A 20 kg block (A) rests on a frictionless table; a cord attached to the

block extends horizontally to a pulley at the edge of the table. A 10 kg

mass (B) hangs at the end of the cord.

(a) D,aw an el the force vector h object.

� F,.

(b) Calculate the acceleration of the block and mass.

F'5�
= v\"\g� "'"M�
�
c,.., ', ,,,.. :: (10){\o)
VV's �
, (to+z.o)
= � & - f'T = ""• '1- , Ma 'd: -:. f>- ( M +MA
(J
JO-O
Fc - fl\ A-"- : Ma o- ',( M 6 -+MA) ( M ra � rv\,..) so
' � •

(c) Calculate the �!Ion In the cord.

( t>- " 3 • 3 3 .,../' c..]
FT :: tv' p, 0-
F-T � ( z..o)( 3 , � !) (, � , l, �

·--�- - .,..

� ;g
I �.: j
L lci "tf
a. If the coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.2, what is the acceleration of the boxes?

fT - � :: r{\ O-, F�g- F", ==�o- ..=, FT ,:: F�i -Mg

A O-

f�· - rAti �- f,- � "1 � C.2}10) -(l)fJ- - (o.t)(�Y11>) =- �,_,

1\
b. What is the tension in the string between the boxes tD - IO :::: S'""0- + J.P..... _____,
F°T - ff "' M� ca,.. }9 :: � tlL ::: 1.4 .,../s. �
'I '? ,_______
. F,. : ft\._ �� ff

FT -:: s--- +r. F�

· F. :: �(1.4J ,+ {.t'XS"")(lD}

[ F: "' 17 0 J
 15) The following system has coefficient of kinetic friction between the 20 kg block and
the 75 ° incline is 0.2 v
a. Draw the FBD. **No components and all forces must originate on the object
b. Write the IF.statement (only variables)
c. Write IFvstatement (only variables)
d. What is the acceleration of the system

18) An 80 kg block and a 40 kg block are connected with a rope of negligible mass. The 80 kg block is placed on a horizontal
surface, while the 40 kg block is placed on a 40° incline, and the objects are released and allowed to slide. You may
assume all surfaced are frictionless.

a. What is the magnitude of the acceleration of the blocks?

F'J
6 b. What is the tension in the rope connecting them?
c. If the blocks were swapped so that the 40 kg block were on the horizontal surface and the 80 kg block were on
flr:
t
t; ;\
i ould the tension in the ro , ,
�� ��� (� ;;;;�
· he same? Explain
fl'\A��

� f-A.,. ·. F-r : rA if. e;L �F,x ·. f� 4s�AG- -f-. = W\1- 0-

� f',.. v : f�,_ - F�A -:. 0

(:� z. - F� CAs0 :: 0
� f"a 1
@ �\o����M '. . - ® F.,. ": MA"-
F,. -- '"'" o-·J F�Jg !>,t\e-f,
-M�
F-r = i'O )( z. .,'()
a.
.AA

F�i:s� 0 - M,r � "= M'I o-

f'
-: I "7 l. Z. �
( Lf o )t,o) .s,A LfO - JO� :;. t.t Oo- c) typically if acceleration increases then
!,-,r] I c}.{)o-- [a. = .:l, I"/ ...../,;. �
'- tension increases as well, but this is a
special case because the masses are 1 to
I Z.O f U:,
2 relationship. When these are switched
the tension remains the same, because the
total mass is constant.
NATIONAL
MATH + SCIENCE
INITIATIVE Science

AP PHYSICS 1

Forces on a System of Objects

2016 EDITION
PRESENTER

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To NMSI Instructors Presenting This Session

This topic-based session consists of a pre-assessment piece, a content piece (for student reference), multiple-
choice question (including a multi-mark question) and four free responses. It is advised that you ask students to
read Newton’s first two laws in the content piece during the time they walk in and wait for the session to begin.
Students are often exposed to the incorrect articulations of Newton’s Three Laws, and it would do them well to
state and explain the correct phrasings of Newton’s Laws for them. Then ask students to attempt the pre-
assessment piece. It is important for students to leave the session understanding what is and what is not an
action-reaction force pair, and they need to understand the difference between internal and external forces and
how those forces change the motion of systems.

When going over multiple-choice questions or free-response parts, let the session be conversational. Give
students 1 to 2 minutes to consider the problem in pairs or groups of 3, with a goal of finding relevant physical
principles to apply and identifying important information in the problem. Make it an expectation that all groups
have something relevant to the problem to share after the think time, even if the group was not able to arrive at a
final answer. For example, on problem M4, a group could contribute that the 20 N force is the only external
force even if the group cannot turn that information into the right answer to the problem.

There are four free-response questions, which are related to motion but follow this pattern:
• The first is a question that heavily relies on one or more representations.
• The second is a laboratory or experiment-related question.
• The third is a qualitative-quantitative translation.
• The fourth involves writing a paragraph-length-response.

