IPSH MECHANICS UNIT PRACTICE PROBLEMS ANSWERS (key ideas highlighted)
When working through these problems, be sure to understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
These questions are directly related to mathematical calculations and graphical interpretation. Conceptual
understanding of the topics is not included in this question set, but will be included on the test.
DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS PRACTICE
1. How many centimeters are in 12
hectometers? 120,000 cm
2. How many km are in 357 dm? 0.0357 km
3. How many seconds are in 1.2 years?
37,843,200 sec
4. How many yards are in 2 km (1 yard = 3
feet)? 2187.2 yards
5. A high school athlete runs 1.0 x 102 meters in
12.20 seconds. What is the velocity in m/s
and km/hr? 8.2 m/s, 29.5 km/hr
VELOCITY AND ACCELERATION
6. You measure the times and distances of a
walk to the library. You walk 100 m west in 5
min, followed by 300 m north in 10 min, and
then 50 m east in 3 minutes. The library is
304 m from where you started.
A. What is your average speed? 25 m/min
(0.42 m/s)
B. What is your average velocity? 16.9
m/min (0.28 m/s)
7. The speed of light is 3 x 108 m/s. How long
does it take light to travel the 1.49 x 1011 m
distance from the sun to the earth?
497 sec
8. A science student drops a rock down a mine
shaft. If it takes 3.0 seconds for the rock to
hit the bottom of the shaft, what is the speed
of the rock just before impact? 29.4 m/s
9. A space ship is traveling at 20,000 m/s. At
t=5 seconds, the rocket thrusters are turned
on. At t=55 seconds, the space ship reaches
a speed of 24,000 m/s. What is the space
ship’s acceleration? 80 m/s2
10. An object falls freely from rest on a planet
where the acceleration due to gravity is 20
m/s2. After 5 seconds, how far will the object
have fallen? 250 m
11. Two metal spheres are the same size but
have different masses. They are dropped
simultaneously from a cliff. Compare their
accelerations at midpoints in their fall if the
spheres are in freefall. Compare their
accelerations if air resistance is a factor.
Explain your answer.
Freefall – acceleration at midpoints are the
same. With air resistance (drag) – the
heavier sphere drops faster because the
lighter sphere reaches terminal velocity
sooner.
INTERPRETING GRAPHS OF MOTION
12. Draw a distance-time graph and a velocity-
time graph for a person who…
A. walks one block at a moderate, constant
speed
B. waits a short time for a “walk light”
C. walks the next block at a slow constant
speed
D. then turns around and runs back to the
“walk light”. All blocks are equal length.
13. Read the steps for the story below. Sketch a
distance-time, speed-time, and velocity-time
graph that represents the story listed in the
order it occurred.
A. Little Red Riding Hood set out for
Grandmother’s cottage at a good walking
pace.
B. She stopped briefly to talk to the wolf.
C. She walked a bit slower because they
were talking as they walked to the wild
flowers.
D. She stopped to pick flowers for quite a
while.
E. Realizing she was late, Red Riding Hood
ran the rest of the way to Grandmother’s
cottage.

