http://www.mppe.org.

uk

OCR-AS-A2-Level-physics

No parts of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, of transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the publisher.

NOTICE TO CUSTOMER:
The sale of this product is intended for use of the original
purchaser only and for use only on a single computer system.

Duplicating, selling, or otherwise distributing this product is a

violation of the law

The license of the product will be terminated at any moment if

you are selling or distributing the product.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

OCR-AS-Unit-1-Mechanics (From page 1 to page 143)

OCR-AS-Unit-2-Electrons-Waves-and-Photons (From page 144 to page 309)
OCR-A2-Unit-4-The-Newtonian-World (From page 310 to page 467)
OCR-A2-Unit-5-Fields-and-Particles (From page 468 to page 640)
AS-Unit-1-Mechanics ...............................................................................................................................1
Module 1: Motion .....................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1 Physical quantities and units ....................................................................................................1
1-1 Units............................................................................................................................................1
1-1-1 Physical quantities and SI units .......................................................................................1
1-1-2 Prefixes............................................................................................................................2
1-2 1 Worked examples.............................................................................................................................2
Chapter 2 Scalars and vectors ...................................................................................................................3
2-1 Addition of vectors .....................................................................................................................3
2-2 Resolving a vector into two perpendicular components .............................................................5
2-3 10 Worked examples........................................................................................................................6
Chapter 3 Kinematics and Linear motion ...............................................................................................14
3-1 Displacement and velocity........................................................................................................14
3-2 Acceleration ..............................................................................................................................15
3-3 Equations for uniform acceleration...........................................................................................16
3-4 Displacement—time graphs......................................................................................................17
3-5 Velocity—time graphs ..............................................................................................................18
3-6 Free-fall motion ........................................................................................................................18
3-7 15 Worked examples......................................................................................................................19
Module 2: Forces in action......................................................................................................................37
Chapter 1 Force and Nonlinear motion ...................................................................................................37
1-1 Force definition.........................................................................................................................37
1-2 Weight and g .............................................................................................................................37
1-3 Newton’s first law of motion ....................................................................................................38
1-4 Newton’s second law ................................................................................................................38
1-5 Newton’s third law of motion ...................................................................................................40
1-6 drag force and terminal speed...................................................................................................40
1-7 9 Worked examples........................................................................................................................43
Chapter 2 Equilibrium.............................................................................................................................49
2-1 balanced forces .........................................................................................................................49
2-2 moments....................................................................................................................................49
2-3 Couples and torque of a couple.................................................................................................50
2-4 the principle of moments ..........................................................................................................51
2-5 Centre of gravity and Determination of Centre of Gravity (c.g.) of irregular lamina using the
plumb line method ..........................................................................................................................52
2-6 Density and Pressure.................................................................................................................53
2-7 23 Worked examples......................................................................................................................54
Chapter 3 Car safety................................................................................................................................78
3.1. Stopping distance .....................................................................................................................78
3.2. Car safety .................................................................................................................................78

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

3.3 2 Worked examples ........................................................................................................................81

Module 3: Work and energy....................................................................................................................83
3.1 Work and conservation of energy..............................................................................................83
3.1.1 Work ...............................................................................................................................83
3.1.2 Energy ............................................................................................................................84
3.1.3 Efficiency .......................................................................................................................85
3.2 Kinetic and potential energies ...................................................................................................85
3.2.1 Kinetic energy Theorem of kinetic energy..........................................................................85
3.2.2 Gravitational potential energy ........................................................................................87
3.2.3 The law of conservation of mechanical energy ..............................................................87
3.3 Power ........................................................................................................................................88
3.3.1 Power .............................................................................................................................88
3.3.2 Power and velocity.........................................................................................................88
3.4 15 Worked examples ..............................................................................................................88
3.5 Behaviour of springs and materials.........................................................................................105
3-5-1 Deformation.........................................................................................................................105
3-5-2 tensile stress and tensile strain.............................................................................................105
3-5-3 Hooke’s law.........................................................................................................................106
3-5-4 Young’s modulus .................................................................................................................106
3-5-5 Strain energy........................................................................................................................107
3-5-6 Materials stretching .............................................................................................................108
3-5-6-1 Stretching glass ........................................................................................................108
3-5-6-2 stretching a metal .....................................................................................................108
3.6 15 Worked examples ....................................................................................................................109
ocr_66622_pp_11_jun_gce_ug481 .......................................................................................................128

III

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

AS-Unit-1-Mechanics
Module 1: Motion
Chapter 1 Physical quantities and units
1-1 Units
1-1-1 Physical quantities and SI units
In general, a physical quantity is made up of two parts: numerical magnitude
+ unit.
For example, the distance from school to your home is 1000 m. then 1000 is
the numerical magnitude and m (meter) is its unit.
(i) SI Units
There are seven SI Units shown in table 1.1:
Table 1.1 SI Units
SI Units
Base quantity
Name Symbol
Mass Kilogram kg
Length Meter m
Time Second s
Thermodynamic temperature Kelvin K
Electric current Ampere A
Amount of substance Mole mol
Luminous intensity candela cd
Other units are derived from these: (table 1.2)
Table 1.2 Examples of SI derived Units
Physical quantity Defining equation Derived unit Special symbol
1
Speed Distance × time ms --
2
Acceleration Speed/time ms --
2
Force mass×acceleration kg  m  s N(Newton)
Work force×distance N m J(joule)
3
Density Mass/volume kg  m --
Charge current×time A s C(coulomb)
2
Pressure Force/area N m Pa(Pascal)
Resistance Voltage/current VA 1
 (ohm)
1
voltage Energy/charge J C V(volt)

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

1-1-2 Prefixes
Prefixes can be added to SI and derived units to make larger or smaller units
as shown in table 1.3:
Table 1.3 Prefixes
Value prefix symbol Value prefix symbol
24 1
10 yotta Y 10 deci d
1021 zeta Z 102 centi c
1018 exa E 103 milli m
1015 peta P 106 micro μ
1012 tera T 109 nano n
109 giga G 1012 pico p
106 mega M 1015 femto f
103 kilo k 1018 atto a
102 hecto h 1021 zepto z
101 deka da 1024 yocto y

For example:
1 kilometer = 1 km = 103 m
1 microgram = 1 μg = 10-6 g
1 mega meter = 1 M m = 106 m
1 millimeter = 1 m m = 10-3 m

1-2 1 Worked examples

1. A volume is measured to be 25 mm3, express the volume in m3.
Solution:
1mm  103 m , thus

1mm   103 m   109 m3

3 3

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Chapter 2 Scalars and vectors

2-1 Addition of vectors
1.1 Definition of scalars and vectors
Scalar: quantity has direction only.
Examples of scalar: mass, temperatures, volume, work…
Vector: quantity both has magnitude and direction
Examples of vectors: force, acceleration, displacement, velocity,
momentum…
Representation of vectors: any vectors can be represented by a straight line
with an arrow whose length represents the magnitude of the vectors, and the
direction of the arrow gives the direction of the vectors.
  
