Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 20 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
A car driving at 60 km/h brakes with a constant deceleration of 6.5 m/s² until it stops. How long does braking take? Find t.
A ball is thrown straight up at 8 m/s from the edge of a roof 10 m above the ground. Ignore air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the greatest height hmax above the ground.
A 15 kg box is pushed up a ramp at 30° to the horizontal at constant speed, by a force parallel to the ramp. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.25. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the pushing force F.
An 8 kg block on a horizontal table is connected by a light string over a frictionless pulley to a hanging 3 kg mass. The coefficient of kinetic friction between block and table is 0.1. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the tension T in the string.
A ball is launched at 30° above horizontal from level ground. Ignore air resistance. Find the horizontal distance x travelled before the ball hits the ground.
A ball is launched at 19 m/s and 40° above the horizontal from the top of a 35 m cliff. Ignore air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s². At what angle α below the horizontal does it hit the ground?
A car takes a flat curve of radius 145 m. The coefficient of static friction between tyres and road is 0.3. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the highest speed vmax at which the car can take the curve without skidding.
A ball on a string 1 m long is swung in a vertical circle. Use g = 9.81 m/s². What is the smallest speed vmin at the top for which the string just stays tight?
A block slides from rest down a slope at 45° to the horizontal. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.4. Find its speed v after it has slid 2 m along the slope.
A 2 kg block is released from rest at height 2.5 m on a smooth ramp. At the bottom it crosses a rough horizontal strip 3 m long (μ = 0.1) and then runs onto a spring (k = 2000 N/m) on a smooth surface. Find the speed v of the block when it reaches the spring.
A 9 kg projectile moving horizontally at 22 m/s explodes into two fragments that move along the same line. The 6 kg fragment continues forwards at 41 m/s. Find the velocity v′2 of the 3 kg fragment (positive in the original direction).
A 1000 kg car runs into a parked 1400 kg car. The wrecks lock together and skid 16.5 m before stopping. The coefficient of kinetic friction between tyres and road is 0.6. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the speed v1 of the first car just before the collision.
A uniform slender rod of mass 9.5 kg and length 1.4 m is pinned at one end and held horizontal. It is released from rest. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the vertical force R that the pin exerts on the rod just after release.
A solid cylinder starts from rest and rolls without slipping down a slope inclined at 35° to the horizontal. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find its speed v after it has rolled 4 m along the slope.
A 2.2 kW motor running at 960 rpm drives a pinion with 32 teeth, which meshes with a gear with 48 teeth. The gear pair has an efficiency of 97%. Find the torque T1 on the motor shaft.
In a compound gear train, gear A (12 teeth) on the input shaft turning at 3000 rpm drives gear B (36 teeth). Gear C (18 teeth) is fixed to the same shaft as B and drives gear D (30 teeth) on the output shaft. Find the output speed nout.
A 1.9 kg mass on a spring with k = 100 N/m is pulled 12 cm in the positive direction and released from rest at t = 0. Find its displacement x from equilibrium at t = 0.2 s (with sign).
A 1.1 kg mass is attached to the lower end of an unstretched vertical spring with k = 480 N/m and released from rest. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the greatest speed vmax of the mass.
A 10 kg mass is supported by a spring with a stiffness of 20 kN/m and a viscous damper with a damping coefficient of 40 N·s/m. Find the damping ratio ζ.
A 25 kg mass hangs from spring k₃ = 30 kN/m. The top of k₃ is attached to a rigid bar that hangs from two springs side by side, k₁ = 40 kN/m and k₂ = 30 kN/m; the bar stays level. Ignore damping and the masses of the springs and bar. Find the natural frequency fn of vertical vibration in Hz.
Answer: t = 2.564 s
Motion with constant acceleration: v = v₀ + a·t, s = v₀·t + ½·a·t² and v² = v₀² + 2·a·s. Pick the equation that contains the three things you know and the one you want, and keep the signs consistent with one positive direction.
Answer: hmax = 13.26 m
Motion with constant acceleration: v = v₀ + a·t, s = v₀·t + ½·a·t² and v² = v₀² + 2·a·s. Pick the equation that contains the three things you know and the one you want, and keep the signs consistent with one positive direction.
Answer: F = 105.4 N
Newton’s second law: the net force on a body equals its mass times its acceleration, ΣF = m·a. Draw a free-body diagram, choose a positive direction along the motion, and add every force in that direction: applied forces, friction μ·N against the motion, and the components of gravity.
Constant speed: the forces balance.
Answer: T = 23.54 N
Newton’s second law: the net force on a body equals its mass times its acceleration, ΣF = m·a. Draw a free-body diagram, choose a positive direction along the motion, and add every force in that direction: applied forces, friction μ·N against the motion, and the components of gravity.
Answer: x = 102.1 m
Projectile motion: with no air resistance, x = vxt and y = h + vyt − ½gt². The two directions are independent except that they share the same time.
Horizontal velocity stays constant; vertical motion has a constant acceleration g = 9.81 m/s² downward.
Starting and landing at the same height: t = 2vy/g.
Answer: α = 63.28 °
Projectile motion: with no air resistance, x = vxt and y = h + vyt − ½gt². The two directions are independent except that they share the same time.
Energy or v² = v₀² + 2as in the vertical direction.
Answer: vmax = 20.66 m/s
Uniform circular motion: an object moving at speed v on a circle of radius r accelerates towards the centre with a = v²/r, so it needs a net inward force F = m·v²/r. That force is supplied by something real: friction, tension, gravity or a normal force.
