AP Physics Torque - Problem Set – Answers Mr.

McMullen

Name _____________________________________________Date _____________ Period ________

1. In figure to right, if the arm makes a 30°

angle with the horizontal and a torque of
18 m  N is to be produced, what force
must the biceps muscle supply if the
muscle attaches 3.0cm from the
elbow? 693 N
2. The drain plug on a car’s engine has been
tightened to a torque of 25 m  N. If a
0.15-m-long wrench is used to change the
oil, what is the minimum force needed to loosen the plug? 1.7  102 N
3. In problem 2, due to limited work space, you must crawl under the car. The force thus cannot be applied
perpendicularly to the length of the wrench. If the applied force makes a 30° angle with the length of the
wrench, what is the force required to loosen the drain plug? 3.3  102 N
4. How many different positions of stable equilibrium and unstable equilibrium are there for a cube? Consider each
surface, edge, and corner to be a different position. 6 stable (faces), 20 unstable (12 edges and 8 corners)
5. Two children are sitting on opposite ends of a uniform seesaw of negligible mass. (a) Can the seesaw be balanced
if the masses of the children are different? How? (b) If a 35-kg child is 2.0 m from the pivot point (or
fulcrum), how far from the pivot point will her 30-kg playmate have to sit on the other side for the seesaw to
be in equilibrium? (a) yes (b) 2.3 m
6. A uniform meter stick pivoted at its center, has a 100-g mass suspended at the 25.0-cm position. (a) At what
position should a 75.0-g mass be suspended to put the system in equilibrium? (b) What mass would have to be
suspended at the 90.0-cm position for the system to be in equilibrium? (a) 83.3 cm (b) 62.5 g
7. Telephone and electrical lines are allowed to sag between poles so that the tension will not be too great when
something hits or sits on the line. (a) Is it possible to have the lines
perfectly horizontal? Why or why not? (b) Suppose that a line were
stretched almost perfectly horizontally between two poles that are 30
m apart. If a 0.25-kg bird perches on the wire midway between the
poles and the wire sags 1.0 cm, what would be the tension in the
wire? (a) no (b) 1.8  103 N ( 400 lb!)
9. In figure to left, what is the force Fm supplied by the deltoid
muscle so as to hold up the outstretched arm if the mass of the arm is
3.0 kg? ( Fj is the joint force on the bone of the upper arm—the

humerus.) 1.6  102 N

8. In Figure b at to of page, determine the force exerted by the bicep muscle, assuming that the hand is holding a ball
with a mass of 5.00 kg. Assume that the mass of the forearm is 8.50 kg with its center of mass located 20.0 cm
away from the elbow joint (the black dot in the figure). Assume also that the center of mass of the ball in the
hand is 30.0 cm away from the elbow joint. (The muscle contact is 4.00 cm from the elbow joint, Example
8.2.) 784 N
9. A bowling ball (mass 7.00 kg and radius 17.0 cm) is released so fast that it skids without rotating down the alley
(at least for a while). Assume the ball skids to your right and the coefficient of sliding friction between the ball
and the lane surface is 0.400. (a) What is the direction of the torque exerted by the friction on the ball about
the center of mass of the ball? (b) Determine the magnitude of this torque (again about the ball’s center of
AP Physics Torque - Problem Set – Answers Mr. McMullen

mass). (a) clockwise (b) 4.66 m  N

10. A variation of Russell traction (figure to right)supports the lower leg in a
cast. Suppose that the patient’s leg and cast have a combined mass of
15.0 kg and m1 is 4.50 kg. (a) What is the reaction force of the leg
muscles to the traction? (b) What must m2 be to keep the leg
horizontal? (a) 88.2 N (b) 10.5 kg
11. In doing physical therapy for an injured knee joint, a person raises a
5.0-kg weighted boot as shown below. Compute the torque due to the

boot for each position shown. 0,

9.80 m  N, 17.0 m  N, 19.6 m  N
13. An artist wishes to construct a birds-and-bees mobile, as
shown in figure below. If the mass of the bee on the lower left is
0.10 kg and each vertical support string has a length of 30 cm,
what are the masses of the other birds and bees?
(Neglect the masses of the bars and
strings.) m2  0.20 kg, m3  0.50 kg, m4  0.40 kg

14. The location of a person’s center of gravity

relative to his or her height can be found by
using the arrangement shown in Fig. 8.38.
The scales are initially adjusted to zero with the
board alone. (a) Would you expect the location
of the center of gravity to be (1) midway
between the scales, (2) toward the scale at the
person’s head, or (3) toward the scale at the
person’s feet? Why? (b) Locate the center of
gravity of the person relative to the horizontal
dimension. (a) (2) toward the scale at the person’s head (b) 0.87 m from the feet
15. (a) How many uniform, identical textbooks of width 25.0 cm can be stacked on top of each other on a level
surface without the stack falling over if each successive book is displaced 3.00 cm in width relative to the
book below it? (b) If the books are 5.00 cm thick, what will be the height of the center of mass of the stack
above the level surface? (a) 9 books (b) 22.5 cm
AP Physics Torque - Problem Set – Answers Mr. McMullen

16. If four meter sticks were stacked on a table with 10 cm, 15 cm, 30 cm, and 50 cm, respectively, hanging over the
edge, as below, would the top meter stick remain on the table? yes; see Solutions

17. A 10.0-kg solid uniform cube with 0.500-m sides rests on a level surface. What is the minimum amount of work
necessary to put the cube into an unstable equilibrium position? 10.2 J
18. While standing on a long board resting on a scaffold, a 70-kg painter paints the side of a house, as shown in
figure below. If the mass of the board is 15 kg, how close to the end can the painter stand without tipping the
board over? 1.2 m from left end of board

19. Suppose that the board in figure above were suspended from vertical ropes
attached to each end instead of resting on scaffolding. If the painter
stood 1.5 m from one end of the board, what would the tensions in the
ropes be? (See Exercise 43 for additional
data.) 2.6  102 N; 5.7  102 N
20. A mass is suspended by two cords as shown in figure to the right. What are
the tensions in the cords? T1  49 N; T2  40 N
21 If the cord attached to the vertical wall in same figure as question 20 were
horizontal (instead of at a 30° angle), what would the tensions in the
cords be? T1  21 N; T2  15 N