14. Calculate acceleration from this graph.
-2 m/min (-0.33 m/s)
15. Calculate the total distance for this graph.
1400 m (hint: calculate distance for each
segment and add them up)
2ND LAW OF MOTION, WEIGHT
16. How large is a mass if a force of 100 N is
required to accelerate it by 1 m/s2? 100 kg
17. A car with a mass of 1000 kg is moving in a
straight line at a constant speed of 30 m/s. It
is brought to rest in 25 seconds. What
constant force is acting to stop the car?
-1200 N (hint: you must calculate
acceleration separately)
18. What is the mass of a person who weighs 500
N? 51 kg
19. What is the acceleration due to gravity on the
planet Mars if a 75kg person on Mars would
weight 63.3 pounds? 3.8 m/s2 (hint: you
must convert pounds to Newtons first)
1ST AND 3RD LAWS OF MOTION
20. Why is it easy to get one empty cart moving
but difficult to get a line of 20 empty carts
moving? One empty cart has less mass than
20 empty carts so there is less inertia,
therefore less force required getting them to
move.
21. A bowling ball has a mass of 6 kilograms. A
tennis ball has a mass of 0.06 kilogram. How
much inertia does the bowling ball have
compared to the tennis ball? The bowling ball
has 100 times more inertia than the tennis
ball because it has 100 times more mass.
22. You dribble a basketball while walking on a
basketball court. List and describe the pairs of
action-reaction forces in this situation. 1) ball
and ground, 2) hand and ball, 3) feet and
ground
23. Jane has a mass of 40 kg. She pushes on a
50-kg rock with a force of 100 N. What force
does the rock exert on Jane? 100 N (equal
and opposite forces)
EQUILIBRIUM, FREEBODY DIAGRAMS
24. An empty shopping cart is pushed along a
grocery store aisle at constant velocity. Find
the cart’s weight and the friction force if the
shopper produces a force of 40.0 newtons
between the wheels and the floor, and the
normal force on the cart is 105 newtons.
Friction force = 40 N, weight = 105 N (sum of
forces is zero because the cart is moving at a
constant velocity)
25. Two chains are used to support a small boat
weighing 1,500 newtons. One chain has a
tension of 600 newtons (Figure 5.20). What is
the force exerted by the other chain? 900 N
26. A cat weighing 40 N stands on a chair. If the
normal force on each of the cat’s back paws is
12 N, what is the normal force on each front
paw? (You can assume the force is the same
on each front paw.) 8 N of normal force on
each front paw

27. Your backpack weighs 50 N. You pull it across
a table at a constant speed by exerting a
force of 20 N to the right. Draw a free-body
diagram showing all four forces on the
backpack. State the strength of each force.
28. Describe the motion of the race car shown in
the graphic. Assume the car is moving
forward. Is it speeding up or slowing down?
The car is slowing down because there is a
net force of 2000 N in the backwards
directions.
MOMENTUM
29. A steel ball whose mass is 100 g is rolling at a
rate of 2.8 m/s. What is its momentum? 0.28
kg-m/s (you must convert g to kg first)
30. A marble is rolling at a velocity 100 m/s with
a momentum of 10,000 kg-m/s. What is its
mass? 100 kg
31. A 5 kg fish swimming at a speed of 1 m/s
swallows an absent-minded 1 kg fish
swimming toward it at 4 m/s. What is the
speed of the larger fish after lunch? 0.17 m/s
(conservation of momentum)
32. A 1000 kg car moving at 10 m/s brakes to a
stop in 5 seconds. What is the average
braking force? 2000 N (keep in mind that
impulse is a ‘change in momentum’ and the
change in momentum is calculated to be
10,000 kg-m/s)
33. A bus travels at highway speed and
encounters an unfortunate bug whose
momentum is suddenly changed as it
splatters onto the front window.
A. The time of impact is the same for both
the bug and the bus. Compared to the
impulse on the bug, this means the
impulse on the bus is ___________
(more, the same, less).
B. Which undergoes the greater acceleration?
____________ (bus, bug, both the same)
C. Which, therefore, suffers the greater
damage? _____________ (bus, bug,
both the same)
OTHER

21. A 1 kg rock is at a height of 100 meters. What is the rock’s gravitational potential energy at 100
meters high?

22. Which has greater kinetic energy, a car traveling at 30 km/h or a car of half the mass traveling at 60
km/h?

23. Which has more potential energy, a 20-kg object sitting on a 2-ft high platform or a 40-kg object
sitting on a 1-ft high platform?

24. A pitcher throws a 0.145 kg baseball at a velocity of 30.0 m/s. How much kinetic energy does the ball
have?

25. What is the power output of an engine that does 60,000 J of work in 10 seconds?

26. How much work is done by when a 1 kg mass is raised a vertical distance of 1 m?

27. An elevator lifts 5 passengers 30 m in 24 seconds. The power is 15,000 watts. What is the total
weight of the elevator and passengers?

28. What is the mechanical advantage of a ramp if its length is 4.0 m and its higher end is 0,5 m above its
lower end?