I MASS IN MOTION I
Jim Jardine
Head ofthe Physics Department
George Watson's College , Edinburgh
fo rmerly Scottish Team , Nuffield Phys ics Project
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I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I
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I
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This book is one in the series of Physics background books
NOTE intended primarily for use with the Nuffield O-level Physics
TO THE Project. Most of the team of writers who have contributed
,TEACHER to the series were associated with that project. It was
always intended that the Nuffield teachers' materials
should be accompanied by background books for pupils
to read, and a number of such books are being produced
under the Foundation's auspices. This series is intended
as a supplement to the Nuffield materials - not books
giving the answers to all the investigations pupils will be
doing in the laboratory, certainly not textbooks in the con-
ventional sense, but books, easy to read and copiously
illustrated, which show how the principles studied in
school are applied in the outside world.
The books are such that they can be used with con-
ventional courses as well as with the new programmes.
Whatever course the pupils are following, they often need
straightforward books to help clarify their knowledge,
sometimes to help them catch up on any topic they missed
in their school course. It is hoped that this series will meet
that need.
This background series will provide suitable material
for reading in homework. This volume is divided into
sections, and a teacher may feel that one section at a time
is suitable for each homework session.
Forces 4
I CONTENTS I Measuring motion 14
Newton's first and second laws 22
Inertia 30
Projectiles 34
Explosions and collisions 44
Summary 59
Answers to questions in the text 61
To start a ball rolling you throw it or kick it. In each case
I FORCES I you are exerting a force on the ball. To make it change
direction you can head the ball.
Again you are exerting a force on the ball. When you
catch a cricket ball you stop its motion by exerting a
force on it.
5
When a body is stationary, either no forces act on it - an
unlikely state of affairs - or the forces are balanced.
In the diagram left, two balanced forces keep the
television set at rest. If we consider the forces acting
on the linesman's feet in the photograph as a single force,
we can say that he is in equilibrium under the action ofthree
balanced forces. These forces are represented by three
arrows in the diagram. Do you notice anything special about
the directions of these three forcesr' .
FRICTION
When a car runs out of petrol on a perfectly level road, it
eventually stops. Its motion has been altered. A force, or
forces, must have been acting on the car. What are some of
these forces?'
The following pictures show how motion can be arrest-
ed by solid to solid friction in a disc brake (left) or by air
resistance in a parachute.
6
Something to do
Examine the frictional forces between two flat pieces of wood, metal, glass
etc. Can you find more than one way of reducing the friction?
If you can find an old dry wheel bearing (for example, in a bicycle or roller
skate), put a drop of oil on it and see the effect produced.
Something to do
Here is a simple balloon puck you can build at home.
Glue a cork in the centre of the rough side of a piece of hardboard, and then
drill a 3-mm hole through the centre of the cork and board. Fit an inflated
balloon on the cork so that the air escapes through the hole, and place the
puck on a smooth level surface such as a polished table. How does the
puck move when you give it a push?
7
The photograph shows a hovercraft moving on a
I FORCES I
cushion of air. As air friction is very much less than the
friction between solid and solid, or solid and liquid, the
hovercraft's driving engine will not need to exert a large
force to keep it going.
. - ..
~
--~--
MEASURING FORCES
Science is concerned with measurement. Lord Kelvin once
said that unless you can measure something and express
the result in numbers you have not advanced to the stage
of science. To study forces, then, we must find some way of
measuring them.
Adding forces
When several forces (e.g. weights) act side by side, the
combined force is the sum of these forces.
! 10N
11
If one spring stretched by a certain amount supports
I FORCES I
a weight W, then two identical springs stretched by the
same amount will support 2 W, and so on.
Something to do
See how the strength of an elastic band varies with the force applied to it.
Does it behave in the way described by Hooke's Law?