Vector Notation: use an arrow A , S , B …
Or use the bold letter A, B, S…
When considering the magnitude of a vector only, we can
use the italic letter A, B, S…
1.2 Addition of vectors:
When adding vectors, the units of the vectors must be the same, the direction
must be taken into account.
Addition Principles:
ⅰ: if two vectors are in the same direction: the magnitude of the resultant
vector is equal to the sum of their magnitudes, in the same direction.
ⅱ: if two vectors are in the opposite direction: the magnitude of the resultant
vector is equal to the difference of the magnitude of the two vectors and
is in the direction of the greater vector.
ⅲ: if two vectors are placed tail-to-tail at an angle  , it can also be
represented as a closed triangle (Fig. 2.1).

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

    

OA  AC  OC Because OB  AC
 

OA and OB are placed tail to tail to form two adjacent sides of a
  
parallelogram and the diagonal OC gives the sum of the vectors OA and OB .
This is also called as ‘parallelogram rule of vector addition.

Addition Methods:
(i): Graphical Methods----using scale drawings
For example:
F 1 and F 2 are at right angle, and F 1 = 3 N, F 2 = 4 N, determine the
resultant force F (Fig. 2.2).
Let 1cm=1N

Measure the length of the resultant vector, we get length = 5cm, then
resultant force, F = 5 N.
(ii) Algebraic Methods
For example:
F 1 and F 2 are at right angle, and F 1 = 3 N, F 2 = 4 N, determine the resultant
force F (Fig. 2.3).

Using the Pythagorean Theorem:

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Magnitude of the resultant force, F  F12  F2 2  32  42  5 N

The angle  between F and F 1 is given by:
F2 4
tan   
F1 3
Or
F2 4
sin   
F 5
Or
F1 3
cos   
F 5
2-2 Resolving a vector into two perpendicular components

For example, for a vector OC ,  is known, resolving it horizontally and
vertically (Fig. 2.4).

Magnitude of Horizontally component OA  OC cos 

Magnitude of vertically component OB  OC sin 
Thus, a force can be resolved into two perpendicular components (Fig. 2.5):
F and  are known.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Y
F
Fy

 X
Fx
Fig. 2.5 Resolving a force into two
perpendicular components
Fx  F cos  Fy  F sin 

2-3 10 Worked examples

1. Representation of vectors:
(i) A displacement of 500 m due east
Represent the displacement:

Let scale: 1cm  100m

Then

Note: of course you can also let scale: 1cm  250m

Then:


(ii) A force of F  100 N (or F=100N) due north.
Let scale: 1cm  50 N
Then

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

2. Addition of the vectors

(i) are in the same direction.
Magnitude of the resultant F  F1  F2  11N
 
Direction: the same direction of F 1 and F 2
 
(ii) F 1 and F 2 are in the opposite direction.
Magnitude of the resultant F  F2  F1  4 N

Direction: the same direction of F 2
 
(iii) F 1 and F 2 are at right angles to each other.
Using the algebraic methods:
Magnitude of the resultant:
F  F12  F2 2  12.25  68.5  9 N

Direction:
F2 7.5
tan     2.14 Then   arctan 2.14
F1 3.5

3. Calculate the resultant force of F1 , F2 , F3

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Strategy: ① calculate the resultant of F1 and F2

F12  F2  F1  2 N
② calculate the resultant force of F12 and F3 , that is the resultant force
of F1 , F2 and F3
Magnitude of resultant force:
F  F12 2  F32  22  62  6.32 N

Direction:
F12 2 1
tan    
F3 6 3
1
  arctan
3

4. A crane is used to raise one end of a steel girder off the ground, as shown
in Fig. 4.1. When the cable attached to the end of the girder is at 20°to the
vertical, the force of the cable on the girder is 6.5kN. Calculate the horizontal
and vertical components of this force.

Strategy:
Resolving the force F = 6.5 kN

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

F
F2

200

F1

F1  F sin 20o  6.5sin 20o  2.2kN (Horizontal components of the force)

F2  F cos 20o  6.5cos 20o  6.1kN (Vertical components of the force)

5. (a) (i) State what is meant by a scalar quantity.

Scalar quantity: quantity has direction only.
(ii) State two examples of scalar quantities.
Example 1: mass
Example 2: temperatures
(b) An object is acted upon by two forces at right angles to each other. One of
the forces has a magnitude of 5.0 N and the resultant force produced on the
object is 9.5 N.
Determine
(i) The magnitude of the other force,
Strategy: adding of vectors, using the Algebraic Methods
Draw the forces below:

And F12  F2 2  F 2
52  F2 2  9.52
So, F2  8.1N

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(ii) The angle between the resultant force and the 5.0 N force.
F1 5
cos     0.53
F 9.5
So   arccos 0.53  580

6. (a) State the difference between vector and scalar quantities.

Answers: Vector quantities have direction and scalar quantities do not.
(b) State one example of a vector quantity (other than force) and one example
of a scalar quantity.
Vector quantity: velocity, acceleration.
Scalar quantity: mass, temperature.
(c) A 12.0 N force and a 8.0 N force act on a body of mass 6.5 kg at the same
time. For this body, calculate
(i) The maximum resultant acceleration that it could experience,
Strategy: by the Newton’s second law, F  ma , the maximum resultant
acceleration when the body has the maximum resultant force. And when the
two forces are at the same direction, the body has the maximum resultant
force.
So, resultant force, F  F1  F2  12  8  20 N
F 20
So the maximum resultant acceleration, a    3.1ms 2
m 6.5
(ii) The minimum resultant acceleration that it could experience.
Strategy: by the Newton’s second law, F  ma , the minimum resultant
acceleration when the body has the minimum resultant force. And when the
two forces are at the opposite direction, the body has the minimum resultant
force.
That is, resultant force, F  F1  F2  12  8  4 N
F 4
So the minimum resultant acceleration, a    0.62ms 2
m 6.5

7. Figure 7.1 shows a uniform steel girder being held horizontally by a crane.
Two cables are attached to the ends of the girder and the tension in each of
these cables is T.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

T
T

420 420
C

Fig. 7.1

(a) If the tension, T, in each cable is 850 N, calculate

(i) The horizontal component of the tension in each cable,
Answers: Th  T cos 42  850  cos 42  632 N
(ii) The vertical component of the tension in each cable,
Tv  T sin 42  T sin 42  1138 N
(iii) The weight of the girder.
Strategy: the girder is at a uniform state, so the weight of the girder is
equal to the vertical component of the tension.
So weight, W  Tv  1138 N
(b) On Figure 7.1 draw an arrow to show the line of action of the weight of
the girder.

