Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 20 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
A car speeding at a constant 35 m/s passes a police car standing still. At that moment the police car starts and accelerates uniformly at 2.5 m/s². How long does it take the police car to catch up? Find t.
A stone is dropped from rest into a well. The splash is heard 3.5 s after the stone is released. The speed of sound is 343 m/s; ignore air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the depth d of the well.
An 8 kg block slides down a slope at 20° to the horizontal. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.25. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the acceleration a of the block along the slope.
A block is given a push so that it starts sliding up a ramp at 35° with a speed of 7 m/s. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.3. Use g = 9.81 m/s². How far d along the ramp does it slide before it stops?
A ball is launched from level ground at 26 m/s and must land 25 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 launched at 25 m/s and 30° above the horizontal from the top of a 60 m cliff. Ignore air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the greatest height H above the ground at the foot of the cliff.
A block slides from rest down a slope at 40° to the horizontal. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.25. Find its speed v after it has slid 15 m along the slope.
A 10 kg block is released from rest at height 4 m on a smooth ramp. At the bottom it crosses a rough horizontal strip 5 m long (μ = 0.2) and then runs onto a spring (k = 500 N/m) on a smooth surface. Find the speed v of the block when it reaches the spring.
A 10 g bullet is fired horizontally into a 2.5 kg wooden block hanging on light strings, and stays inside it. The block swings up until it is 13 cm higher than at the start. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the speed v of the bullet before impact.
A 1500 kg car runs into a parked 1600 kg car. The wrecks lock together and skid 17.5 m before stopping. The coefficient of kinetic friction between tyres and road is 0.5. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the speed v1 of the first car just before the collision.
A vertical rectangular gate 1 m wide sits in the wall of a tank of water, with its top edge 2.5 m below the surface. Find the resultant hydrostatic force F on the gate.
A vertical rectangular gate 1.5 m wide sits in the wall of a tank of oil, with its top edge 2 m below the surface. Find the depth ycp of the centre of pressure below the surface.
A pitot-static tube in a water pipe reads a difference of 34 kPa between the stagnation pressure and the static pressure. Find the water velocity v at the tip.
A horizontal venturi meter (inlet 300 mm, throat 150 mm) carries water. A mercury U-tube manometer connected between the inlet and the throat shows a level difference of 160 mm. The discharge coefficient is 0.95. Find the flow rate Q. Use ρ = 1000 kg/m³ for water, 13 600 kg/m³ for mercury and g = 9.81 m/s².
A tank of 20 L contains 340 g of CO₂ at 10 °C. Treat it as an ideal gas and find the pressure P.
Find the density ρ of He at 350 kPa and 120 °C, treating it as an ideal gas.
A heat engine works between a hot reservoir at 475 °C and a cold reservoir at 35 °C. It takes in 1200 kJ of heat. Find the most work Wmax it could possibly produce.
A heat pump delivers 10 kW of heat to a heating system at 45 °C, taking heat from a source at 2 °C. Its actual COP is 50% of the Carnot COP between these temperatures. Find the electrical power Ẇ it uses.
A small source sends sound equally in all directions. The level is 65 dB at 1 m from it. Find the level β2 at 5 m, ignoring absorption and reflections.
Two thin lenses share an axis, 30 cm apart: lens 1 with f₁ = 8 cm and lens 2 with f₂ = 5 cm. An object stands 25 cm in front of lens 1. Find the position di2 of the final image measured from lens 2 (positive beyond lens 2, real-is-positive convention).
Answer: t = 28 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.
At that moment the police car moves at 2v = 70 m/s.
Answer: d = 54.73 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.
Only the positive root is physical.
Answer: a = 1.051 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: d = 3.048 m
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.
Both forces point down the slope; the mass cancels.
Answer: θ = 10.64 °
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 = 79.36°.
Answer: H = 67.96 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.
Answer: v = 11.52 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 = 7.672 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 = 400.9 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: v1 = 27.08 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: F = 91.97 kN
Hydrostatic force on a plane surface: F = ρ·g·yc·A. It acts at the centre of pressure, ycp = yc + Ic/(ycA), which always lies below the centroid.
Answer: ycp = 3.714 m
Hydrostatic force on a plane surface: F = ρ·g·yc·A. It acts at the centre of pressure, ycp = yc + Ic/(ycA), which always lies below the centroid.
Pressure grows with depth, so the resultant acts below the centroid.
Answer: v = 8.246 m/s
Continuity and Bernoulli: for an incompressible fluid the flow rate is the same at every section, Q = A₁v₁ = A₂v₂. Along a streamline without losses, p + ½ρv² + ρgz is constant, so where the fluid is faster or higher its pressure is lower.
The flow comes to rest at the tip, so its kinetic energy shows up as extra pressure.
Answer: Q = 109 L/s
Continuity and Bernoulli: for an incompressible fluid the flow rate is the same at every section, Q = A₁v₁ = A₂v₂. Along a streamline without losses, p + ½ρv² + ρgz is constant, so where the fluid is faster or higher its pressure is lower.
Continuity and Bernoulli together give the ideal throat velocity.
Answer: P = 909.3 kPa
Ideal gas law: PV = nRT, with n = m/M.
Answer: ρ = 0.4286 kg/m³
Ideal gas density: ρ = PM/(RT).
Answer: Wmax = 705.7 kJ
Second-law limits: no cycle working between reservoirs at absolute temperatures TH and TL can beat the reversible (Carnot) cycle: ηmax = 1 − TL/TH, COPR,max = TL/(TH − TL) and COPHP,max = TH/(TH − TL). Energy is always conserved: QH = W + QL.
Answer: Ẇ = 2.703 kW
Second-law limits: no cycle working between reservoirs at absolute temperatures TH and TL can beat the reversible (Carnot) cycle: ηmax = 1 − TL/TH, COPR,max = TL/(TH − TL) and COPHP,max = TH/(TH − TL). Energy is always conserved: QH = W + QL.
Answer: β2 = 51.02 dB
Waves: a periodic wave moves one wavelength in one period, so v = fλ with T = 1/f. On a stretched string v = √(T/μ), with T the tension and μ = m/L the mass per metre. Sound in air travels at about 343 m/s at 20 °C, light in vacuum at c = 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s. Loudness is measured on a logarithmic scale: β = 10·log₁₀(I/I₀) dB with I₀ = 10⁻¹² W/m², so 10 times the intensity adds 10 dB. A point source spreads its power P over a sphere: I = P/(4πr²).
Every doubling of the distance lowers the level by about 6 dB.
Answer: di2 = 6.889 cm
Geometric optics: at a boundary, n₁·sin θ₁ = n₂·sin θ₂ (Snell's law), with angles measured from the normal and n = c/v. Going into a slower medium the ray bends towards the normal. From a denser medium (n₁ > n₂) beyond the critical angle θc = arcsin(n₂/n₁) all light is reflected: total internal reflection. Thin lenses and spherical mirrors obey 1/f = 1/do + 1/di with the magnification m = −di/do. Sign convention: f > 0 for a converging lens and a concave mirror (f = R/2), f < 0 for a diverging lens and a convex mirror; di > 0 for a real image, di < 0 for a virtual one, and m < 0 for an inverted image.
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