MOCK EXAM 2024

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● Institution Name: University of Johannesburg

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● Exam Title: ENGINEERING PHYSICS 1A
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● Date: 01 JUNE 2024
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 PHY1A01
Semester Test 1
Date: 18 February 2010
Time: 90 minutes Marks: 90

Answer ALL the questions

QUESTION 1 [18]

Multiple choice: Select the correct answer and write down one of A, B, C, D or E

a) Consider the velocity-time and acceleration-time graphs shown just below:

Choose the correct pairing of v-t graphs with their corresponding a-t graphs:

A) a → e; b → d; c → f; B) a → f; b → d; c → e; C) a → f; b → e; c → d
D) a → d; b → f; c → e E) a → d; b → e; c → f (2)
b) The parabolic curve in the following diagram shows the path of a particle in simple
projectile motion. At which point is the velocity vector of the particle perpendicular to its
acceleration vector?

A) At the origin
B) At the end of the path
C) At the highest point in the path
D) Nowhere on the path
E) Everywhere on the path (2)
c) Rank the time of flight of a projectile launched at the different angles shown just
below, in order of the LONGEST flight time down to the SHORTEST flight time:

A) 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° B) 75°, 60°, 45°, 30°, 15° C) 45°, 30°, 60°, 15°, 75°
D) the flight time is the same for all launch angles E) none of the above (2)

d) A particle moves in a circular path of radius r with speed v. It then increases its speed to 2v
while travelling along the same circular path. The centripetal acceleration of the particle has
changed by what factor:

A) 0.25 B) 0.5 C) 2 D) 4 E) 8 (2)

r
e) A car travels in an oval path as shown just below, with v A = 25 m/s towards the West, and
r
v B = 20 m/s towards the North. The ratio of the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration
aB
at B to that at A, is:
aA
vA A

vB

500 m B

400 m

A) 0.512 B) 0.64 C) 0.8 D) 1.25 E) 1.56 (3)

f) The position of an object at equal time intervals is shown by the seven dots
immediately below:

Which graph below correctly represents position versus time for this object?
x(m) x(m) x(m)

t(s) t(s) t(s)

(a) (b) (c)

x(m) x(m)

t(s) t(s)

(d) (e) (3)

g) The graph shown just below shows the velocity-versus-time graph for a ball. Which
explanation best fits the motion of the ball as shown by the graph?
v

A) The ball is falling, is caught, and is then thrown downwards with greater velocity.
B) The ball is rolling, stops, and then continues rolling.
C) The ball is rising, hits the ceiling, and falls down.
D) The ball is falling, hits the floor, and bounces up.
E) The ball is rising, is caught, and then is thrown down. (2)

h) A car is traveling 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 eastward nor westward D) northward E)

impossible to say
(2)
Question 2 [12 Marks]

(a) Two moles of an ideal gas are compressed in a cylinder at a constant temperature
of 65.00C until the original pressure has tripled.
(i) Sketch a pV-diagram for this process. [2]
(ii) Calculate the amount of work done. [2]
(b) Six moles of an ideal gas are in a cylinder fitted at one end with a movable piston.
The initial temperature of the gas is 27.00C and the pressure is constant. As part of a
machine design project, calculate the final temperature of the gas after it has done
2.40 × 103 J of work. [2]
(c) When water is boiled at a pressure of 2.00 atm, the heat of vaporization is
2.20 × 106 J/kg and the boiling point is 1200C. At this pressure, 1.00 kg of water has a
volume of 1.00 × 10-3 m3, and 1.00 kg of steam has a volume of 0.824 m3 .
(i) Compute the work done when 1.00 kg of steam is formed at this
temperature. [2]
(ii) Compute the increase in internal energy of the water. [2]
(d) Find the increase in entropy of 1.00 kg of ice that is originally at 0 °C and melts to
form water at 0 °C. (Lf =334 kJ/kg for water) [2]

Question 3 [5 Marks]

One liter (1000 cm³) of oil is spilled onto a smooth lake. If the oil spreads out uniformly until
it makes an oil slick just three molecules thick, with adjacent molecules just touching,
estimate the diameter of the oil slick. Assume the oil molecules have a diameter of
2×10-10m.