13
L
The measurement of motion is much more difficult than
MEASURING the measurement of force, since it involves speed (dis-
MOTION tance per unit time) and direction. Even if we restrict
our present studies to the measurement of motion in a
straight line, we still have to measure the distance travelled
in a particular time interval. If it were always possible to
fit a speedometer to the object we were studying, measur-
ing speed would be simplified. This can be done with cars
and even with expensive trolleys but it becomes rather
more difficult when dealing with bouncing balls or atomic
particles!
14
MEASURING STOP CLOCKS
MOTION
As hand-operated stop watches are not suitable for
measuring intervals ofless than a second, we use electrically-
operated clocks such as the one illustrated at the foot of
p. 14 or the scaler shown below.
Something to do
Devise an experiment to measure your reaction time, using a stop watch or
other timing device.
15
MEASURING
MOTION
16
MEASURING The diagram at the foot of p. 16 shows the scaler being
MOTION used as an electronic clock to find the speed of a rifle bullet.
As it shoots through a thin aluminium foil, the bullet
breaks one circuit and starts the clock. After travelling one
metre it breaks another circuit, in a similar way, and stops
the clock.
TICKER TAPE
When a ticker timer is wired to a 50 Hz supply the arm
vibrates up and down fifty times a second. This vibrating
arm is used to mark a paper tape every fiftieth of a second
as it passes through the timer. By measuring the separation
of the dots on the paper tape, the distance it has travelled
every fiftieth of a second can be found. It is often
convenient to find the distance gone in 10 fiftieths of a
second (a 'tentick') and to express the speed in centimetres
per tentick.
o 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
I
.. I
17
{- ~ We measure the length of 10 gaps between, say, ticks
o and 10 or 1 and 11 and not the distance between ticks
1 and 10. What is the time interval between ticks 1 and
tape A
10110
The distance between the dots depends on the speed at
{ { which the tape is moving. Which tape in the diagrams on the
left was moving at the greater speed?'!
tape B
MULTIFLASH PHOTOGRAPHY
The stroboscopic or multiflash photograph provides
one of the most flexible methods of studying motion. A
lamp which flashes at regular time intervals (left) is used to
illuminate a moving object, and a time-exposure photo-
graph is taken. Alternatively, a camera (below) with a
19
ACCELERATION
"C
Imagine a car starting from rest on a level road. A camera
Q)
V~O
"C
c
o
o
Ql
'"
<;
~"'
~
E
A trolley fitted with a speedometer is allowed to run
il
Ql 0·5 down an incline and the speed is noted every second. A
1F
graph showing how the speed varies with time is shown
left. Again we have constant acceleration, this time
2 3 because of the gravitational force acting on the trolley.
time (seconds) This agrees with the relation v = u + at, when u = O.
20
v-o
2·0 3·0
N
'0c: "0
c: 2·0
0 0
c c
~'" ~"
e'"
Q) 1·0
~
Q)
E. NE.
"0 "0
force of air
23
i
NEWTON'S FIRST
AND SECOND LAWS
1 trolley 2 trolleys
27
pul l three trolleys, how
Ifthe same two threads were use dto
NE WT ON 'S FIR ST pare with the accelera-
would the acceleration produced com
AN D SEC ON D LAW S
tion of one trolleyr "
by saying tha t the
This resu lt could be expressed
t net (or unb alan ced )
acc eler atio n pro duc ed by a con stan
mass being accelera-
force is inversely proportional to the
s: hal fthe acc eler atio n,
ted. In oth er words, dou ble the mas
and so on.
ent s could be sum-
The results of the two trolley exp erim
atio n a of a bod y is
mar ised by saying tha t the acc eler
force app lied F, and is
directly pro por tion al to the net
s m.
inversely pro por tion al to the mas
. . . I F
i.e. a is pro por tion a tom-
ton 's sec ond law of
Thi s is really a stat em ent of New
mo tion .
