Jimma University Department of Physics

General Physics Worksheet-II

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following correctly describes the centripetal acceleration vector

for a particle moving in a circular path? (a) constant and always perpendicular
to the velocity vector for the particle (b) constant and always parallel to the
velocity vector for the particle (c) of constant magnitude and always perpendic-
ular to the velocity vector for the particle (d) of constant magnitude and always
parallel to the velocity vector for the particle.

2. A particle moves in a circular path of radius r with speed v. It then increases

its speed to 2v while traveling along the same circular path.

(a) The centripetal acceleration of the particle has changed by what factor?
(b) By what factor has the period of the particle changed?

3. A truck loaded with sand accelerates along a highway. The driving force on
the truck remains constant. What happens to the acceleration of the truck if
its trailer leaks sand at a constant rate through a hole in its bottom? (a) It
decreases at a steady rate. (b) It increases at a steady rate. (c) It increases and
then decreases. (d) It decreases and then increases. (e) It remains constant.
Explain why?

4. When a particle rotates in a circle with constant speed, a force acts on it directed
toward the center of rotation. Why is it that this force does no work on the
particle?

5. If two particles have equal kinetic energies, are their momenta necessarily equal?,
their mechanical energy equal? Explain.

6. Explain why the total energy of a system can be either positive or negative,
whereas the kinetic energy is always positive.

7. Discuss the changes in mechanical energy of an object–Earth system in (a)

lifting the object, (b) holding the object at a fixed position, and (c) lowering
the object slowly. Include the muscles in your discussion.

8. What is the difference between fluid statics and fluid dynamics?

9. Distinguish among Archimedes’s, Pascal’s and Bernoulli’s principles.

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10. A wooden block floats in water, and a steel object is attached to the bottom
of the block by a string as in Figure 1. If the block remains floating, which of
the following statements are valid? (Choose all correct statements.) (a) The
buoyant force on the steel object is equal to its weight. (b) The buoyant force
on the block is equal to its weight. (c) The tension in the string is equal to the
weight of the steel object. (d) The tension in the string is less than the weight
of the steel object. (e) The buoyant force on the block is equal to the volume
of water it displaces. Explain.

Figure 1

11. Three vessels of different shapes are filled to the same level with water as in
Figure2. The area of the base is the same for all three vessels. Which of the
following statements are valid? (a) The pressure at the top surface of vessel A is
greatest because it has the largest surface area. (b) The pressure at the bottom
of vessel A is greatest because it contains the most water. (c) The pressure at
the bottom of each vessel is the same. (d) The force on the bottom of each
vessel is not the same. (e) At a given depth below the surface of each vessel,
the pressure on the side of vessel A is greatest because of its slope. Explain.

Figure 2

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 Work out

1. A ball on the end of a string is whirled around in a horizontal circle of radius

0.300m. The plane of the circle is 1.20m above the ground. The string breaks
and the ball lands 2.00m (horizontally) away from the point on the ground
directly beneath the ball’s location when the string breaks. Find the radial
acceleration of the ball during its circular motion.

2. The force acting on a particle varies as shown in Figure 3. Find the work done
by the force on the particle as it moves (a) from x = 0 to x = 8.00m, (b) from
x = 8.00m to x = 10.0m, and (c) from x = 0tox = 10.0m.

Figure 3

3. A 10.0g bullet is fired into a stationary block of wood having mass(m = 5.00kg).
The bullet imbeds into the block. The speed of the bullet-plus-wood combina-
tion immediately after the collision is 0.600 ms . What was the original speed of
the bullet?

4. A bead slides without friction around a loop-the-loop (Figure 4). The bead is
released from a height h = 3.5R .

(a) What is its speed at point A?

(b) How large is the normal force on it if its mass is 5.00g?

Figure 4

5. Blaise Pascal duplicated Torricelli’s barometer using a red Bordeaux wine, of

kg
density 984 m 3 , as the working liquid (Figure5).

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 (a) What was the height h of the wine column for normal atmospheric pres-
sure?
(b) Would you expect the vacuum above the column to be as good as for
mercury?

Figure 5

6. The Venturi tube shown in Figure 6 may be used as a fluid flow meter. Suppose
the device is used at a service station to measure the flow rate of gasoline
kg
(ρ = 7.003102 m 3 ) through a hose having an outlet radius of 1.20 cm. If the

difference in pressure is measured to be P1 − P2 = 1.20kP a and the radius of

the inlet tube to the meter is 2.40cm, find

(a) the speed of the gasoline as it leaves the hose and

(b) the fluid flow rate in cubic meters per second.

Figure 6

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