Exam 10: Interactions and Potential Energy

A car on a roller coaster starts at zero speed at an elevation above the ground of 26 m. It coasts down a slope, and then climbs a hill. The top of the hill is at an elevation of 16 m. What is the speed of the car at the top of the hill? Neglect any frictional effects.

An 8.0-m massless rod is loosely pinned to a frictionless pivot at 0, as shown in the figure. A very small 4.0-kg ball is attached to the other end of the rod. The ball is held at A, where the rod makes a 30° angle above the horizontal, and is released. The ball-rod assembly then swings freely with negligible friction in a vertical circle between A and B. The tension in the rod when the ball passes through the lowest point at D is closest to

You do 174 J of work while pulling your sister back on a swing, whose chain is 5.10 m long. You start with the swing hanging vertically and pull it until the chain makes an angle of 32.0° with the vertical with your sister is at rest. What is your sister's mass, assuming negligible friction?

A 2.0 g bead slides along a frictionless wire, as shown in the figure. At point A, the bead is moving to the right but with negligible speed. (a) What is the potential energy of the bead at point A? (b) What is the kinetic energy of the bead at point B? (c) What is the speed of the bead at point B? (d) What is the speed of the bead at point C?

A force on an object is given by F(x) = (2.00 N/m)x - (3.00 N/m³)x³. What is a potential energy function U(x) for this conservative force?

A force on an object is given by F(x) = ( -4.00 N/m)x + ( 2.00 N/m³)x³. What is the change in potential energy in moving from x = 1.00 m to x = 2.00 m?

A girl throws a stone from a bridge. Consider the following ways she might throw the stone. The speed of the stone as it leaves her hand is the same in each case, and air resistance is negligible. Case A: Thrown straight up. Case B: Thrown straight down. Case C: Thrown out at an angle of 45° above horizontal. Case D: Thrown straight out horizontally. In which case will the speed of the stone be greatest when it hits the water below?

A 1.86-kg block is held in place against the spring by a 81-N horizontal external force (see the figure). The external force is removed, and the block is projected with a velocity v₁ = 1.2 m/s upon separation from the spring. The block descends a ramp and has a velocity at the bottom. The track is frictionless between points A and B. The block enters a rough section at B, extending to E. The coefficient of kinetic friction over this section is 0.28. The velocity of the block is v₃ = 1.4 m/s at C. The block moves on to D, where it stops. The height h of the ramp is closest to

A mass is pressed against (but is not attached to) an ideal horizontal spring on a frictionless horizontal surface. After being released from rest, the mass acquires a maximum speed v and a maximum kinetic energy K. If instead the mass initially compresses the spring twice as far:

In the figure, a very small toy race car of mass m is released from rest on the loop-the-loop track. If it is released at a height 2R above the floor, how high is it above the floor when it leaves the track, neglecting friction?

It requires 6.0 J of work is needed to push a 2.0-kg object from point A to point B of the frictionless ramp as shown in the figure. What is the length s of the ramp from A to B?

A potential energy function is given by U(x) = ( 3.00 N/m)x - ( 1.00 N/m³)x³. At what position or positions is the force equal to zero?

Two identical balls are thrown directly upward, ball A at speed v and ball B at speed 2v, and they feel no air resistance. Which statement about these balls is correct?

An 0.80-kg block is held in place against the spring by a 67-N horizontal external force (see the figure). The external force is removed, and the block is projected with a velocity v₁ = 1.2 m/s upon separation from the spring. The block descends a ramp and has a velocity v₂ = 1.9 m/s at the bottom. The track is frictionless between points A and B. The block enters a rough section at B, extending to E. The coefficient of kinetic friction over this section is 0.39. The velocity of the block is v₃ = 1.4 m/s at C. The block moves on to D, where it stops. The spring constant of the spring is closest to

A small hockey puck slides without friction over the icy hill shown in the figure and lands 6.20 m from the foot of the cliff with no air resistance. What was its speed v₀ at the bottom of the hill?

An 8.0-kg block is released from rest, with v₁ = 0.00 m/s, on a rough incline, as shown in the figure. The block moves a distance of 1.6-m down the incline, in a time interval of 0.80 s, and acquires a velocity of v₂ = 4.0 m/s. How much work does gravity do on the block during this process?

A tennis ball bounces on the floor three times. If each time it loses 22.0% of its energy due to heating, how high does it rise after the third bounce, provided we released it from the floor?

Swimmers at a water park have a choice of two frictionless water slides as shown in the figure. Although both slides drop over the same height, h, slide 1 is straight while slide 2 is curved, dropping quickly at first and then leveling out. How does the speed v₁ of a swimmer reaching the end of slide 1 compares with v₂, the speed of a swimmer reaching the end of slide 2?

A potential energy function for system 1 is given by U₁(x) = Cx² + Bx³. The potential energy function for system 2 is given by U₂(x) = A + Cx² + Bx³, where A is a positive quantity. How does the force on system 1 relate to the force on system 2 at a given position?

A 60.0-kg person drops from rest a distance of 1.20 m to a platform of negligible mass supported by an ideal stiff spring of negligible mass. The platform drops 6.00 cm before the person comes to rest. What is the spring constant of the spring?