TH E NE WT ON
e. This is defined as the
The uni t of mass is the kilogramm
the Inte rna tion al Bur eau
mass of a pla tinu m blo ck kep t at
of Sta nda rds at Sevres nea r Paris.
is defined in term s of
The metre is the uni t of len gth and
ctru m of kry pto n.
a par ticu lar wavelength in the spe
ura l frequency of the
The second is bas ed on the nat
caesium ato m.
we can now define a
Fro m the se thre e basic SI units,
riat ely afte r Sir Isaa c
uni t of force. It is called app rop
ulta nt or net) force of
New ton . Wh en an unb alan ced (res
mme, the acc eler atio n
1 new ton acts on a mass of 1 kilogra
second.
pro duc ed is I me tre per sec ond per
al to .!. to complete
Use the relationship a is proportion m
the following tab le,"
ation of I m/ S2
1 N acting on 1 kg produces acceler
" " m/ s2
3N " " 1 kg "
" " rn/ s2
FN " "1 kg "
" " m/ S2
F N " "5 kg "
" "" m/ S2
F N " "m kg
28
NEWTON'S FIRST From the last line of this table you can see that
AND SECOND LAWS ,(newtons)
\/ ,.1... ; 1
\\~\ yl • ~l
~
Other systems of units may be used with this relation-
ship, but we shall use only SI units in this book.
One of the best known of all the stories about Newton
tells of the time when he was forced to leave Cambridge
because of the plague and return to his home in Lincoln-
shire. As he watched an apple fall from a tree one day he
wondered if the same force might not keep the Moon
circling the Earth. Whether or not such an incident really
marked the beginning of Newton's theory of gravitation
is not very important, but the story might help you to
remember that 1 newton is approximately the force
exerted by gravity on an average-sized apple. That is, the
weight of an apple is about I newton.
29
ed how an unb alan ced
In the previous section we discuss
accelerate. The am oun t
\ IN ER TI A I force applied to a body cau sed it to
mass of the body: a
of acc eler atio n dep end ed on the
elerate; a bod y ofla rge
bod y of small mass was easy to acc
s pro per ty of a body to
mass was mu ch mo re difficult. Thi
dec eler atio n - is often
resist acc eler atio n - or, of course,
es refer to the inertial
called its inertia. Scientists sometim
mass of a body.
ious masses on a tray
You may have trie d pushing var
ring s to red uce friction.
which was covered with bal l bea
ese masses ena ble d you
Applying a small force to eac h ofth
tha t is, how relu cta nt or
to feel how the ir ine rtia s differed,
ir mo tion . The larg er
oth erw ise they wer e to cha nge the
to accelerate. We might
masses wer e mu ch mo re difficult
ll mass) is easy to ac-
say: a body of low ine rtia (i.e. sma
(i.e. large mass) is dif-
celerate: a body of high ine rtia
ficult to accelerate.
30
Something to do
Try to remove the card shown here so that the coin falls straight down into
the tumbler.
INERTIAL BALANCE
If you have a device for measuring force F, such as a spring
balance, and a method of calculating acceleration a,
perhaps a ticker timer or strobe photogr~h, then you can
use the relationship F = ma or m = a to measure the
mass or inertia of the body.
Something to do
'-- Here is a simple experiment you might like to try.
Clamp a hacksaw blade to a table leg and fix a lump of plasticine to the
end of it. Find how many to and fro swings there are each second (i.e. the
frequency). If you put a larger lump of plasticine on the end, would you expect
there to be more or less resistance to the change of speed during each to and fro
movement? Would you expect this to increase or decrease the frequency? Try
it and see if your prediction is correct.
31
I INERTIA I
Something to do
This diagram shows an alternative form of inertial balance. Long elastic threads
or springs are attached to a trolley or toy car which is then loaded so that the
total mass is increased. How does the loading affect the to and fro frequency?
How could this be refined to measure mass?
GRAVITATIONAL FIELD
When a mass is in a gravitational field, there is a force
acting on it. This gravitational force is something we are
very familiar with and we call it the weight of the body.