Avoid being the “sage on the stage.” The session should be a mixture of you interacting with students and
students interacting with each other. Segments that involve you talking and the students listening should be
short—no more than 5 minutes at the beginning and sporadic 2-to-3 minute talks after that. Be positive at all
times, having a “can-do” attitude. If you think that the students are “doomed” or “too far behind”, do not let
this on. Do not allow students (by your actions or the actions of other students) to feel bad because they don’t
know something. Don’t say “your teacher didn’t teach you this?” or anything of that sort—neither they nor you
can control how their teacher conducts their AP Physics classroom. Emphasize continually that the purpose of
Saturday Study Sessions is to leave the session better and more capable than you came.

Pre-Assessment Answers

(P2) The person pushes down on the net; the net bows downward. The net pushes up on the person; the
person stops (or slows down) falling.

(P3) The airplane pushes down on the air; the air flows downward. The air pushes up on the airplane; the
airplane stays at the same height.

(P4) The gun pushes forward on the bullet; the bullet accelerates forward. The bullet pushes backward on the
gun; the gun recoils backward.

(P5)
(a) (b)
The rope has the same tension on both ends no matter how
strong Student A is or how weak Student B is. What wins

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tug-of-war is that Student A has more friction acting to the

left than Student B has. Looking at the forces on just
Student A, there is more leftward friction than rightward
tension, so A accelerates to the left. Likewise B has more
tension to the left and less friction to the right, so B also
accelerates left. This is a win for Student A. If A had
slippery shoes, he would be much less likely to win.

Multiple-Choice Answers

M1. Answer: D

The forces indicated were “tractor on box” and “box on tractor”. These are an action-reaction pair (of the
pattern “A on B” and “B on A”). That means that these forces are always equal in magnitude and opposite in
direction.

M2. Answer: D

An object cannot exert a force on itself. To jump, a person does not “push themselves up”. Instead, they push
down on the floor with a force greater than their own weight. As a Newton’s Third Law reaction, the floor
pushes up on the person with the same (greater-than-their-weight) force. If a person’s upward force (from the
floor) is greater than their downward weight force, then their body accelerates upward, causing the jump.

M3. Answer: A

All of the boxes have the same acceleration. The left spring has to accelerate a single 2 kg mass, but the right
spring has to accelerate two 2 kg masses (all of the mass “behind” the spring). Since the right spring has twice
the mass to accelerate, the right spring exerts twice the force (by F = ma). Since a spring’s force is proportional
to its stretch (by F = kx), the rights spring accelerating twice the mass has twice the acceleration.

M4. Answer: B

The springs exert forces that are internal to the system, so the spring forces do nothing to the motion of the
center of mass. The only unbalanced external force is the 20 N force, and it accelerates 5 kg total. By F = ma,
if the external force is 20 N and the total mass is 5 kg, the center of mass has an acceleration of 4 m/s2. If the
CM gains 4 m/s of speed every second, then the CM gains 8 m/s of speed in 2 s (by v = at).

M5. Answer: D

The acceleration of an object on a frictionless incline depends only on gravity and the incline angle and NOT on
mass. Since the 2 kg is placed on the same incline, it has the same acceleration. (mgsinθ = ma reduces to just
gsinθ = a).

M6. Answer: B

The 1 kg block, having an acceleration of 6 m/s2 when alone, has an external force of 6 N acting on it when it is
on the incline. But Case 3 has the 1 kg block tied to a 2 kg block. The same 6 N force acts on the 1 kg block,
but the system’s mass is now 3 kg, resulting (by F = ma) in an acceleration of 2 m/s2.

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Free-Response Answers

F1. (7 points)

(a) 3 points

(1) Both weight forces are downward and both have the same
length.

(2) The spring force in diagram 1 is downward, and the spring

force in diagram 2 is upward.

(3) Both spring forces have equal length and longer than the
weight forces.

(b) 1 point

(4) Yes the system is in free-fall; the center of mass of the system accelerates at 9.8 m/s2.

(c) 3 points

(5) The downward acceleration would be greater

(6) The two downward forces of weight and the spring are what cause cube 1’s acceleration (in either
case).

(7) The spring force doesn’t decrease as rapidly in the new case because the spring’s length doesn’t
decrease as quickly (since cube 2 doesn’t move).

The student could also receive points (6) and (7) by explaining that the magnet exerts an external
downward force, which causes the CM to fall with more acceleration than in the previous case, and this
requires cube 1 to fall faster.

F2. (12 points)

(a) 4 points

(1) The student’s setup involves two objects connected by either a string or a spring so that the two
objects can pull on each other.

(2) The student’s setup has no friction.

(3) The student’s setup has the ability to measure the mass of both carts and the acceleration for both
carts as they pull on each other.