Question 4 (30 Marks)

(a) For a rigid body, show that the rotational analog of Newton’s Second Law is given
by:

∑ 𝜏𝑧 = 𝐼𝛼𝑧

Where 𝜏𝑧 = Torque, I= Moment of Inertia of the rigid body, 𝛼𝑧 = Angular acceleration. [3]
 (b) A 12.0-kg box resting on a horizontal, frictionless surface is attached to a 5.00-kg
weight by a thin, light wire that passes over a frictionless pulley (Fig. 1). The pulley
has the shape of a uniform solid disk of mass 2.00 kg and diameter 0.500 m.

After the system is released, find

(i) the tension in the wire on both sides of the pulley. [2]
(ii) the acceleration of the box. [2]
(iii) the horizontal and vertical components of the force that the axle exerts on the
pulley. [2]

(c) Show that the total work done by a net external torque is equal to the change in
rotational kinetic energy of a rigid body. [4]
(d) In a physics demonstration, an instructor “races” various bodies that roll without
slipping from rest down an inclined plane (Fig. 2). Show, by calculation, that any of
the solid spheres in the race will win the race. [4]
(e) A thin, light string is wrapped around the outer rim of a uniform hollow cylinder of
mass 4.75 kg having inner and outer radii as shown in Fig. 3. The cylinder is then
released from rest.

(i) How far must the cylinder fall before its center is moving at 6.66 m/s? [4]
(ii) If you just dropped this cylinder without any string, how fast would its center be
moving when it had fallen the distance in part? [3]

(f) A 2.0 kg disk traveling at 3.0 m/s strikes a 1.0 kg stick of length 4.0 m that is lying flat
on nearly frictionless ice as shown in the figure below (fig. 4). The disk strikes at the
endpoint of the stick, at a distance r = 2.0 m from the stick’s center. Assume the
collision is elastic and the disk does not deviate from its original line of motion.
Draw a diagram for the situation after the collision and then calculate the
translational speed of the disk, the translational speed of the stick, and the angular
speed of the stick after the collision. The moment of inertia of the stick about its
center of mass is 1.33 kg.m2 [6]
 (g)

Question 2 (20 Marks)

(a) Derive the FOUR equations of rotational motion for a rigid body rotating with
constant angular acceleration. [5]

(b) A high-speed flywheel in a motor is spinning at 500 rpm when a power failure
suddenly occurs. The flywheel has mass 40.0 kg and diameter 75.0 cm. The power
is off for 30.0 s, and during this time the flywheel slows due to friction in its axle
bearings. During the time the power is off, the flywheel makes 200 complete
revolutions.
(i) At what rate is the flywheel spinning when the power comes back on? [2]
(ii) How long after the beginning of the power failure would it have taken the flywheel to
stop if the power had not come back on, and how many revolutions would the wheel
have made during this time? [3]

(c) Show that the rotational kinetic energy possessed by a rigid body rotating about an
axis through its centre of mass is given by:
1
𝐾𝑅𝑂𝑇 = 2 𝐼𝜔2 [4]
 (d) Given that the system below (Fig. 5) starts from rest when the 5kg mass is 1m above
the ground, find the velocity of the 5kg mass just before it hits the ground. Assume
the pulley and the stem of radius 5cm are massless, and that the disc attached to
the stem is a uniform solid disc. [6]

Question 5 [7 Marks]

A 10.0kg monkey climbs a uniform ladder with weight 1.20×102 N and length L = 3.00 m as
shown in the figure below (Fig. 6). The ladder rests against the wall and makes an angle of
𝜃 = 60.0o with the ground. The upper and lower ends of the ladder rest on frictionless
surfaces. The lower end is connected to the wall by a horizontal rope that is frayed and can
support a maximum tension of only 80.0 N.
 (a) Draw a force diagram for the ladder. [1]
(b) Calculate the normal force exerted on the bottom of the ladder. [2]
(c) Calculate the tension in the rope when the monkey is two-thirds of the way up the
ladder. [2]
(d) Calculate the maximum distance x that the monkey can climb up the ladder before
the rope breaks. [2]

Question 6 (7 Marks)