The mass of a body is the same everywhere, but the
weight of the body will depend on the strength of the
gravitational field. As the Moon's gravitational field
has a different strength from that of the Earth, the weight
of a body on the Moon will be different from its weight on
the Earth.
~(kilogrammes)
Thus, at the surface of the Earth where the field strength
is about 9.8 newtons/kilogramme, there will be a gravita
tional force of 9.8 newtons on 1 kilogramme, 2 X 9.8
newtons on 2 kilogrammes, 3 X 9.8 newtons on 3 kilo-
grammes and so on. Since on the Moon the gravitational
field is about one sixth of its value on the Earth, the force
on each mass will be only one sixth as great.
But as !-
m
is also the gravitational field strength g, the
acceleration of gravity must be g metres/second". That is,
the acceleration in m/ S2 has the same numerical value: as
the gravitational field strength in N/kg. Thus at the surface
of the earth, where the field strength is 9.8 newtons/kilo-
gramme, the acceleration of a body falling freely under
gravity is 9.8 metres/second".
33
You have seen that when a ball is droppe d it accelerates
\ PRO JEC TILE SI toward s the ground. The multiflash photog raph (left) shows
a series of images of such a ball beside a metre stick. Study
the photograph carefully, and then decide which ofthefollow-
ing statements about the ball are correct. 32
1. Its speed is increasing steadily.
2. Its acceleration is constant.
3. The force acting on it is constant.
4. The distance it drops each time interval increases by a
constant amount.
5. Its average speed during each time interval increases
by a constant amount.
6. Its speed is proportional to the time it has been falling.
7. Its speed is proportional to the distance it has fallen.
8. Its speed is proportional to the square root ofthe distance
it has fallen.
You might also like to try to calculate the acceleration of
gravity from the photograph. To do this you will need to know
the time interval between images. It is 0.033 seconds."
In the last chapte r we saw that the mass of a body does
not alter its acceleration in a gravitational field. The
gravitational force is double d on twice the mass, trebled
on thrice the mass and so on. If we ignore air resistance,
as we will do throug hout this section, we can say that all
bodies, regardless of their size or mass, accele rate toward
the Earth at the same rate.
34
Now let us consider what happens when a ball is pro-
[ PROJECTILES I
jected horizontally and then allowed to fall. For example,
we might roll a ball along a table and then allow it to run
off the end. The picture at the foot of p. 34 shows a multi-
flash photograph of such a ball. It is taken from the side
of the table.
35
photograph was taken. This time the camera was placed in
front of the table so that the ball rolled toward the camera.
The result is shown left. You will see that this picture
looks very similar to the left-hand photograph on p. 34.
Does this mean that the vertical motion, in this case the
acceleration caused by gravity, is not affected by the
horizontal motion? Are the vertical and horizontal move-
ments quite independent?
To check this, a piece of apparatus was used which
projected a ball-bearing horizontally and, at the same
time, released a second stationary ball-bearing. A multi-
36
IPROJECTILES I flash photograph of the event is shown here. You can
see by comparing the heights of the ball-bearings at
different times that they fall with the same vertical
acceleration. So the vertical and horizontal motions are
independent.
The grid superimposed on the same photograph makes
this point clear. The horizontal speed is constant, as no
unbalanced force is acting in that direction (Newton's
first law), and the vertical acceleration is constant because
a constant vertical force (gravity) is acting on the ball-
bearing (Newton's second law).
37
@OJECTILES I
••
, .' """ '.
••
.
•• ••
•
• •
•
• •
• •
• t
• •
• •
• •
38
1
A multiflash photograph of a ball-bearing fired into the
I PROJECTILES I
air can be seen here. Which ofthefollowing statements about
the ball-bearing are correct?"
1. Its deceleration as it rises is numerically the same as its
acceleration as it falls.
2. Its vertical motion is independent ofits horizontal motion.
3. It is speeding up as it falls.
4. Its horizontal speed is constant.
5. Its vertical speed is constant.
6. At any particular height above the point of projection,
its speed is the same when it is rising as it is when it isfalling.
