INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS
PH 110
LINEAR MOTION AND PROJECTILE
TUTORIAL SHEET 3 – 2025
Linear motion
1. The fastest 100 m that was ever run was in 9.58 s by Usain Bolt. What was his average
velocity in:
(a) m/s?
(b) km/min?
(c) km/h? [(a)10.4 m/s (b)0.63 km/min (c) 37.6 km/h]
2. A car passes a point and then 120 m away, its velocity was 21 m/s. If its acceleration was
constant at 0.583 m/s2, what was the car’s velocity at that point? [17.4 m/s]
3. A driver plunges head first into a driving pool while travelling at 28.2 ms-1 . Upon
entering the water, the diver stops within a distance of 4.00 m from the diving board.
Consider the diver to be a single point located at her center of mass and assume her
acceleration through the water to be uniform.
(a) calculate the average acceleration of the diver as she travels through the water.
[a = 99.4 m/s2]
(b) How long does the driver take to come to a stop? [ t = 0.284 s]
(c) What is the speed of the diver after she has dived for 2.00m. [v = 19.9 m/s]
4. A sprinter from rest accelerates at 1.5 m/s2 for the first 20 m but then gets tired and
decelerates at -0.1 m/s2 for the next 80 m. What is the sprinter’s final velocity? [6.64 m/s]
5. An out-of-control train is hurling down the track at 35 m/s. If the conductor sees a kitten on
the track 200 m in front of him, with what minimum acceleration would the train need to save
the adorable kitten? [-3.06 m/s2]
6. A particle starts from a point O with an initial velocity of 2 m/s and travels along a
straight line with uniform acceleration of 2 m/s2. Two seconds later a second particle
starts from rest at O and travels along the same line with an acceleration of 6 m/s2. Find
how far from O the second particle overtakes the first. [48 m from O]
7. The position-time graph shown in figure 3.1 represents the motion of a basketball coach
during the last 8 seconds of the game in overtime.
(a) Find the average velocity in the time intervals
(i) 0 to 2 s,
(ii) 0 to 4s,
(iii) 2 s to 4 s,
(iv) 4 s to 7 s,
(v) 0 to 8 s. [(i) 5 m/s (ii) 1.25 m/s (iii) -2.5 m/s (iv) -3.3 m/s (v) 0]
(b) Repeat part (a) for the average speed. [5 m/s; 3.75 m/s; 2.5 m/s; 3.3 m/s; 3.75 m/s]
Figure 3.1 See exercise 7
8. A position-time graph for a particle moving along the x axis is shown in figure 3.9.
(a) Find the instantaneous velocity at time t = 2 seconds
(b) At what value of t is the velocity zero? [(a) -3.8 m/s (b) 4s]
Figure 3.2 see Exercise 8
9. A particle moves along a straight line and O is the fixed point on that line. The displacement
s metres of the particle is given by :
𝑠=(𝑡−1)(𝑡−5)
Draw a displacement-time graph for the interval of time from t=0 to t=6 s.
From the graph find,
(a) the average velocity in the interval from t=0 to t=4 s.
(b) the distance covered in the time interval from t=0 to t=4 s.
(c) the instantaneous velocity at t=4 s.
(d) the time at which the velocity is zero. [(a) -2 m/s (b) 10 m (c) 2 m/s (d) 3 s]
Projectile motion
10. A projectile is fired in such a way that its horizontal range is equal to three times its
maximum height. What is the angle of projection? [53.1°]
11. A basketball player who is 2.00 m tall is standing on the floor 10.0 m from the basket, as
in Figure 3.3. If he shoots the ball at a 40.0° angle with the horizontal, at what initial
speed must he throw so that it goes through the hoop without striking the backboard? The
basket height is 3.05 m. [vi = 10.7 m/s]
Figure 3.3. See exercise 11
12. A ball is tossed from an upper-story window of a building. The ball is given an initial
velocity of 8.00 m/s at an angle of 20.0° below the horizontal. It strikes the ground 3.00 s
later.
(a) How far horizontally from the base of the building does the ball strike the ground?
[xf = 22.6 m]
(b) Find the height from which the ball was thrown. [yf = 52.3 m]
(c) How long does it take the ball to reach a point 10.0 m below the level of launching?
[t =1.18s]
13. A soccer player kicks a rock horizontally off a 40.0-m high cliff into a pool of water. If
the player hears the sound of the splash 3.00 s later, what was the initial speed given to
the rock? Assume the speed of sound in air to be 343 m/s. [vxi = 9.91 m/s]
14. A stone is thrown from the top of a building upward at an angle of 30.0° to the horizontal
with an initial speed of 20.0 m/s, as shown in Figure 3.4. If the height of the building is
45.0 m,
a) how long does it take the stone to reach the ground? [t = 4.22s]
b) What is the speed of the stone just before it strikes the ground? [vf = 36 m/s]
Figure 3.4 See exercise 14
