http://www.physics.uc.edu/~sokoloff/P104/samples.html



Introductory Physics 1
Sample Questions
Fall Quarter, 2001



The following questions were used on exams in this class in previous years. Similar questions may or may not appear on the exams this year.



  1. A particle is accelerating.

    1. Its velocity can never be zero.
    2. Its velocity must be changing.
    3. It must be falling straight down.
    4. Its speed must be changing.
    5. The direction of its velocity must be changing.



  2. An object is moving at constant acceleration.

    1. The net force on the object must be zero.
    2. The object must be slowing down.
    3. The object must be speeding up.
    4. The object must be moving with constant velocity.
    5. The net force on the object must be constant.



  3. A ball is thrown straight up. Neglect air resistance. After it has been released, it acceleration is

    1. always in the direction of the velocity.
    2. zero when it reaches the top of the trajectory.
    3. always approximately 10 m/sec^2 in the downwards direction.
    4. always approximately 10 m/sec^2 in the upward direction.
    5. zero



  4. Suppose the circumference of a bicycle wheel is 6 meters. If it rotates at 1 revolution per second when you are riding the bicycle, then your speed will be

    1. 1 m/s
    2. 3 m/s
    3. 6 m/s
    4. 12 m/s
    5. there is not enough information given to figure it out.



  5. An enclosed jar containing 50 flies rests on a scale. The reading on the scale when the flies are all in flight is

    1. the same as when they are all resting on the bottom.
    2. greater than when they are all resting on the bottom.
    3. smaller than when they are all resting on the bottom.
    4. there is not enough information to figure it out.


  6. It is just as hard to accelerate a car on the moon as it is to accelerate the same car on the earth. This is because

    1. the mass of the car is independent of gravity.
    2. the weight of the car is independent of gravity.
    3. Nonsense! A car is much more easily accelerated on the moon than on the earth.

  7. A truck is accelerating in the forward direction. Inside the storage compartment a rock is dropped from the midpoint of the ceiling and strikes the floor below. The rock hits the floor

    1. ahead of the midpoint of the ceiling
    2. behind the midpoint of the ceiling
    3. more information is needed to solve this problem
    4. exactly below the midpoint of the ceiling
    5. none of the above

  8. An object weighs 30 N on earth. A second object weighs 30 N on the moon. Which has the greater mass?

    1. the one on the moon
    2. they have the same mass
    3. not enough information to say
    4. the one on the moon

  9. A jumbo jet has a mass of 400,000 kg. The thrust for each of four engines, i.e., the force exerted by each engine on the air, is about 100,000 N. What is the jet's acceleration in meters per second per second when the jet is taking off?

    1. 1/4
    2. 1
    3. 2
    4. 4
    5. none of the above

  10. A ball is thrown directly upwards. Neglecting air resistance, approximately what must its initial speed be if it is in the air for a total of 20 seconds? [Hint: how long does it travel in the up direction?]

    1. 10 m/s
    2. 25 m/s
    3. 50 m/s
    4. 100 m/s
    5. 200 m/s

  11. What is the approximate height attained by the ball in the previous question (relative to its initial height)?

    1. 50 m
    2. 100 m
    3. 2000 m
    4. 500 m
    5. 1000 m

  12. A projectile is fired from a cannon at ground level at 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal. The initial horizontal and vertical components of the velocity of the projectile are 30 m/s. Neglect air resistance. When the projectile reaches maximum height the horizontal distance it has traveled is

    1. zero
    2. greater than the vertical distance it has traveled
    3. undetermined since there are two angles which give the same range
    4. equal to the vertical distance it has traveled
    5. less than the vertical distance it has traveled

  13. An object moves at constant speed.

    1. it must be moving in a circle
    2. it cannot be moving in a circle
    3. it cannot be accelerating
    4. it can be moving at constant velocity
    5. it must be moving at constant velocity