Suppose that in the experiment illustrated on p. 37 the
stationary ball-bearing is released from another point
which is in the direct line of fire of the projected ball. Then,
if there were no gravitational field, the projected ball-
bearing would strike the stationary one.
.'
It.) Ell 1
I I
•
•
I
I
•• ••
,
• •,
•
• .,
• .,
I'"
19
I PROJECTILES I
40
Exactly the same result is observed if the gun fires the
I PROJECTilES I
'bullet' at an angle. The photographs on pages 40-1 show
that a direct hit is obtained regardless of the speed at which
the bullet is fired.
This is sometimes called the 'monkey and hunter' ex-
periment. Imagine that a monkey is hanging from a branch
of a tree and sees that a hunter is about to shoot him.
Whenever the monkey sees the flash of the gun he drops
from the branch. The monkey and the bullet will both
have fallen the same distance in the same time, so that the
monkey's attempt to foil the hunter will not succeed. Of
course, the sights of the gun must not have been adjusted
to take the effects of gravity into account!
I I
43
When two trolleys spring apart, the product of the mass (m)
EXPLOSIONS and the speed (v) of each is found to be the same.
AND
COLLISIONS
45
A boat is propelled through the water as the propeller
pushes the water in the opposite direction.
Something to do
I. Stand on roller skates on a smooth level surface and throw some heavy
object away from you. Explain what happens. Why do you not normally observe
this result when you throw a ball or even a much heavier object?
2. If a bicycle valve is fitted into the stopper of a plastic bottle, a simple 'rocket'
can be made. Half fill the bottle with water and pump in air until the cork is
forced out. Warning: conduct this experiment out of doors!
3. Blow up a toy balloon and throw it into the air with its mouth open. Explain
what happens.
46
There is, of course, no way of recharging the balloon in
EXPLOSIONS
AND the last experiment and it soon comes to rest. In a rocket
COLLISIONS engine, liquid chemicals are continuously fed under
pressure into the combustion chamber. There they burn
and produce a steady supply of high-temperature, high-
pressure gas. This gas is then ejected from the nozzle of
the rocket and so propels the rocket in the opposite
direction. The thrust or force exerted on the gas - and so
on the rocket - is given by Newton's second law. So far
we have considered the acceleration of a constant mass m
accelerated by a constant force F to produce a constant
acceleration a.
F = m a = m (L1 v)
(M)
where L1 v means a 'change of velocity' and L1t the time
interval during which the change takes place. In general
the Greek letter L1 (delta) means 'a small change of'.
Newton's second law is, however, also valid for a chang-
ing mass. The force F, in appropriate units, is equal to the
rate of change of momentum; that is
F = L1 (mv)
L1t
This change of momentum L1(mv) can result from a
change of speed L1 v or a change of mass L1 m, so that
L1v
F =m-
L1t
L1m
or F =-v
L1t
47
COLLISIONS
Collision damage can be caused by a large mass moving
slowly or by a small mass moving very quickly. Notice
the damage caused to a stainless steel plate exposed out-
side a spacecraft (Gemini 8) orbiting 400 kilometres above
the Earth. The damage was caused by a 10- 7 g micro-
meteorite travelling at about 20 km/ s.
To investigate the damage caused by a car crashing into
a telegraph pole at 50 krn/h, engineers at Cornell Aero-
nautical Laboratory dropped a vehicle on to a horizontally
mounted pole. From what height must the car be droppedfor
it to reach that speedr"
/
I
I
/
I
/~
48
EXPLOSIONS Conservation of momentum
AND When two bodies collide, the product mass X velocity is
COLLISIONS
always the same before and after the collision. We can
however measure this product only when both bodies are
free to move. The air track (p. 22) enables accurate
measurements to be taken.
