Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 20 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
A driver moving at 80 km/h sees an obstacle. Her reaction time is 1.2 s, after which the car brakes with a constant deceleration of 6 m/s². Find the total stopping distance d from the moment she sees the obstacle.
A model rocket is launched straight up from rest. Its engine gives it a constant upward acceleration of 20 m/s² for 1 s, after which the engine stops and the rocket moves freely. Ignore air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the greatest height hmax the rocket reaches.
A 4 kg block slides down a frictionless slope at 25° to the horizontal. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the acceleration a of the block along the slope.
Two blocks on a level floor are joined by a light horizontal string. A horizontal force of 35 N pulls the front 3 kg block; the 10 kg block is towed behind. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.1 for both blocks. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the tension T in the connecting string.
A ball is launched from level ground at 16 m/s and must land 15 m away. Ignore air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the smaller of the two possible launch angles θ.
A ball is thrown from ground level at 28 m/s and 55° above the horizontal. It lands on the flat roof of a building 19 m high, on its way down. Ignore air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the horizontal distance x from the launch point to where it lands.
A car takes a flat curve of radius 115 m. The coefficient of static friction between tyres and road is 0.4. 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 0.8 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 1 kg block slides 12 m down a slope at 20° to the horizontal, with a coefficient of kinetic friction of 0.1. Find the work Wf done against friction.
A 1 kg block is released from rest at height 4.5 m on a smooth ramp. At the bottom it crosses a rough horizontal strip 3.5 m long (μ = 0.2) and then runs onto a spring (k = 1000 N/m) on a smooth surface. Find the maximum compression x of the spring.
An 8 kg projectile moving horizontally at 11 m/s explodes into two fragments that move along the same line. The 2 kg fragment continues forwards at 40 m/s. Find the velocity v′2 of the 6 kg fragment (positive in the original direction).
A 0.1 kg ball hits a wall at 29 m/s and bounces straight back at 14 m/s. The contact lasts 20 ms. Find the magnitude of the impulse J the wall gives the ball.
A uniform slender rod of mass 20 kg and length 0.8 m is pinned at one end and held horizontal. It is released from rest. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the acceleration atip of the free end just after release.
A person stands on a frictionless turntable and holds a 2.5 kg dumbbell in each hand, 0.75 m from the axis. The person and turntable alone have a moment of inertia of 5 kg·m² about the axis. They turn at 40 rpm, then pull the dumbbells in to 0.2 m from the axis. Treat the dumbbells as point masses. Find the new speed n2 in rpm.
A 100 mm pulley at 1450 rpm drives a 500 mm pulley by a belt with 2 % slip. Find the speed n2 of the driven pulley.
A 7.5 kW motor at 1450 rpm drives gear A (12 teeth), which meshes with gear B (16 teeth). Gear C (18 teeth) on the same shaft as B drives gear D (72 teeth) on the output shaft. Each gear mesh has an efficiency of 97%. Find the output torque Tout.
An astronaut on another planet finds that a simple pendulum 1.6 m long has a period of 6.24 s for small swings. Find the gravitational acceleration g on that planet.
A 12 g bullet moving at 400 m/s hits and stays in a 0.5 kg block resting on a frictionless surface. The block is attached to a horizontal spring with k = 1700 N/m. Find the amplitude A of the resulting oscillation in cm.
In a free-vibration test of a damped mass–spring system, a displacement peak of 20 mm is followed one cycle later by a peak of 10.6 mm. Find the damping ratio ζ.
A 40 kg mass hangs from two springs connected end to end (in series): the upper spring has k₁ = 30 kN/m and the lower one k₂ = 60 kN/m. Find the equivalent stiffness keq of the spring system in kN/m.
Answer: d = 67.82 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: hmax = 30.39 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.
At the top the velocity is zero.
Answer: a = 4.146 m/s²
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.
Down the slope is positive.
Answer: T = 26.92 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.
With the same μ on both blocks, friction drops out: T = F·m₁/(m₁ + m₂).
Answer: θ = 17.54 °
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.
The other solution is 90° − θ = 72.46°.
Answer: x = 57.82 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.
Larger root: the ball is descending.
Answer: vmax = 21.24 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 = 2.801 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: Wf = 11.06 J
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).
Answer: x = 27.3 cm
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 = 1.333 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: J = 4.3 N·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: atip = 14.71 m/s²
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.
atip = 1.5·g for any length: the free end falls faster than a dropped stone.
Answer: n2 = 60.1 rpm
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.
The kinetic energy increases: the extra energy comes from the work the person does pulling the dumbbells in.
Answer: n2 = 284.2 rpm
Belt drives: without slip, both pulleys have the same rim speed v = π·d·n/60, so n₁·d₁ = n₂·d₂ and the speed ratio is d₂/d₁. Slip s makes the driven pulley a little slower: n₂ = n₁·(d₁/d₂)·(1 − s). The power transmitted is P = (T₁ − T₂)·v, with T₁ the tension on the tight side and T₂ on the slack side. Friction limits the ratio of the tensions: T₁/T₂ = eμθ, where θ is the angle of wrap in radians on the smaller pulley; for an open belt θ = π − 2·asin((d₂ − d₁)/(2C)) with centre distance C.
Answer: Tout = 247.9 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: g = 1.622 m/s²
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: A = 16.27 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: ζ = 0.1005
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.
Answer: keq = 20 kN/m
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.
Springs in series share the same force and add their deflections, so they combine as reciprocals: 1/k = 1/k1 + 1/k2.
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