8. Which of the following contains three scalar quantities?

A Mass Charge Speed
B Density Weight Mass
C Speed Weight Charge
D Charge Weight Density
Solution:
Scalar: quantity has direction only.
Examples of scalar: mass, temperatures, volume, work…

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Vector: quantity both has magnitude and direction

Examples of vectors: force, acceleration, displacement, velocity,
momentum…

And weight  m  g is a vector. Thus choose (A)

9. The diagram below shows two vectors X and Y.

Which of the following best represents the vector Z = X – Y.

Strategy:
If two vectors are placed tail-to-tail at an angle  , it can also be represented as
a closed triangle.

    

OA  AC  OC Because OB  AC
Solution:
And X = Z + Y, thus choose (B)

10. The magnitude and direction of two vectors X and Y are represented by
the vector diagram below.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Which of the following best represents the vector (X–Y)?

Solution:
Let X minus Y to be Z: X–Y = Z, thus X = Z + Y

Choose (D):

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Chapter 3 Kinematics and Linear motion

3-1 Displacement and velocity
Distance: is the magnitude of the path covered, is a scalar.
SI unit: metre (m)
Displacement: the change in position between the starting point and the end
point.
SI unit: metre (m)
Displacement is a vector; its direction is from the starting point to end point.
For example:
(i) An ant crawl along the arc that start from O to A (Fig. 3.1),

Then:
Distance   R    3.14m

Displacement  OA  2m
(ii) The ant now goes on crawling from A to B,
  AB   R  1  4.14m
Distance  OCA

Displacement  OB  1m
(iii) The ant now goes back from B to O,
Note: the ant start from O then go back to O. that is starting point is O, the
end point is O.
  AO   R  2  5.14m
Distance  OCA

Displacement  OO  0m

Speed: the distance traveled by a moving object over a period of time.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Constant speed: the moving object doesn’t change its speed.

dis tan ce
(average) speed 
time taken
s
v
t
Unit: m / s or ms 1
Velocity: the speed in a given direction.
Average velocity: the change in position (displacement) over a period of
time.
 
 change in position displacement  x s
v average    
time taken time taken t t

Where s is displacement
Unit: m / s or ms 1
Velocity is a vector; the direction is the same as the direction of the
displacement.
Instantaneous velocity: the velocity that the moving object has at any one
instance

3-2 Acceleration
Changing velocity (non-uniform) means an acceleration is present.
We can define acceleration as the change of velocity per unit time.
Uniform acceleration: the acceleration is constant, means the velocity of the
moving object changes the same rate.
Average acceleration: change in velocity over a period of time.
change in velocity
Average acceleration 
time taken
In symbol:

 v v  u
a average  
t t
Where, v is the final velocity, u is the initial velocity.
SI unit: Meters per second squared (m/s2)
Acceleration is a vector; the direction is the same as the direction of the
change of velocity.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

3-3 Equations for uniform acceleration

Consider a body is moving along a straight line with uniform acceleration,
and its velocity increases from u (initial velocity) to v (final velocity) in time
t.
First equation:
change in velocity
acceleration 
time taken
v u
a
t
So
at  v  u or v  u  at …… ①
Second equation:
change in position displacement
average velocity  
time taken time taken
 
x s
v 
t t
Because the body is moving along a straight line in one direction, the
magnitude of the displacement is equal to the distance.
And for the acceleration is uniform,
vu
the average velocity, v 
2
So
vu s (v  u )
v  or s  t …… ②
2 t 2
Third equation:
(v  u )
From equation ①, v  u  at and equation ②, s  t
2
(u  at  u ) 1
s t  ut  at 2 …… ③
2 2
Fourth equation:
From equation, v  u  at
We get:
v 2  (u  at ) 2
1
v 2  u 2  2uat  a 2t 2  u 2  2a(ut  at 2 )
2
1
But s  ut  at 2
2

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

So
v 2  u 2  2as …… ④
3-4 Displacement—time graphs
Note: for a body moving along a straight line, we can only draw the
displacement—time graphs (Fig. 3.2)

(i) Represents the body moving along a straight line with constant velocity;
And the slope or gradient of the displacement—time graph represents the
velocity of the body.
(ii) The body keeps rest with displacement S 2 .
(iii) The body keeps rest with zero displacement.
(iv) The body moving along the opposite direction with constant velocity and
initial displacement S 0 .
(v) The point P means the displacement when the objects meeting with each
other.
(vi) Displacement of the body is S 1 at time t 1 .

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

3-5 Velocity—time graphs

(i) represents the body moving along a straight line with constant acceleration;
And the slope or gradient of the velocity—time graph represents the
acceleration of the body.
(ii) The body moving with constant velocity V 2 .
(iii) The body keeps rest with zero velocity.
(iv)The body moving along a straight line with constant deceleration with
initial velocity V 0 ; and the slope or gradient of the velocity—time graph
represents the deceleration of the body
(v)The point P means the same velocity when the objects meeting with each
other.
(vi)Velocity of the body is V 1 at time t 1 and the area under a velocity—time
graph measures the displacement traveled.

3-6 Free-fall motion

6.1 Free-fall motion
The motion of a body that is only acted on by gravity and falls down from
rest is called free-fall motion. This motion can occur only in a space without
air. If air resistance is quite small and neglectable, the falling of a body in the
air can also be referred to as a free-fall motion.
Galileo pointed out: free-fall motion is a uniformly accelerated rectilinear
motion with zero initial velocity.
6.2 Acceleration of free-fall body

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

All bodies in free-fall motion have the same acceleration. This acceleration is
called free-fall acceleration or gravitational acceleration. It is usually
denoted by g.
The magnitude of gravitational acceleration g / ( m  s 2 )
Standard value: g  9.80665m / s 2
The direction of gravitational acceleration g is always vertically downward.
Its magnitude can be measured through experiments.
Precise experiments show that the magnitude of g varies in different places
on the earth. For example, at the equator g  9.780 m / s 2 . We take 9.81m / s 2
for g in general calculations. In rough calculations, 10 m / s 2 is used.
As free-fall motion is uniformly accelerated rectilinear motion with zero
initial velocity, the fundamental equations and the deductions for uniformly
accelerated rectilinear motion are applicable for free-fall motion. What is
only needed is to take zero for the initial velocity (u) and replace acceleration
a with g.

