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Suppose a box is being dragged across the floor due to a rope being pulled on at a
angle from the side, as shown in the picture below.
If the tension in the rope is and the box accelerates to the right at
, what is the coefficient of kinetic friction?
Explanation
To solve this problem, we first need to take into account the forces acting in the vertical direction separately from the forces acting in the horizontal direction.
First, let's start with the vertical direction. Here, the only force force acting downward is the weight of the box. There are two forces acting upwards on the box; one is the normal force and the other is the vertical component of the tension in the rope that is pulling the box. Because the box is not moving in the vertical direction, there is no net force. Thus, the sum of these forces is equal to zero.
Next, let's take a look at the forces acting horizontally on the box. Acting to the right of the box is the horizontal component of the tension in the rope. Acting to the left is the frictional force. Because the box is moving to the right, it must have experienced a net force in this direction. Thus, the sum of these horizontally acting forces will equal a net force.
Now, we can take the expression we obtained for the normal force and substitute it into the expression we obtained for the horizontally acting forces.
Now that we've found an expression for the coefficient of kinetic friction, all we need to do is plug in the values given in the question stem to arrive at the answer.
An hourglass is placed on a scale with all its sand in the upper chamber. A short time later, the sand begins to fall into the lower chamber. Which of the following best describes the reading on the scale as a function of time before any sand has accumulated in the bottom chamber?
The reading on the scale decreases slightly.
The reading on the scale stays the same.
None of these
The reading on the scale increases.
The reading on the scale is zero.
Explanation
Initially, when all the sand is in the upper chamber, the reading on the scale is constant and corresponds to the weight of the hourglass and the sand within. As some sand falls, there is no normal force on it so the scale can not register its weight. The fraction of sand that is falling is small, so there is only a small decrease in the apparent weight of the hourglass.
A cinder block sitting on a frictionless surface is attached to a rope. If the rope is pulled parallel to the surface such that the block accelerates at a rate of
, what is the minimum amount of tension the rope must be able to support without breaking?
Explanation
This is a simple case of . In this instance,
is
and
is
. Substituting, we find
.
Two small lead balls of masses and
are fixed a distance
apart on a laboratory bench. A student moves the larger mass toward the smaller mass so the distance is now only
. After the mass was moved, by what factor did the gravitational force between the lead balls change?
Explanation
The gravitational force obeys an inverse-square law. Decreasing the distance by a factor of will increase the force by a factor of
, or
.
An object weighing is hanging from a string with no mass and a length of
. If this object is released from some initial height and reaches a maximum velocity of
, what is the maximum amount of tension in the string at any point during the object's journey?
Explanation
For this question, we're told that an object hanging from a string is released from an initial height and allowed to swing. We're given the maximum velocity, the object's mass, and the length of the string. We're asked to find the maximum tension in the string.
The first step towards solving this problem is to realize that we're dealing with centripetal motion. When the object is released from an initial height, it begins to fall. But as it falls, the string exerts a tension on the mass and causes the mass to travel in a circular motion. Thus, the tension of the string is supplying the centripetal force.
Furthermore, it's important to remember the point at which the object will have maximum velocity. When the object was initially released from some initial height, all of the object's energy was in the form of gravitational potential energy. As it falls, that potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. Once the object reaches the very bottom of its path of motion, all of the potential energy it once had has been converted into kinetic energy at that instant. Since all of the energy is in the form of kinetic energy, and the object's mass remains constant, we know that this must be the point where the maximum velocity occurs.
Thus, we need to analyze the situation when the mass has swung to the very bottom of the path. At this point, the tension is providing an upward force. Moreover, the only downward force acting on the object is its weight due to gravity. The net force resulting from these two will result in the overall centripetal force on the object. We can put this into an equation as follows.
Since we're trying to solve for the tension in the string, we can isolate the term in the above expression.
Suppose a box is being dragged across the floor due to a rope being pulled on at a
angle from the side, as shown in the picture below.
If the tension in the rope is and the box accelerates to the right at
, what is the coefficient of kinetic friction?
Explanation
To solve this problem, we first need to take into account the forces acting in the vertical direction separately from the forces acting in the horizontal direction.
First, let's start with the vertical direction. Here, the only force force acting downward is the weight of the box. There are two forces acting upwards on the box; one is the normal force and the other is the vertical component of the tension in the rope that is pulling the box. Because the box is not moving in the vertical direction, there is no net force. Thus, the sum of these forces is equal to zero.
Next, let's take a look at the forces acting horizontally on the box. Acting to the right of the box is the horizontal component of the tension in the rope. Acting to the left is the frictional force. Because the box is moving to the right, it must have experienced a net force in this direction. Thus, the sum of these horizontally acting forces will equal a net force.
Now, we can take the expression we obtained for the normal force and substitute it into the expression we obtained for the horizontally acting forces.
Now that we've found an expression for the coefficient of kinetic friction, all we need to do is plug in the values given in the question stem to arrive at the answer.
Which of these forces is identical to a normal force?
All of these
Force that is perpendicular to the surface
The scale weight of a body
The perpendicular force
The contact force
Explanation
All of these are identical to a normal force.
A bowling ball is dropped from a height of
onto a spring. If the spring is to compressed
before halting the ball, what is the spring constant
of the spring?
Explanation
This questions requires an understanding of the conversion of gravitational potential energy to potential energy stored in the compression of a spring. The ball's initial potential energy is where
is the mass of the ball,
is the acceleration due to gravity, and
is the height of the ball. The energy stored in a compressed spring is
where
is the potential energy,
is the spring constant (typically given in
) and
is the compression of the spring. By setting the gravitational potential energy equal to the energy stored in the spring, we can solve for the spring constant
:
A mechanic is able to exert a maximum torque of using a small wrench. The mechanic adds an attachment to the wrench that doubles the handle length. What is the maximum amount of torque the mechanic can exert with the new wrench?
Explanation
The maximum amount of torque is the magnitude of the torque vector , which is maximized when the angle between the applied force and the displacement vector is 90 degrees. Then the torque is given by
, where
is the length of the wrench and
is the magnitude of the force applied. Since the mechanic doesn't get any stronger, but the handle length increases, the torque doubles.
An object weighing sits on a board at a distance
away from a fulcrum. At what distance to the right of the fulcrum would an
object need to be in order to make the board flat?
Explanation
For this question, we'll need to take torque into account. The amount of torque caused by the object to the left of the fulcrum needs to be equal to the torque of the object to the right of the fulcrum.
Moreover, we can write out the equation for torque.
Combining these equations, we can set an expression for the torque on the left and the torque on the right.
Then we can set them equal to each other.
Next, we isolate the term for the distance on the right and we cancel out common units.
Finally, we plug in the values given in the question stem. Because we're told that both objects are sitting flat on the board, we know the force of their weight is perpendicular to the board, which gives a value of .