Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 20 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
A car driving at 54 km/h brakes with a constant deceleration of 5.5 m/s² until it stops. Find the braking distance s.
A ball is thrown straight up at 11 m/s from the edge of a roof 15 m above the ground. Ignore air resistance and use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the greatest height hmax above the ground.
A box slides across a level floor with an initial speed of 2.5 m/s and comes to rest after 3.2 m. Use g = 9.81 m/s². Find the coefficient of kinetic friction μ.
A block is given a push so that it starts sliding up a ramp at 25° with a speed of 7.5 m/s. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.2. Use g = 9.81 m/s². How far d along the ramp does it slide before it stops?
A ball is launched at 20° 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 55° above horizontal from the top of a 55 m cliff. Ignore air resistance. Find the time of flight t until the ball hits the ground.
A block slides from rest down a slope at 30° to the horizontal. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.35. Find its speed v after it has slid 20 m along the slope.
A 5 kg block is released from rest at height 2.5 m on a smooth ramp. At the bottom it crosses a rough horizontal strip 4.5 m long (μ = 0.2) and then runs onto a spring (k = 4000 N/m) on a smooth surface. Find the speed v of the block when it reaches the spring.
A 900 kg car moving at 19 m/s runs into a stationary 1500 kg car and the two lock together. How much kinetic energy ΔK is lost in the collision?
A 0.55 kg ball hits a wall at 21 m/s and bounces straight back at 10 m/s. The contact lasts 50 ms. Find the average force Favg of the wall on the ball.
A vertical rectangular gate 1 m wide sits in the wall of a tank of water, with its top edge 3 m below the surface. Find the resultant hydrostatic force F on the gate.
A vertical rectangular gate 2 m wide sits in the wall of a tank of seawater, with its top edge 2.5 m below the surface. Find the resultant hydrostatic force F on the gate.
Water flows through a horizontal pipe that narrows from 75 mm to 25 mm. In the wide section the pressure is 280 kPa and the velocity is 1.25 m/s. Ignoring losses, find the pressure p2 in the narrow section.
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 280 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.
What volume V does 480 g of O₂ occupy at 550 kPa and 65 °C? Treat it as an ideal gas.
A fixed amount of He goes from 100 kPa, 10 L, 15 °C to 600 kPa and 140 °C. Find the new volume V2.
A heat engine works between a hot reservoir at 400 °C and a cold reservoir at 15 °C. Find the highest possible thermal efficiency ηmax.
A heat pump keeps a house at 22 °C while it is -10 °C outside, delivering 13 kW of heat to the house. Find the highest possible coefficient of performance COPmax.
An object stands 4 cm in front of a thin converging lens with a focal length of 10 cm. Find the image distance di. Use the sign convention 1/f = 1/do + 1/di (f < 0 for a diverging lens, di < 0 for a virtual image).
An object is 8 cm in front of a concave mirror with a radius of curvature of 50 cm. Find the magnification m (negative for an inverted image).
Answer: s = 20.45 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 = 21.17 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: μ = 0.09955
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: d = 4.748 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: x = 26.21 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: t = 6.422 s
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.
Solve y(t) = h + vy·t − ½gt² = 0 for the positive root.
Answer: v = 8.79 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 = 5.603 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: ΔK = 101531 J
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 lost energy goes into deformation, heat and sound.
Answer: Favg = 341 N
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 = 78.48 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: F = 98.04 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: p2 = 217.5 kPa
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.
Work in Pa, then divide by 1000 to get kPa.
Answer: Q = 144.3 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: V = 76.67 L
Ideal gas law: PV = nRT, with n = m/M.
Answer: V2 = 2.39 L
Combined gas law: for a fixed amount of ideal gas, P1V1/T1 = P2V2/T2.
Answer: ηmax = 57.19 %
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: COPmax = 9.223
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: di = −6.667 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.
Answer: m = 1.471
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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