3-7 15 Worked examples

1. An aero plane taking off accelerates uniformly on a runway from a
velocity of 3ms 1 to a velocity of 90ms 1 in 45s.
Calculate:
(i) Its acceleration.
(ii) The distance on the runway.
Solution: data: u  3ms 1 v  93ms 1 t  45s
v u 1
Strategy: v  u  at  a  , s  ut  at 2
t 2
Answers:
v  u 93  3
a   2ms 1
t 45
1 1
s  ut  at 2  3  45   2  452  2160m  2.16km
2 2

2. A car accelerates uniformly from a velocity of 15ms 1 to a velocity of

25ms 1 with a distance of 125m.
Calculate:
(i) Its acceleration

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(ii) The time taken

Solution:
Data: u  15ms 1 v  25ms 1 s  125m

Strategy: v  u
2 2
 2as  a 
v 2
 u2 
2s
vu
v  u  at  t 
a

Answers: a
v 2
 u2 
252  152
  1.6ms 2
2s 2 125
v  u 25  15
v  u  at  t    6.25s
a 1.6

3. A racing car starts from rest and accelerates uniformly at 2ms 2 in

30seconds, it then travels at a constant speed for 2min and finally decelerates
at 3ms 2 until it stops, determine the maximum speed in km/h and the total
distance in km it covered.
Strategy:
First stage: u  0ms 1 a  2ms 2 t  30s , v  u  at  60ms 1
Second stage: moving with a constant speed 60ms 1 for 2min.
Third stage: u  60ms 1 v  0ms 1 a  3ms 2 (deceleration)
Answers:
First stage: v  u  at  60ms 1
1 1
s1  ut  at 2   2  302  900m
2 2
Second stage: the final speed of the first stage is the constant speed of the
second stage.
s2  vt  60  2 min  60  2  60  7200m
(1min  60s )
v 2  u 2 0  602
Third stage: v 2  u 2  2as  s3    600m
2a 2  (3)
So
60
Maximum speed = 60ms 1   60  60  216km / h
1000
Total distance = s1  s2  s3  900  7200  600  8700m  8.7km

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

4. Figure 4.1 shows the shuttle spacecraft as it is launched into space.

Fig. 4.1 shuttle spacecraft

launching into space
During the first 5 minutes of the launch the average acceleration of the
shuttle is 14.5ms 2 .
a. Calculate the speed of the shuttle after the first 5 minutes.
b. Calculate how far the shuttle travels in the first 5 minutes.
Data: u  0ms 1 , a  14.5ms 2 , t  5 min  300sec
1
Strategy: v  u  at , s  ut  at 2
2
Answers: a. v  u  at  0  14.5  300  4350m  4.35km
1 1
b. s  ut  at 2  0  14.5  3002  652500m  652.5km
2 2

5. Figure 5.1 shows an incomplete velocity—time graph for a boy running a

distance of 100m.
a. What is his acceleration during the first 4 seconds?
b. How far does the boy travel during (i) the first 4 seconds, (ii) the next 9
seconds?
c. Copy and complete the graph showing clearly at what time he has
covered the distance of 100m. Assume his speed remains constant at the
value shown by the horizontal portion of the graph.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Solution:
a. the gradient of the velocity—time graph represents the acceleration of the
body.
5
During the first 4 seconds, gradient   1.25
4
acceleration  1.25ms 2
b. (i) the area under a velocity—time graph measures the displacement
traveled.
1
area S1   4  5  10
2
Displacement  10m
(ii) The next 9 seconds, area S2  9  5  45
Displacement  45m
c. during the first 13 seconds, the distance covered is 10 + 45 = 55m,
The area needed S3  100  55  45
So from 13s to 22 s, he covers S 3 = 45 m.

6. A constant resultant horizontal force of 1.8  103 N acts on a car of mass

900 kg, initially at rest on a level road.
(a) Calculate
(i) The acceleration of the car,
F
Strategy: by the Newton’s second law, F  ma , a 
m
F 1.8  103
So a    2ms 2
m 900 Kg

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(ii) The speed of the car after 8.0 s,

Strategy: initial velocity, u  0 , t  8.0 s , a  2ms 2 . And from the equation:
v  u  at , gives
v  0  2  8  16ms 1
(iii) The momentum of the car after 8.0 s,
Strategy: The product of an object’s mass m and velocity v is called its
momentum:
momentum  mv  900 16  1.44 104 kgms 1
(iv) The distance traveled by the car in the first 8.0 s of its motion,
1
Strategy: s  ut  at 2
2
1
S  0   2  82  64m
2
(v) The work done by the resultant horizontal force during the first 8.0 s.
Strategy: Work done=force × distance moved in direction of force.
W  FS  1.8 103  64  115.2kJ
(b) On the axes below (Fig. 6.1) sketch the graphs for speed, v, and distance
traveled, s, against time, t, for the first 8.0 s of the car’s motion.
Strategy: for the first 8.0 s, the car is moving with constant acceleration,
a  2ms 2 , so the gradient of the v—t graph is equal to 2ms 2

(c) In practice the resultant force on the car changes with time. Air resistance
is one factor that affects the resultant force acting on the vehicle.
You may be awarded marks for the quality of written communication in your
answer.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(i) Suggest, with a reason, how the resultant force on the car changes as its
speed increases.
Answers: the resultant force decreases as its speed increases, because the air
resistance increases as its speed increases, and the engine force of the car is
constant, so the constant force decreases.
(ii) Explain, using Newton’s laws of motion, why the vehicle has a maximum
speed.
As the velocity increases, the air resistance increases, so the resultant force
decreases, which means the acceleration of the car decreases, but the velocity
is still increasing till the resultant force is zero (acceleration of the car is zero),
according to the Newton’s first law, then the vehicle has a maximum speed.

7. Fig. 7.1 represents the motion of two cars, A and B, as they move along a
straight, horizontal road.

Fig. 7.1 motion of two cars

(a) Describe the motion of each car as shown on the graph.