Answer: vmin = 3.132 m/s
Uniform circular motion: an object moving at speed v on a circle of radius r accelerates towards the centre with a = v²/r, so it needs a net inward force F = m·v²/r. That force is supplied by something real: friction, tension, gravity or a normal force.
Answer: v = 4.08 m/s
Work–energy principle: the change in kinetic energy equals the work done by all forces. Writing gravity and springs as potential energy (mgh and ½kx²) turns this into a balance: initial energy = final energy + energy lost to friction (μN·d).
The block drops a height d·sin θ while friction removes μmg·cos θ·d. The mass cancels.
Answer: v = 6.57 m/s
Work–energy principle: the change in kinetic energy equals the work done by all forces. Writing gravity and springs as potential energy (mgh and ½kx²) turns this into a balance: initial energy = final energy + energy lost to friction (μN·d).
The ramp is smooth, so only the strip removes energy.
Answer: v′2 = −16 m/s
Conservation of momentum: when no external force acts during a collision, the total momentum Σm·v before equals the total after. Velocities have a direction, so pick a positive direction and give velocities the other way a minus sign. In an elastic collision kinetic energy is conserved too; in a perfectly inelastic one the bodies stick together.
The minus sign means the second fragment flies backwards.
Answer: v1 = 33.45 m/s
Conservation of momentum: when no external force acts during a collision, the total momentum Σm·v before equals the total after. Velocities have a direction, so pick a positive direction and give velocities the other way a minus sign. In an elastic collision kinetic energy is conserved too; in a perfectly inelastic one the bodies stick together.
Answer: R = 23.3 N
Rotation about a fixed axis: the sum of the moments about the axis equals I·α (ΣM = I·α), just as ΣF = m·a for translation. In energy form, a torque T turning through an angle θ (in radians) does work T·θ, which changes the kinetic energy ½·I·ω²; gravity adds or removes m·g·Δh of the centre of mass. Power is P = T·ω.
At the moment of release ω = 0, so there is no centripetal acceleration and the centre accelerates straight down.
R = m·g/4, independent of the length.
Answer: v = 5.478 m/s
Rolling and angular momentum: a body rolling without slipping has v = ω·r, so its kinetic energy is ½·m·v² + ½·I·ω² = ½·m·v²·(1 + I/(m·r²)). Down a slope that gives a = g·sin θ/(1 + I/(m·r²)). When no external moment acts about an axis, the angular momentum about that axis stays constant, I₁·ω₁ = I₂·ω₂, even if kinetic energy is lost.
Rolling without slipping: ω = v/r, and friction does no work at the contact point.
Answer: T1 = 21.88 N·m
Gear trains: meshing gears have the same speed at the teeth, so n₁·N₁ = n₂·N₂: the gear with fewer teeth turns faster. Gears on one shaft turn at the same speed. Power is passed on (minus losses), so torque goes up when speed goes down: T₂ = T₁·(N₂/N₁)·η, and P = T·ω with ω = 2π·n/60.
Answer: nout = 600 rpm
Gear trains: meshing gears have the same speed at the teeth, so n₁·N₁ = n₂·N₂: the gear with fewer teeth turns faster. Gears on one shaft turn at the same speed. Power is passed on (minus losses), so torque goes up when speed goes down: T₂ = T₁·(N₂/N₁)·η, and P = T·ω with ω = 2π·n/60.
total ratio = 5 : 1
Answer: x = 1.435 cm
Simple harmonic motion: a mass m on a spring of stiffness k oscillates with angular frequency ω = √(k/m) and period T = 2π/ω = 2π·√(m/k). A simple pendulum of length L has T = 2π·√(L/g). With amplitude A, the largest speed is A·ω, the largest acceleration A·ω² and the energy ½·k·A².
Answer: vmax = 0.4696 m/s
Simple harmonic motion: a mass m on a spring of stiffness k oscillates with angular frequency ω = √(k/m) and period T = 2π/ω = 2π·√(m/k). A simple pendulum of length L has T = 2π·√(L/g). With amplitude A, the largest speed is A·ω, the largest acceleration A·ω² and the energy ½·k·A².
The speed is largest at equilibrium.
Answer: ζ = 0.04472
Free vibration of a mass–spring system: the undamped natural frequency is ωn = √(k/m) in rad/s, and fn = ωn/(2π) in Hz. A viscous damper c gives the damping ratio ζ = c/cc, with critical damping cc = 2·√(k·m) = 2·m·ωn. An underdamped system (ζ < 1) oscillates at ωd = ωn·√(1 − ζ²). Springs in parallel add, k = k₁ + k₂; springs in series add as reciprocals, 1/k = 1/k₁ + 1/k₂.
ζ < 1, so the system is underdamped and oscillates as it decays.
Answer: fn = 4.613 Hz
Free vibration of a mass–spring system: the undamped natural frequency is ωn = √(k/m) in rad/s, and fn = ωn/(2π) in Hz. A viscous damper c gives the damping ratio ζ = c/cc, with critical damping cc = 2·√(k·m) = 2·m·ωn. An underdamped system (ζ < 1) oscillates at ωd = ωn·√(1 − ζ²). Springs in parallel add, k = k₁ + k₂; springs in series add as reciprocals, 1/k = 1/k₁ + 1/k₂.
Only k1 and k2 are in parallel. That pair is in series with k3, so combine them as reciprocals.
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