50
An air gun pellet is fired into a lump of plasticine
EXPLOSIONS
AND mounted on an air track vehicle. As the mass of the vehicle
COLLISIONS with plasticine can be easily found and its velocity deter-
mined from the stop clock reading, the total momentum
can be calculated. If we assume that this momentum is
equal to the momentum of the pellet, the speed of a pellet
of known mass can be calculated.
The dry ice puck apparatus (p. 24) can be used to study
elastic collisions in two dimensions. The photograph here
shows a multiflash picture in which '1 moving puck collided
with a stationary one of equal mass. Use the photograph
to compare the momentum before and after the collision.
51
Remember that momentum is a vector quantity. You must
-
EXPLOSIONS
AND resolve the velocities of the pucks after the collision into
COLLISIONS components in the originaldirection andat right angles to it. 40
52
.-
EXPLOSIONS
AND
COLLISIONS
t
at rest speeding up
THE PRODUCT Ft
You have probably stood in a lift and experienced feeling
heavier when the lift starts upward or that sinking feeling
when it starts to go down. Imagine you are standing on a
weighing machine in a lift. The pointer will indicate your
weight when the lift is at rest. There are two forces acting
on you, the downward pull of the earth and the upward
force exerted on your feet by the platform of the weighing
machine. As these two forces are equal in magnitude no
unbalanced force acts on you, and therefore you do not
move.
When the lift starts to move upward, the platform exerts
a greater force on you than it did before. This increased'
force is registered by the pointer. As the earth's pull
remains the same, there is now an unbalanced force acting
on you and thus you accelerate upward.
If the acceleration (a) produced by this unbalanced force
(F) changes your speed from u to v in t seconds, we can
calculate the product Ft from Newton's second law.
53
EXPLOSIONS F = ma = m (v - u) mv - mu
-
AND t t
COLLISIONS ~ Ft = mv - mu = the change in momentum
In other words, the product Ft is numerically equal to the
change in momentum.
Of course, when the lift stops accelerating and moves
with a steady speed, there will be no unbalanced force on
you. What will the weighing machine show?" What will it
show as the lift decelerates and comes to rest ?43
Let us consider a typical journey in the lift. Suppose it is
at rest for 2 seconds, it accelerates upward for 4 seconds,
then moves with a steady speed for 6 seconds, then
decelerates for 3 seconds and finally comes to rest. Sup-
pose your weight is 40 kgf or 400 newtons. A graph ofthe
pointer readings on the weighing machine, measured in
newtons, might be as shown here.
"'
c
o
~
! 600 r-
accelerating (up)
'"
Cl
c
ii
steady speed rest
~ 400~
Ql
C
i:
o
<1l
E
I I
decelerating
Cl 200 I I
c; I I
i: I
I ,I
,,
Cl I I
'iii I
~
I I I : I I
I I I
o 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
time (seconds)
'"
c
0
~Ql
C
100
Ql
U
0
.2 2 4 6 8 10 12
"0
Ql -100
o
C
<1l
ro time (seconds)
.c
c
:J
54
During the upward acceleration, the area under the graph
EXPLOSIONS
(Ft) is 100 X 4 = 400 newton-seconds.
AND
COLLISIONS As a = Flm, the acceleration = 100/40 = 2·5 m/s- and,
as the time t = 4 seconds, the final speed v = at = 2 . 5 X 4 =
10 m/s-.
Thus the change in momentum = mv = 40 X 10 = 400
kg mls.
The product Ft is numerically equal to the change of
momentum. The same can be shown when the lift deceler-
ates and comes to rest.
IMPULSE
When a force acts for a very short interval of time as, for
example, when you kick a football or strike a golf-ball, a
rapid change of momentum takes place. But the force
acting is rarely constant. A graph of the force (F) against
time (t) might look like this.
Q)
Q)
o
c A .§
.2
time time
56
EXPLOSIONS
AND
COLLISIONS
57
EXPLOSIONS
AND
COLLISIONS
These few frames from a high speed film show the motion
of a dummy when a car hits a concrete barrier at 60 km/h.