(i) Car A: is moving with constant speed 16ms 1
(ii) Car B: accelerates in the first 5 seconds, and then moving with constant
speed 18ms 1 .
(b) Calculate the distance traveled by each car during the first 5.0 s.
(i) Car A:
Strategy: car A moving with constant speed, so distance of car A,

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

So S A  ut  16  5  80m
(ii) Car B:
Strategy: in the first 5 seconds, car B accelerates, and from the graph, the
18  14
gradient of the v—t graph for B is  0.8 , that is the acceleration of B is
5
a  0.8ms 2
1 1
So S B  ut  at 2  14  5   0.8  52  80m
2 2
(c) At time t = 0, the two cars are level. Explain why car A is at its maximum
distance ahead of B at t = 2.5 s
Because car A is faster than car B at the first 2.5s, so for the first 2.5s, the
distance between them increases till they have the same speed at 2.5s. After
2.5s, car B is faster than car A, so the distance then decreases. So at the time
2.5s, car A is at its maximum distance ahead of B.

8. A car accelerates from rest to a speed of 26ms-1. Table 8.1 shows how the
speed of the car varies over the first 30 seconds of motion.
Table 8.1
Time/s 0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0
Speed/ms-1 0 16.5 22.5 24.5 25.5 26.0 26.0
(a) Draw a graph of speed against time on the grid provided (Fig. 8.1).

Note: you must draw the right scales and the six points are correctly plotted,
and it is a trend line not a straight line.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(b) Calculate the average acceleration of the car over the first 25 s.
v 26
Strategy: a    1.04ms 2
t 25
(c) Use your graph to estimate the distance traveled by the car in the first 25
s.
Strategy: area under the v—t graph represents the distance traveled.
So from the graph, its distance is 510m
(d) Using the axes below, sketch a graph to show how the resultant force
acting on the car varies over the first 30 s of motion.
Solution:
From table 8.1, the rate of change of speed decreases to zero, thus the
resultant force decreases to zero. As shown in Fig. 8.2.

(e) Explain the shape of the graph you have sketched in part (d), with
reference to the graph you plotted in part (a).
Because the first graph shows that the gradient of the car decreases, which
means that the acceleration of the car decreases, and by the Newton’s second
law, F  ma , the force, F, decreases, and as the acceleration is changing in
the first 25s, so the force is also changing, so the graph of the force is not a
straight line.

9. A supertanker of mass 4.0 108 kg , cruising at an initial speed of 4.5m / s ,

takes one hour to come to rest.
(a) Assuming that the force slowing the tanker down is constant, calculate
(i) The deceleration of the tanker,
Solution:

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

The force slowing the tanker down is constant, so the tanker decelerates
uniformly. Therefore, deceleration of the tanker is given by
0  4.5 4.5
a   1.25 103 m / s 2
t 1 60  60
(ii) The distance travelled by the tanker while slowing to a stop.
Solution:
The average speed is given by
0  4.5
v  2.25m / s
2
So the distance traveled: s  vt  2.25 1 60  60  8100m
(b) Sketch, using the axes below, a distance-time graph representing the
motion of the tanker until it stops.

Distance/m

Time/s

Fig. 9.1 Distance—time graph

(c) Explain the shape of the graph you have sketched in part (b).
Solution:
Because the speed is decreasing, the gradient of the curve decreases in the
distance-time graph.

10. (a) A cheetah accelerating uniformly from rest reaches a speed of

29m / s in 2.0 s and then maintains this speed for 15 s. Calculate
(i) Its acceleration,
Solution:
v  u 29  0
Using a    14.5m / s 2
t 2
(ii) The distance it travels while accelerating,
Solution:

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

1 1
s  ut  at 2  0   14.5  22  29m
2 2
(iii) The distance it travels while it is moving at constant speed.
Solution:
s  vt  29  15  435m
(b) The cheetah and an antelope are both at rest and 100 m apart. The cheetah
starts to chase the antelope. The antelope takes 0.50 s to react. It then
accelerates uniformly for 2.0 s to a speed of 25m / s and then maintains this
speed. Fig. 10.1 shows the speed-time graph for the cheetah.

(i) Using the same axes plot the speed-time graph for the antelope during the
chase.
Solution:
The antelope takes 0.50 s to react and accelerates uniformly for 2.0 s to a
speed of 25 m/s. thus we can get the speed-time graph beginning with 0.50 s.
(ii) Calculate the distance covered by the antelope in the 17 s after the
cheetah started to run.
Solution:
The antelope accelerates from rest, and reaches to a speed of 25 m/s in 2 s.
then maintains this speed. Thus the distance is given by
vu
s  2  25  (17  2  0.5)  12.5  2  25  14.5  387.5m
2
(iii) How far apart are the cheetah and the antelope after 17 s?

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Solution:
From (a), the distance of cheetah is s1  435  29  464m
And at the beginning, they are 100 m apart. Thus
s  s  100  s1  387.5  100  464  23.5m

11. Figure 11.1 shows a distance-time graphs for two runners, A and B, in a
100 m race.

Fig. 11.1 distance—time graph for two runners

(a) Explain how the graph shows that athlete B accelerates throughout the
race.
Solution:
The gradient is changing (increasing)
(b) Estimate the maximum distance between the athletes.
Solution:
When B’s speed is the same as A’s, it has the maximum distance between the
athletes. From the graph is the gradient of B curve is the same that of A.
From the graph, the maximum distance is 25 m.
(c) Calculate the speed of athlete A during the race.
Solution:
For A, it has a distance in time 11 s, thus
dis tan ce 100m
speed    9.1m / s
time 11s
(d) The acceleration of athlete B is uniform for the duration of the race.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(i) State what is meant by uniform acceleration.

(ii) Calculate the acceleration of athlete B.
Solution:
(i) The acceleration keeps the same or the velocity increases uniformly with
time.
(ii) For B, its initial velocity is u = 0 m/s, distance s = 100 m, time taken
t = 11 s.
1 1
Thus, using s  ut  at 2  at 2 , gives
2 2
2 s 2  100
a 2
 2
 1.7 m / s 2
t 11

12.An aircraft accelerates horizontally from rest and takes off when its speed
is 82 m s-1. The mass of the aircraft is 5.6 104 kg and its engines provide a
constant thrust of 1.9 105 N .
(a) Calculate
(i) The initial acceleration of the aircraft,
Solution:
(i) Initially, the resultant force F  1.9 105 N , from Newton’s second law:
F  ma , we can get that
F 1.9 105 N
a   3.4m / s 2
m 5.6 10 kg
4

(ii) The minimum length of runway required, assuming the acceleration is

constant.
Solution: let the minimum length of the runway required L. thus
v 2  u 2  2aL
Therefore
v 2  u 2 822  0
L   989m
2a 2  3.4
(b) In practice, the acceleration is unlikely to be constant. State a reason for
this and explain what effect this will have on the minimum length of runway
required.
Solution:
In practice, the air resistance increases with speed, hence the runway will be
longer.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(c) After taking off, the aircraft climbs at an angle of 22° to the ground. The
thrust from the engines remains at 1.9 105 N . Calculate
(i) The horizontal component of the thrust,
(ii) The vertical component of the thrust.
Solution:

The thrust T  1.9 105 N

The horizontal component of the thrust is given by
F1  T cos 220  1.76 105 N
The vertical component of the thrust is given by
F2  T sin 220  0.71 105 N

13. Figure 13.1 shows how the velocity, v, of a car varies with time, t.

Fig. 13.1 velocity—time graph

(a) Describe the motion of the car for the 50 s period.