  14. When you jump from an elevated position you usually bend your knees upon reaching the ground. By doing this the time of impact is about ten times longer than for a stiff-legged landing. In this way the average force your body experiences is reduced by

    1. less than ten times
    2. more than ten times
    3. about five times
    4. about ten times

  15. A horse exerts 500 N of force on a heavy wagon. The wagon pulls back on the horse with an equal force. The wagon accelerates because

    1. these forces are not an action reaction pair
    2. nevertheless, there is stall an unbalanced force on the wagon
    3. the horse pulls on the wagon a brief time before the wagon reacts
    4. the wagon does not accelerate because the forces are equal and opposite
    5. unlike the horse, it is not alive

  16. A boat attempts to cross a river directly across at 10 m/s, but there is a current in the water of 8 m/s perpendicular to the attempted path. The resulting speed of the boot is

    1. 0 m/s
    2. 5 m/s
    3. 12 m/s
    4. between 12 m/s and 13 m/s
    5. between 13 m/s and 14 m/s

  17. Two people, one three times as massive as the other, attempt a tug-of-war with 16 meters of rope on frictionless ice. After a brief time they meet. The lighter person slides a distance of

    1. 3 m
    2. 4 m
    3. 6 m
    4. 8 m
    5. 12 m

  18. A book is pushed across a rough table by a force in the horizontal direction. The book moves at constant velocity.

    1. The pushing force is zero since the acceleration is zero.
    2. The pushing force and the friction force are equal and opposite as a consequence of Newton's second law.
    3. The pushing force and the friction force do not have the same magnitude.
    4. The pushing force and the friction force act in the same direction.
    5. The pushing force and the friction force are equal as a consequence of Newton's third law.

  19. Heavy objects fall faster than light objects in air. This is because

    1. the air resistance force does not obey Newton's third law
    2. the air resistance force acts in the same direction as the force of gravity
    3. the air resistance force is greater for heavy objects
    4. the air resistance force increases with increasing velocity and balances the gravity force of the heavier object
    5. even if there were no air resistance, heavy object would fall faster than light objects

  20. A sky diver of mass 150 kg experiences air resistance of 750 N, and an acceleration of about

    1. 2 m/sec^2
    2. 3 m/sec^2
    3. 4 m/sec^2
    4. 5 m/sec^2
    5. more than 5 m/sec^2

  21. A mas is suspended at rest from a rope. If the roped is then pulled at the other end causing the mass to accelerate, does the tension in the rope increase, decrease, or stay the same?

    1. decreases
    2. depends on whether the acceleration is constant or not
    3. stays the same
    4. increases
    5. depends on the air resistance

  22. A piece of rope is pulled by two people in a tug-of-war. Each pulls with 150 N of force. What is the tension in the rope?

    1. 0 N
    2. 150 N
    3. 300 N
    4. 600 N

  23. A push on a 2 kg brick accelerates the brick. Neglecting friction, to equally accelerate an 8 kg brick, one would have to push with

    1. just as much force
    2. 2 times as much force
    3. 4 times as much force
    4. 8 times as much force
    5. 10 times as much force

  24. A baseball of mass 1/2 kg is pitched with speed 10 m/s. A batter makes contact with the ball causing it to reverse direction. It leaves the bat with speed 20 m/s. The impulse delivered by the bat to the ball is

    1. 5 kg m/s
    2. 10 kg m/s
    3. 15 kg m/s
    4. 20 kg m/s
    5. 25 kg m/s

  25. In a class example, a "monkey" was shot at and hit by a "banana".

    1. This would work even in outer space where there is no gravity.
    2. Had the banana been slower, it would have gone under the monkey's feet.
    3. This would not work on the moon where the gravitation pull is not as large as it is on earth.
    4. Had the banana been faster it would have gone over the money's head.
    5. The demonstration in class worked only because the banana was not aimed directly at the monkey.

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last significantly modified  October 9, 2001