This passenger was not using a seat belt! Explain why a
safety belt can reduce the injury caused to a passenger
involved in a car accident:"
58
~UMMARYI
This summary includes for completeness a few items not
mentioned in the text.
1. Forces change either motion i.e. speed or direction, or
the shape of a body
2. Forces are exerted by: (a) direct contact including
friction (b) magnetic fields (c) electric fields (d) gravita-
tional fields
3. Equations ormation for constant acceleration a
v = u + at
v2 = u? + 2 as
s = ut + t at?
average ve locit
OCl y u+v
v- = -2-
4. Sf units The fundamental SI units used in mechanics
are the metre for length, the kilogramme for mass and the
second for time.
s
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•
I SUMMARY I
7. Newton's third law When two bodies interact the
forces they exert on each other are equal in magnitude
and opposite in direction.
Another way of stating the same law is to say that
'momentum is conserved in a collision'.
8. Impulse
F=ma
= m (v - u)
t
==';> Ft= mv - mu
impulse = change of momentum
The product Ft is called the impulse.
9. Gravitational field strength
/N
60
~NSWERSI 1. Yes. At any instant, the force you exert on the ball is exactlyequalin magnitude
and opposite in direction to the force the ball exerts on you.
2. The rubber quickly returns to its original shape, but the plasticine remains per-
manently deformed.
3. The 'lines of action' of these forces pass through a single point. That is, the
three forces are concurrent. This is always the case when a body is in equilibrium
under the action of three forces.
4. There is friction in the car bearings, gears etc. Air resistance will also slow the
car down.
Many people would answer friction between the tyres and the road.' In fact this
would be a misleading answer although in practice some slipping will occur and
some energy will be transformed to heat as a result of this friction. What would
happen if there were no friction between the tyres and the road? What would
happen to a car moving on ice?
Friction does in fact stop the car moving, but it is not principally the friction
between the tyres and the ground, although it is this friction which causes the wheels
and hence the bearings to rotate. When you are oiling your bicycle wheels where do
you put the oil? On the tyres? On the axle bearings?
5. None. A force would, of course, be needed to get it moving (i.e. cause it to
accelerate) and another force would be needed to slow it down and stop it. How-
ever, if there were no friction, no force would be needed to keep it moving once
started.
6. Artificial earth satellites keep moving at a steady speed without friction. Stars,
planets, moons etc. are other examples.
You might like to puzzle out how it is possible for a satellite to move at a
constant speed round the earth yet be accelerating downwards all the time! Is there
aforce acting on the satellite? Is acceleration a scalar or vector quantity?
F
7. 16"
8. If a spring is stretched too far it will not return to its original size when the
force is removed. The greatest force which can be applied without this happening
is called the 'elastic limit'. Hooke's law is not applicable beyond this point.
9. The trolley had moved 10 em during the 50 ms and it could have been accelerating
or decelerating during that time. As average speed is the total distance/total time,
we see that it is this quantity that is being measured here. The instantaneous speed,
that is the speed at any instant of time, may have varied during the 50 ms period.
10. ~ second.
50
ll. TapeB.
12. The ball is thrown up into the air and gradually slows down (decelerates). As it
falls it is accelerating. It is then struck by the tennis racket and moves off much
more quickly at (almost) a constant speed in a straight line.
13. Six images appear above the t-metre stick so that the car took about 6/10
second to move a distance of half a metre. It must have been travelling at roughly
0.8 m/s
14. The car was accelerating slightly. The distance between the two left-hand
images is very slightly greater than the distance between the two right-hand
images. If you said it was going at a steady speedyou may consider yourselfcorrect.
The photograph is not really good enough to detect much acceleration.