You may be awarded additional marks to those shown in brackets for the
quality of written communication in your answer.
Solution:
0—20 s: the car uniformly accelerates to a velocity of 15 m/s.
20—40 s: the car moves with constant velocity 15 m/s.
40—50 s: the car uniformly decelerates from a velocity of 15 m/s to 0 m/s.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(b) The mass of the car is 1200 kg. Calculate for the first 20 s of motion, (b)
(i) the change in momentum of the car,
(b) (ii) the rate of change of momentum,
(b) (iii) the distance travelled.
Solution: for the first 20 s of motion
(i) At t = o s, the initial velocity is u = 0 m/s; at t = 20 s, the final velocity is v
= 15 m/s. thus the change in momentum of the car is given by
Therefore,
p  mv  mu  (1200kg ) 15m / s  0  1.8 104 kg  m / s
(ii)
change in momentum 1.8  104 kg  m / s
The rate of change of momentum    0.9  103 kg  m / s 2
time taken 20
(iii) The area under a velocity—time graph measures the displacement
traveled.
Thus the area for the first 20 s is given by
1
A   20 15  150
2
Therefore the distance traveled is 150 m.

14. A car is travelling on a level road at a speed of 15.0 m s-1 towards a set of
traffic lights when the lights turn red. The driver applies the brakes
0.5 s after seeing the lights turn red and stops the car at the traffic lights.
Table 14.1 shows how the speed of the car changes from when the traffic
lights turn red.
Table 14.1
Time/s 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Speed/ms-1 15.0 15.0 12.5 10.0 7.5 5.0 2.5 0.0
(a) Draw a graph of speed on the y-axis against time on the x-axis on the grid
provided (Fig. 14.1).

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(b) (i) State and explain what feature of the graph shows that the car’s
deceleration was uniform.
Solution:
Deceleration is uniform because the graph is a decreasing straight line. And
the gradient of the line represents the deceleration.
(b) (ii) Use your graph to calculate the distance the car travelled after the
lights turned red to when it stopped.
Solution:
Distance traveled = area under the line (0s to 3.5s).
1
Area   (0.5  3.5) 15  30
2
Therefore, distance traveled = 30 m.

15. Galileo used an inclined plane, similar to the one shown in Fig. 15.1, to
investigate the motion of falling objects.
(a) Explain why using an inclined plane rather than free fall would produce
data which is valid when investigating the motion of a falling object.
Solution:
Freefall is too quick; Galileo had no accurate method to time freefall.
(b) In a demonstration of Galileo’s investigation, the number of swings of a
pendulum was used to time a trolley after it was released from rest. A block
was positioned to mark the distance that the trolley had travelled after a
chosen whole number of swings.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Fig. 15.1
The mass of the trolley in Fig. 15.1 is 0.20 kg and the slope is at an angle of
1.8°to the horizontal.
(b) (i) Show that the component of the weight acting along the slope is about
0.06 N.
Solution:
The component of weight acting along the slope is given by
W1  W sin1.80  0.2  9.81 0.031  0.06 N
(b) (ii) Calculate the initial acceleration down the slope.
Solution:
The initial resultant force along the slope equals to W 1 , thus
W 0.06
a 1   0.3m / s 2
m 0.2

(c) In this experiment, the following data was obtained. A graph of the data
(Fig. 15.2) is shown below it.
Time/pendulum swings Distance travelled/m
1 0.29
2 1.22
3 2.70
4 4.85

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(c) From Fig. 15.2, state what you would conclude about the motion of the
trolley?
Give a reason for your answer.
Solution:
The gradient of the curve increases as time increasing. Thus the speed of the
trolley is increasing.
(d) Each complete pendulum swing had a period of 1.4 s. Use the
distance-time graph above to find the speed of the trolley after it had
travelled 3.0 m.
Solution:
From Fig. 15.2, the time taken for traveling 3.0 m is given by
1.4
t  3 1.4  1.5   4.41s
10

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

And initial speed u  0m / s , thus

uv vt
s  t  , gives
2 2
2s 2  3.0m
Speed, v    1.36m / s
t 4.41s

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Module 2: Forces in action

Chapter 1 Force and Nonlinear motion
1-1 Force definition
Interaction of objects is called Force. Force is a vector; the SI unit is the
Newton (N).
If two or more forces act on something, their combined effect is called the
net (resultant) force.
Two simple examples are shown below:

Newton definition:
1 Newton (N), as the amount of force that will give an object of mass 1 kg an
acceleration of 1 m s 2 .
1-2 Weight and g
On Earth, everything feels the downward force of gravity. This gravitational
force is called weight. As for other forces, its SI unit is the Newton (N).
Near the Earth’s surface, the gravitational force on each kg is about 10 N; the
gravitational field strength is 10 N kg -1. This is represented by the symbol g.
So weight = mass × gravitational field strength
In symbol
W = mg
For example, in the diagram below, all the masses are falling freely (gravity
is the only force acting). From F = ma, it follows that all the masses have the
same downward acceleration, g. this is the acceleration of free fall.
weight
acceleration  10 ms 2  g
mass

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Note: you can think of g:

Either as a gravitational field strength of 10 N kg -1
Or as an acceleration of free fall of 10 m s -2
In more accurate calculations, the value of g is normally taken to be 9.81,
rather than 10.
1-3 Newton’s first law of motion
If there is no resultant force acting:
① A stationary object will stay at rest,
② A moving object will maintain a constant velocity (a steady speed in a
straight line).
From Newton’s first law, it follows that if an object is at rest or moving at
constant velocity, then the forces on it must be balanced.
Note: the more mass an object has, the more it resists any change in motion
(because more force is needed for any given acceleration). Newton called this
resistance to change in motion inertia.
Momentum:
The product of an object’s mass m and velocity v is called its momentum:
momentum  mv
1
Momentum is measured in kg  ms . It is a vector.
1-4 Newton’s second law
The rate of change of momentum of an object is proportional to the resultant
force acting.
This can be written in the following form:

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

change in momentum
resul tan t force 
time taken
In symbol:
mv  mu
F …… ①
t
Where v is final velocity, u is initial velocity of an object.
m (v  u )
Equation ① can be rewritten F 
t
vu
And acceleration, a  . So
t
F  ma …… ②
Note:
1. Equation ① and ② are therefore different versions of the same principle.
2. F = ma cannot be used for a particle traveling at very high speeds because
its mass increases.
3. When using equations ① and ②, remember that F is the net (resultant)
force acting. For example, for the figure below, the net (resultant) force is
26  20  6N to the right. The acceleration a can be worked out as follows:
F 6
a   3 ms 2
m 2

Impulse:
m (v  u )
As F  can be rewritten Ft  mv  mu
t
In words force × time = change in momentum.
The quantity ‘force × time’ is called an impulse.
A given impulse always produces the same change in momentum,
irrespective of the mass. For example, if a resultant force of 6 N acts for 2s,
the impulse delivered is 6×2=12Ns.
This will produce a momentum change of 12 kgms 1
So a 4 kg mass will gain 3ms 1 of velocity
Or a 2 kg mass will gain 6ms 1 of velocity, and so on.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

The graph below is for a uniform net force of 6 N. in 2s, the impulse
delivered is 12 Ns. numerically, and this is equal to the area of the graph
between the 0 and 2 s points.

1-5 Newton’s third law of motion

If A is exerting a force on B, then B is exerting an equal but opposite force on
A.
The law is sometimes expressed as follows:
To every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.
Note:
·It does not matter which force you call the action and which the reaction.
One cannot exist without the other.
·the action and reaction do not cancel each other out because they are acting
on different objects.

1-6 drag force and terminal speed

Any object moving through a fluid experiences a force that drags on it due to
the fluid. The drag force depends on:
(i) The shape of the object
(ii) Its speed
(iii) The viscosity of the fluid which is a measure of how easily the fluid
flows past a surface.
Note: the faster an object travels in a fluid, the greater the drag force on it.
1. Drag force in air
Considering an object released from rest in air, and then the speed of the
object increases as it falls, so the drag force on it due to the fluid increases.
The resultant force on the object is the difference between the force of gravity
on it (its weight) and the drag force. As the drag force increases, the resultant

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

force decreases, so the acceleration becomes less as it falls. If it continues

falling, it attains terminal speed, when the drag force on it is equal and
opposite to its weight. Its acceleration is then zero and its speed remains
constant as it falls.
And at any instant, the resultant force F = mg－D, where m is the mass of the
object and D is the drag force.
mg  D D
Therefore, the acceleration of the object, a  g
m m
Note:
(i) The initial acceleration = g because the speed is zero, and therefore the
drag force is zero; at the instant the object is released.
(ii) At the terminal speed, the potential energy lost by the object is converted,
as it falls, to internal energy of the fluid by the drag force.

2. Drag force in liquid

An object moving through a fluid experiences a resistive force, or drag, that
is proportional to the viscosity of the fluid. If the object is moving slowly
enough, the drag force is proportional to its speed v. if the object is a sphere
of radius r, the force is

F  6 rv
Where  is again the coefficient of viscosity. This equation is known as
Stokes’s law. Stokes’s law can be used to relate the speed of a sphere falling
in a liquid to the viscosity of that liquid.
Consider a solid sphere of radius r dropped into the top of a column of liquid
(Fig. 1.1). At the top of the column, the sphere accelerates downward under
the influence of gravity. However there are two additional forces, both acting
upward: the constant buoyant force and a speed-dependent retarding force
given by Stokes’s law. When the sum of the upward forces is equal to the
gravitational force, the sphere travels with a constant speed vt , called the
terminal speed. To determine this speed, we write the equation for the
equilibrium of forces:
Fgrav  Fbuoyant  Fdrag
We can express the gravitational force in terms of the density  of the

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

4 3
sphere, its volume  r , and g:
3
4
Fgrav   r 3  g
3
The buoyant force is equal to the weight of the displaced liquid, which has a
density   ：
4
Fbuoyant   r 3  g
3
The retarding force is expressed by Stokes’s law with the speed vt :
Fdrag  6 rvt
Combining these equations, we get an expression for the terminal speed:
2r 2 g
vt  (    )
9
The terminal speed is also called the sedimentation speed by biologists and
geologists.

 , 

Note: Stokes’s law applies for situations in which the fluid flow is laminar,
but not when the flow becomes turbulent.
But whenever an object moves rapidly enough, the retarding force F depends
not on the speed (Stokes’s law), but on the square of the speed:

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

F  bv 2
Where b is a constant determined for each different case.
An object falling from rest through the air falls with increasing speed until, at
the terminal speed vt , the retarding force of the air is equal in magnitude to
the gravitational force:
mg  bvt 2
Thus, the terminal speed can be written as
mg
vt 
b
Where the constant b depends on the density  of the air and the area A of
the body presented to the air flow. Then the equation for the terminal speed is

vt  mg
CD  A
2
Where C D is called the drag coefficient. This equation also holds for objects
moving horizontally through the air at any speed if mg is replaced by the
retarding, or drag, force on the object. Thus, the aerodynamic drag on a
moving object, such as a car, becomes approximately

Fdrag  0.65CD Av 2

1-7 9 Worked examples

1. A rocket engine ejects 100kg of exhaust gas per second at a velocity
(relative to the rocket) of 200m/s (Fig. 1.1). What is the forward thrust (force)
on the rocket?

Fig. 1.1

By Newton’s third law, the forward force on the rocket is equal to the

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

backward force pushing out the exhaust gas. By Newton’s second law, this
force F is equal to the momentum gained per second by the gas, so it can be
m (v  u )
calculated using equation F  with the following values:
t
m  100kg t  1s u  0 v  200ms 1
m(v  u ) 100  (200  0)
So, F    20000 N .
t 1

2. A block of mass 2kg is pushed along a table with a constant velocity by a

force of 5N. When the push is increased to 9N, what is
a. the resultant force,
b. the acceleration？
Solution: when the block moves with constant velocity the forces acting on it
are balanced. The force of friction opposing its motion must therefore be 5N.
a. When the push is increased to 9N the resultant force F on the block is
(9-5) N=4N, (since the frictional force is still 5N).
b. The acceleration a is obtained from F  ma where F=4N and m=2kg.
F 4 N 4kgms 2
So a     2ms 2
m 2kg 2kg