(a) A 0.120-kg, 50.0-cm-long uniform bar has a small 0.055-kg mass glued to its left
end and a small 0.110-kg mass glued to the other end. The two small masses can
each be treated as point masses. You want to balance this system horizontally on a
fulcrum placed just under its center of gravity. How far from the left end should the
fulcrum be placed? [3]

(b) A 3.00-m-long, 190-N, uniform rod at the zoo is held in a horizontal position by two
ropes at its ends (Fig. 7). The left rope makes an angle of 150° with the rod, and the
right rope makes an angle u with the horizontal. A 90-N howler monkey (Alouatta
seniculus) hangs motionless 0.50 m from the right end of the rod as he carefully
studies you. Calculate the tensions in the two ropes and the angle 𝜃 .First make a
free-body diagram of the rod. [4]
Question 7 (15 Marks)

(a) On July 15, 2004, NASA launched the Aura spacecraft to study the earth’s climate
and atmosphere. This satellite was injected into an orbit 705 km above the earth’s
surface. Assume a circular orbit.
(i) How many hours does it take this satellite to make one orbit? [3]
(ii) How fast (in km/s) is the Aura spacecraft moving? [3]

(b) A planet orbiting a distant star has radius 3.24 x 106 m. The escape speed for an
object launched from this planet’s surface is 7.65 x 103 m/s. What is the
acceleration due to gravity at the surface of the planet? [3]

(c) In both cases, find the magnitude and direction of the net gravitational force on
mass A due to masses B and C in Fig. 8. Each mass is 2.00 kg.
[6]
Question 8 [20 Marks]

(a) An 8.00-kg box sits on a ramp that is inclined at 33.0° above the horizontal. The
coefficient of kinetic friction between the box and the surface of the ramp is µk = 0.300.
A constant horizontal force F = 26.0 N is applied to the box (Fig. 9), and the box moves
down the ramp. If the box is initially at rest, what is its speed 2.00s after the force is
applied? [4]

(b) In a repair shop a truck engine that has mass 409 kg is held in place by four light cables
(Fig. 10). Cable A is horizontal, cables B and D are vertical, and cable C makes an angle
of 37.1° with a vertical wall. If the tension in cable A is 722N, what are the tensions in
cables B and C? [4]
(c) You make a conical pendulum (see Fig. 11) using a string of length 0.800m and a bob of
mass 0.250 kg. When the bob is moving in a circle at a constant speed, the string is at
an angle of 20.0° from the vertical.
(i) What is the radius of the circle around which the bob moves? [2]
(ii) How much time does it take the bob to complete one circle? [2]
(iii) What is the tension in the string? [2]

(d) A 1125-kg car and a 2250-kg pickup truck approach a curve on a highway that has a
radius of 225 m.
 (i) At what angle should the highway engineer bank this curve so that vehicles
travelling at 92.0 km/h can safely round it regardless of the condition of their
tires? [3]
(ii) Should the heavy truck go slower than the lighter car? Give a reason for your
answer [1]
(iii) As the car and truck round the curve at 92.0 km/h, find the normal force on
each one due to the highway surface. [2]

Question 9 [13 Marks]

(a) During the 2007 French Open, Venus Williams hit the fastest recorded serve in a
premier women’s match, reaching a speed of 58 m/s (209 km/h). What is the
average force exerted on the 0.057-kg tennis ball by Venus Williams’ racquet?
Assume that the ball’s speed just after impact is 58 m/s, as shown in (Fig. 12), that
the initial horizontal component of the velocity before impact is negligible, and that
the ball remained in contact with the racquet for 5.0 ms. [3]
 (b) On a very muddy football field, a 110-kg linebacker tackles an 85-kg halfback.
Immediately before the collision, the linebacker is slipping with a velocity of 8.8 m/s
north and the halfback is sliding with a velocity of 7.2 m/s east. What is the velocity
(magnitude and direction) at which the two players move together immediately after
the collision? [4]

(c) A 10.0-g marble slides to the left at a speed of 0.400 m/s on the frictionless,
horizontal surface of an icy New York sidewalk and has a head-on, elastic collision
with a larger 30.0-g marble sliding to the right at a speed of 0.200 m/s.