61
I ANSWERS I
15. Acceleration.
16. The graph is a straight line because the increase in speed is the same during
each interval of time. That is, the rate of change of speed (acceleration) is constant.
r
i
17. During constant acceleration from rest the speed is directly proportional to the
time (see the diagram on p. 20) but the speed is not proportional to the distance
The square of the speed is, however. proportional to the distance travelled
(v' = 2as).
18. It is moving at a constant speed.
19. We deduce this from the fact that the images are equally spaced out.
20. This assumes that the flashes themselves have the same time intervals between
them.
21. A time exposure photograph could be taken of the white second hand of a
black-faced stop clock. Alternatively the strobe lamp could be used to view a
ticker-timer vibrating at 50 times per second, or a flywheel rotating at a steady
speed. The motion would appear to be frozen' if the strobe lamp frequency were
the same as that of the moving body.
22. As the puck is free to move in two dimensions, this photograph shows that
once a body is moving it will continue to move at a constant speed in a straight
line provided there is no unbalanced force acting on it.
23. The larger engine is capable of exerting a greater force which produces a
greater acceleration.
24. The acceleration would be three times the acceleration produced by one elastic
thread.
25. The acceleration would be one third of that of the single trolley.
26. The completed table reads
acceIeration
. = F m
27. A number of known masses can be attached by Sellotape to the end of the
blade. and the frequency for each measured. A graph offrequency against mass can
then be plotted.
If an unknown mass were then attached to the end of the blade and the vibration
frequency measured. the mass could be found from the graph. You may like to try
plotting the period (T) against the mass (m) and also T' against m.
28. Yes.
29. Yes.
30. This experiment does not depend on the Earth's gravitational pull. This
explains the previous two answers.
62
.- ~WERS ]
31. Iff represents the force acting on mass m and F represents theforce on mass M
The force must therefore be proportional to the mass ifforce is to be the same in
mass
each case. That is, twice the force acts on twice the mass, three times the force on
three times the mass and so on.
32. All these statements with the exception of 7 are correct. The square of the
speed is proportional to the distance (v' = 2as) and thus the speed is proportional
to the square root of the distance (v = VTciS).
33. The average acceleration of the ball is 1.1 cm/ interval/ interval
0.011 m/ros/3~S
= 0.011 X 30 X 30 ml s?
= 9.9 m/ s' approx.
34. All these statements except 5 are correct. The vertical speed decreases to zero
at the top of its motion and increases as it falls.
2a
(5 /04)2
35. s = -v' = -X- -
60 X 60
X
I 10 = 9.6 metres (approx.)
-2
X
36. From the left. It is moving at half the speed on the right-hand side.
37. As the speed is halved the mass must have doubled ifmomentum is conserved.
Both vehicles must therefore have the same mass.
38. The two vehicles stick together. The collision is therefore inelastic.
39. Ten spaces have been measured in each case.
Total momentum before collision = (2 X 6.2) - (3 X 3.6)
12.4 108
1.6 units
Total momentum after collision = (3 X 2.3) - (2 X 2.6)
6.9 5.2
1.7 units
40. See diagram on page 64.
41. As the angle formed is 90° the masses of the two particles must be the same.
42. As there is no unbalancedforce, the reading will be the same as it was whenyou
were at rest. .
43. The reading will now be less than it was when you were at rest. Although your
weight is the same the upward force acting on your feet is less as the lift slows
down.
44. The impulse would last longer as the plank would sink into the rubber. The
force would therefore be smaller and the nail would not be knocked veryfar into the
wood. The area under the Ft curve would, of course. still be the same. as the
change of momentum of the hammer head would still be the same.
45. When a car is stopped suddenly, for example by running into a brick wall, the
passenger tends to continue moving at the same speed in a straight line - perhaps
through the windscreen. As the seats are anchored to the floor of the car they will
not move forward. Similarly, if the passenger is wearing seat belts which hold him
in the seat he will not be able to continue at the same speed and is therefore
less likely to be seriously injured by being thrown against the windscreen or dash-
board.
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f,.
63
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•
I~ ~I
53mm
64