(4) All of the checked pieces of equipment are used, and the diagram shown is simple, labeled, and
makes sense in the context of the procedure.
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Example Response: Take two of the carts and put different masses in them. Connect them with the
elastic cord and stretch the carts apart. Place two motion detectors to “watch”
each cart’s motion as the carts are released and accelerate together. Use the
balance to get the mass of each cart and its contents.

Example Response: Take a cart and put some masses in it. Connect the cart to another mass by the
string and make the mass hang over the edge of the table. Release the mass a
known distance above the floor, as measured by the meterstick. Time how long it
takes for the mass to reach the floor. Use the balance to get the mass of the cart
and the hanging object.

(b) 3 points

(5) The student explains how acceleration is to be measured. The student cannot merely say “measure
the acceleration”, as none of the pieces of equipment actually directly measure acceleration.

(6) The student explains how the force is to be calculated. The student can merely say that mass times
acceleration yields force.

(7) The students state that the forces must be compared to determine if they are equal (as required by
Newton’s Third Law).

Example Response: The motion detectors can create velocity vs. time graphs. Take the slope of each
velocity vs. time graph to get each cart’s acceleration. Then multiply each cart’s
acceleration by its mass to get the force, which should be the same.

Example Response: The fall distance of the hanging mass x and the fall time t can be plugged into
x=½at2 to solve for the acceleration of both cart and hanger. The mass of the cart
times its acceleration is the tension in the string. Subtract the hanger’s mg and the
hanger’s ma to get the tension on the hanger. Both tensions should be the same.

(c) 1 point

(8) Yes, and the student explains how the setup can be used to measure each cart’s initial and final
velocity. If the student stated NO, then the student must explain where an external force acts in the
setup to receive this point.

In the “carts coming together” examples above, the motion sensors can be used to measure initial and
final speed, and so the change in momentum of each cart could be measured. In the “cart and hanging
object” examples, there is an external force of weight on the hanging object, so conservation of
momentum cannot be demonstrated by this setup.

(d) 4 points

(9) FA→B = −FB→ A (the student starts with some statement of Newton’s Third Law)

(10) mB aB = −mA a A (the student substitutes in ma for F with appropriate subscripts)

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Δv B Δv
(11) m B = −m A A (the student substitutes Δv/Δt for acceleration with subscripts on v’s only)
Δt Δt

(12) The student connects this last mathematical statement (or any additional correct mathematical
statements) to the fact that an increase in B’s momentum is the same as a decrease in A’s
momentum.

F3. (12 points)

(a) 4 points

(1) The total mass of the rope is µL (which is mass per length times length)

(2) The mass of the piece of the rope of length y would be µy

(3) The student starts finding the acceleration using F = ma, and shows an understanding that the
weight of the rope of length y is the net external force.

(4) The student plugs in µy for force and µL for mass to get µyg = µLa, finding a = gy/L

(b) 5 points

Students A and C are correct, because:

(5) There is an initial acceleration because there is initially a net force, so the intercept is justified if
the graph shows acceleration.

(6) The acceleration increases because as the rope moves, the height difference y increases, which
increases the net force.

(7) There is no initial velocity, so student B is wrong since the graph has an intercept.

(8) There is an initial value of y, so the intercept is justified if the graph shows y.

(9) If the rope accelerates, then the graph of y vs. t must curve upward.

(c) 3 points

(10) The student identifies the problem as being either with (L – y0) OR with g.

(11) The student notes that g should be in the denominator, OR that (L – y0) should be in the numerator
OR that (L – y0) can be undefined.

(12) The student notes that greater gravity would decrease the rope’s travel time (not increase), OR that
the greater the difference (L – y0) the more rope has to go over the pulley, OR the student notes
that if L = y0, the time SHOULD be zero and not undefined.

Example Response: The g should be in the denominator because more gravity would cause the rope to
fall faster and take less time.

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Example Response: The L – y0 doesn’t make sense because if y0 is small, it should take a long time,
and if y0 is close to L, very little rope needs to go over the pulley and it should
take a short time. But the placement of (L – y0) in the denominator makes it so
that if L and y0 are very close in length, the time is really long and not really short.

F4. (7 points)

(a) 3 points

(1) The m block has an upward normal and a downward weight force that are equal, and no other
vertical or diagonal vectors are drawn.

(2) The m block has a rightward tension and leftward friction force, tension is greater, and there are no
other horizontal or diagonal vectors drawn.

(3) The 10 kg block has an upward tension and downward weight force, weight is greater, and there
are no other forces or vectors drawn.

(b) 4 points

The mass has greater acceleration in case 1. This is because:

(4) The same external force acts in both cases.

(5) The external force is either the 98 N of pull or the 98 N of hanging weight.

(6) There is more total system mass in case 2.

(7) For constant force, mass and acceleration are inversely proportional.

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