1. Find the velocity of each marble (magnitude and direction)

after the collision. (Since the collision is head-on, all motion is
along a line.) [2]
2. Calculate the change in momentum (the momentum after the
collision minus the momentum before the collision) for each
marble. [2]
3. Calculate the change in kinetic energy (the kinetic energy after
the collision minus the kinetic energy before the collision) for
each marble. [2]

Question 10 [20 Marks]

(a) Show that the total work done by a force on a body is equal to the change in the
kinetic energy of that body. [5]
(b) A 1.50-kg book is sliding along a rough horizontal surface. At point A it is moving at
3.21 m/s, and at point B it has slowed to 1.25 m/s.
(i) How much work was done on the book between A and B? [2]
(ii) If -0.750 J of work is done on the book from B to C, how fast is it moving at point
C? [2]
(iii) How fast would it be moving at C if +0.750 J of work was done on it
from B to C? [2]
(c) A 350-kg roller coaster car starts from rest at point A and slides down a frictionless
loop -the-loop (Fig.13).
(i) How fast is this roller coaster car moving at point B? [2]
(ii) How hard does it press against the track at point B? [2]
(d) A 2.00-kg block is pushed against a spring with negligible mass and force constant
k= 400 N/m, compressing it 0.220 m. When the block is released, it moves along a
frictionless, horizontal surface and then up a frictionless incline with slope 37.00
(Fig. 14)
(i) What is the speed of the block as it slides along the horizontal surface after
having left the spring? [2]
(ii) How far does the block travel up the incline before starting to slide back
down? [3]
Question 11 [10 Marks]

(a) Boxes A and B are in contact on a horizontal, frictionless surface. Box A has mass
20.0 kg and box B has mass 5.0 kg. A horizontal force of 250 N is exerted on box A.
(Fig.15). What is the magnitude of the force that box A exerts on box B? [3]

(b) A physics professor did daredevil stunts in his spare time. His last stunt was an
attempt to jump across a river on a motorcycle. The takeoff ramp was inclined at
53.00, the river was 40.0 m wide, and the far bank was 15.0 m lower than the top of
the ramp. The river itself was 100 m below the ramp. Ignore air resistance. (Fig. 16)
(i) What should his speed have been at the top of the ramp to have just made it
to the edge of the far bank? [4]
(ii) If his speed was only half the value found in part (a), where did he land? [3]
Question 12 [10 marks]

(a) Show that the acceleration of a body undergoing uniform circular motion is given by:
𝑣2
𝑎𝑐 =
𝑅
Where R is the radius of the circular path and v is the speed of the body. Justify why this
acceleration is centripetal. [6]

(b) A model of a helicopter rotor has four blades, each 3.40 m long from the central
shaft to the blade tip. The model is rotated in a wind tunnel at 550 rev/min.
(i) What is the linear speed of the blade tip, in m/s? [2]
(ii) What is the radial acceleration of the blade tip expressed as a multiple of g? [2]

Question 13 [10 Marks]

(a) Water flows steadily from an open tank. The elevation of point 1 is 10.0 m, and the
elevation of points 2 and 3 is 2.00 m (Fig 17. The cross-sectional area at point 2 is
0.0480 m2; at point 3 it is 0.0160 m2. The area of the tank is very large compared with
the cross-sectional area of the pipe. Assuming that Bernoulli’s equation applies,
compute
(i) The discharge rate in cubic meters per second and, [3]
(ii) The gauge pressure at point 2. [2]
 (b) A U-shaped tube open to the air at both ends contains some mercury. A quantity of
water is carefully poured into the left arm of the U-shaped tube until the vertical
height of the water column is 15.0 cm. (Fig. 18)
(i) What is the gauge pressure at the water–mercury interface? [3]
(ii) Calculate the vertical distance h from the top of the mercury in the righthand
arm of the tube to the top of the water in the left-hand arm. [2]

Question 14 [11 Marks]

(a) The equation x(t) = A cos(ωt + φ) is used to describe the simple harmonic motion of
a spring-mass system. Discuss with the use of diagrams and graphs the physical
meaning of all the symbols in this equation. [6]

Derive the expression for the total energy of a simple harmonic oscillator as:
1 2
𝐸= 𝑘𝐴
2
where all the symbols have their normal meaning. Show and explain all steps clearly. [5]
FORMULA SHEET