c. Neither of these forces
13. If vector A equals vector B, what can you conclude about the components of A and B?
14. If 𝑨 × 𝑩 = 8𝒊 − 14𝒋 + 𝒌 and 𝑨 + 𝑩 = 5𝒊 + 3𝒋 + 2𝒌, find the vectors 𝑨 and 𝑩.
15. If you push a heavy box which is at rest, you must exert some more force to start its motion.
However, once the box is sliding, you can apply a smaller force to maintain that motion.
Why?
16. State and explain the work-energy theorem.
17. If a bird collides with the windshield of a fast-moving bus, which one experiences an
impact force with a larger magnitude? Which one experienced the greater acceleration?
18. Can the torque on a particle be zero without the force being zero? Explain.
19. Can the force on a particle be zero without the angular momentum being zero? Explain.
20. What is the difference between shear and stress?
21. When a smooth-flowing steam of water comes out of a faucet, it narrows as it falls. Why
does it do so?
22. A very smooth wooden block is pressed against the bottom of a container of water so that
no water remains under the block. Will this block rise to the surface when it is released?
Why? (Hint: can the water exert a force on the bottom of the block?)
23. If the absolute pressure at a depth d in a lake is P, the absolute pressure at a depth 2d will
be _____. What if there were a gauge pressure instead of absolute pressure?

Part II: Work Out Problems

1. Find the sum and difference of two position vectors ⃗𝑨 and ⃗𝑩

⃗ in space and given by ⃗𝑨
⃗ =
⃗⃗ = (3𝑖 + 4𝑗 + 4𝑘)𝑚.
(2𝑖 + 4𝑗)𝑚; and 𝑩
2. If the polar coordinates of the point (x,y) are (r, θ), determine the polar coordinates for the
points: (-x, y), (-2x, -2y) and (3x, -3y).
3. A particle starts from the origin at t=0 with an initial velocity having an x-component of
15 m/s and a y-component of -15m/s. The particle moves in the xy plane with an x-
component of acceleration only, given by ax= 4.0m/s2.
a. Determine the components of the velocity vector at any time and the total velocity
vector at any time.
b. Calculate the velocity and speed of the particle at t=5.0s.
4. A hiker begins a trip by first walking 20.0 km southeast from her car. She stops and sets
up her tent for the night. On the second day, she walks 30.0 km in a direction 60.0o north
of east, at which point she discovers a forest ranger’s tower.
a. Determine the components of the hiker’s displacement for each day
b. Determine the components of the hiker’s resultant displacement R for the trip. Find an
expression for R in terms of unit vectors.
5. Show that the trajectory of a projectile motion is parabolic.
6. A plane drops a package of supplies to a party of explorer on the ground. If the plane is
traveling horizontally at 40.0 m/s and is 100 m above the ground, where does the package
strike the ground relative to the point at which it is released?
7. A projectile is fired at an angle of 30o form the horizontal with some initial speed. Firing
the projectile at what other angle results in the same horizontal range if the initial speed is
the same in both cases? Neglect air resistance.
8. A projectile is thrown from the top of a building upwards at an angle of 60o to the horizontal
with initial speed of 20.0 m/s. The height form which the stone is thrown is 45.0 m above
the ground.
a. How long does it take the stone to reach the ground?
b. What is the speed of the stone just before it strikes the ground?
9. Two block of masses m1 and m2, with m1 > m2, are placed in contact with each other on a
frictionless, horizontal surface. A constant horizontal force F is applied to m1.
a. Find the magnitude of the acceleration of the system.
b. Determine the magnitude of the contact force between the two blocks.
10. Find the constant force in the (a) cgs unit system and (b) SI unit system needed to
accelerate a mass of 10, 000 g moving along a straight line from a speed of 54 km/hr to
108 km/h in 5 minutes.
11. Find the work done by the force in the above problem (problem 10).
12. A mass of 5000 kg moves in a straight line from a speed of 540 km/hr to 720 km/hr in 2
minutes. What is the impulse developed in this time?
13. What is the magnitude of the impulse developed by a mass of 200 g which changes its
velocity from 5𝒊 − 3𝒋 + 7𝒌 m/s to 2𝒊 + 2𝒋 + 𝒌 m/s?
14. A particle is acted upon by the forces 𝑭𝟏 = 5𝒊 − 10𝒋 + 15𝒌, 𝑭𝟐 = 10𝒊 − 25𝒋 − 20𝒌 and
𝑭𝟑 = 15𝒊 − 20𝒋 + 10𝒌. Find the forces needed to keep the particle at equilibrium.
15. Find the constant force needed to give an object of mass 18,000 kg a speed of 16 km/hr in
5 minutes starting from rest.
16. A constant force of 100 newton is applied for 2 minutes to a 20 kg mass which is initially
at rest. (a) what is the speed achieved? (b) what is the distance traveled?
17. Find the kinetic energy of a particle of mass 20 kg moving with velocity 3𝒊 − 5𝒋 + 4𝒌 m/s.
18. At one particular instant of time a particle of mass 10 unit is traveling along a space curve
with velocity given by 4𝒊 + 16𝒌. At a later instant of time its velocity is 8𝒊 − 20𝒋. Find
the work done on the particle between the two instants of time.
19. A particle moves with velocity 5𝒊 − 3𝒋 + 6𝒌 under the influence of a constant force 𝑭 =
20𝒊 + 10𝒋 + 15𝒌 . What is the instantaneous power applied to the particle?
20. A planet has two moons of equal masses. Moon 1 is in a circular orbit of radius r and Moon
2 is in a circular orbit of radius 2r. What is the magnitude of the gravitational force exerted
by the planet on moon 2 in terms of the force on moon 1?
21. Using the known radius of the Earth and that 𝑔 = 9.80 𝑚⁄𝑠 2 at eh Earth’s surface, find
the average density of the Earth.
22. The international space station (ISS) operates at an altitude of 350 km. Plans for the final
construction show that material of weight 4.22 × 106 𝑁, measured at the Earth’s surface,
will have been lifted off the surface by various spacecraft during the construction process.
What is the weight of the space station when in orbit?
23. If it takes a time τ for an object starting from speed V0 on an icy surface to come to rest,
prove that the coefficient of friction is V0/gτ
24. Viscous blood is flowing through an artery partially clogged by cholesterol to double the
flow rate of blood through this artery. If the original diameter of the artery is D, what should
be the new diameter (in terms of D) to accomplish this for the same pressure gradient?
25. A uniform lead sphere and a uniform aluminum sphere have the same mass. What is the
ratio of the radius of the aluminum sphere to the radius of the lead sphere?
26. The piston of a hydraulic automobile lift is 0.30 m in diameter. What gauge pressure, in
Pascal, is required to lift a car with a mass of 1200 kg? Now express this pressure in
atmospheres.
27. What speed must a gold sphere of radius 3.00 mm in castor oil for the viscous drag force
to be one-fourth of the weight of the sphere? The density of gold is 19,300 kg/m 3 and the
viscosity of the oil is 0.986 N.s/m2.