3. A car of mass 1200kg traveling at 72km/h is brought to rest in 4s. Find

a. the average deceleration,
b. the average braking force,
c. The distance moved during the deceleration.
Solution:
a. The deceleration is found from v  u  at where v  0 .
72  1000
u  72km / h   20ms 1
60  60
And t  4 s
Hence 0  20  a  4
So a  5ms 2
2
The deceleration is 5ms
b. The average braking force F is given by F  ma , where m  1200kg and
a  5ms 2 . Therefore

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

F  1200  ( 5)  6000 N

‘－’ represents the direction of the braking force is opposite to the motion of
the car.
So the braking force is 6000N.
c. To find the distance moved, we used
uv 20  0
s t  4  40m
2 2

4. (a). what resultant force produces an acceleration of 5ms 2 in a car of

mass 1000kg.
(b). what acceleration is produced in a mass of 2kg by a resultant force of
30N.
Solution:
a. use F  ma  1000  5  5000 N
F 30
b. F  ma  a    15ms 2
m 2

5. A rocket has a mass of 500kg.

a. What is its weight on earth where g=10N/kg.
b. At lift-off the rocket engine exerts an upward force of 25000N. What is the
resultant force on the rocket? What is its initial acceleration？
Solution：
a. weight=mass × gravitational field strength
weight  500  10  5000N
b. resultant force = upward force - weight=25000 – 5000 = 20000N
resul tan t force 20000
So initial acceleration, a    40ms 2
mass 500

6. An athlete trains by dragging a heavy load across a rough horizontal

surface (Fig. 6.1).

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

F2 = F sin250

F1=Fcos250
Fig. 6.1

The athlete exerts a force of magnitude F on the load at an angle of 250 to the
horizontal.
(a) Once the load is moving at a steady speed, the average horizontal
frictional force acting on the load is 470 N.
Calculate the average value of F that will enable the load to move at constant
speed.
Solution:
The load is moving at constant speed, from Newton’s first law, the resultant
force is equal to zero. Thus
F 1 = Fcos250 = frictional force = f = 470 N
The average value of F is given by
470 N
F  519 N
cos 250

(b) The load is moved a horizontal distance of 2.5 km in 1.2 hours.

Calculate
(i) The work done on the load by the force F.
Solution:
Work done=force × distance moved in direction of force.
W  F1  S  ( F cos 250 N )  (2.5 103 m)  470  2.5 103  1175kJ

(ii) The minimum average power required to move the load.

Solution:
work done 1175 103 J
power    272W
time taken 1.2  60  60s

(c) The athlete pulls the load uphill at the same speed as in part (a).

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Explain, in terms of energy changes, why the minimum average power

required is greater than in (b)(ii).
Solution:
When the load is pulled uphill, some of the work need to be done to increase
the gravitational potential energy.

7. An aluminum sphere of radius 1.0 mm is dropped into a bottle of glycerin

at 20 ℃. What is the terminal speed of the sphere?
Solution:
We calculate the terminal speed directly by using the equation
2r 2 g
vt  (    )
9
The radius in meters is 1.0 103 m . The densities are given by
  2.7 103 kg / m3 and    1.26 103 kg / m3 . The viscosity is given by
R  1.49 Pa  s . Thus,
vt  2.1103 m / s

8. A steel ball of mass 0.15kg released from rest in a liquid, falls a distance of
0.20m in 5.0s. Assuming the ball reaches terminal speed within a fraction of a
second, calculate
(i) Its terminal speed,
(ii) The drag force on it when it falls at terminal speed.
Strategy: as the ball reaches terminal speed within a fraction of a second, so
the ball falls a distance of 0.20m in 5.0s with the constant terminal speed, let
the terminal speed V.
So (i) s V t  0.2  V  5
V = 0.04 m s -1
(ii) When the ball falls at terminal speed, the drag force on it is equal and
opposite to its weight.
So drag force, F = weight = mg = 0.15×9.8 = 1.47 N

9. Explain why a raindrop falling vertically through still air reaches a

constant velocity.
Answers: Because as the falling of the raindrop, its speed is increasing; and

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

the air resistance of the raindrop is increasing with the increasing speed, so
the resultant force of the raindrop decreases, by the Newton’s second law,
F  ma , its acceleration decreases. So when the speed reaches to a certain
value, the resultant force is equal to zero, then the raindrop reaches a constant
velocity.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Chapter 2 Equilibrium
2-1 balanced forces
When forces act on a point object, the object is in equilibrium means the
resultant force is zero (the object keeps at rest or moving at constant speed).
In other words, when a point object keeps at rest or moving at constant speed,
means it is in equilibrium and the resultant forces on it is zero.
Conditions for equilibrium for two or three coplanar forces acting at a point:
(i) When two forces act on a point object, the object is in equilibrium (at rest
or moving at constant velocity) only if the two forces are equal and opposite
of each other. The resultant of the two forces is therefore zero. The two
forces are said to be balanced.
(ii) When three forces act on a point object, the object is in equilibrium (at
rest or moving at constant velocity) only if the resultant of any two of the
forces is equal and opposite to the third force.
·resolve each force along the same parallel and perpendicular lines
·balance the components along each line.
2-2 moments
The moment of a force about any point is defined as the force × the
perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to the point.
That is:
The moment of the force = F × d
Note: d is the line of action of the force to the point.
Unit of the moment of the force: Newton metre (Nm)

For examples
(i)

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

d  L sin 
The moment of the force = F × d = FL sin 
We can also resolve the force F

The force F cos  does not cause turning effect, Moment of the force F cos 
is zero. (d = 0)
And the perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force F sin  to
the point is L.
The moment of the force:
F × d = F cos   0 + F sin   d  F sin  L  FL sin 
(ii)

dL
The moment of the force = F × d = FL
2-3 Couples and torque of a couple
When a driver turn s a steering wheel (Fig. 2.1), he exerts two equal but
opposite forces on it. The two forces form a couple. The turning effect of a
couple is the sum of moment of the two forces. The moment of a couple is
called a torque.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

So
(i) A couple consists of two forces, equal in magnitude but opposite in
direction whose lines of action do not coincide.
(ii) The torque of a couple is the product of one of the forces and the
perpendicular distance between the forces.

For example
Calculate the torque produced by two forces, each of magnitude 30 N, acting
in opposite directions with their lines of action separated by a distance of
25cm.
Answers:
Torque = force × separation of forces
= 30×25×10 -2
= 7.5 N m
2-4 the principle of moments
Condition for equilibrium:
⒈ the net external force must be zero

F  0
F  0
X and Fy 0
⒉ the net external torque must be zero
  0
Then considering the moments of the forces about any point, for equilibrium,
The sum of the clockwise moments = the sum of the anticlockwise moments;
This statement is known as the principle of moments.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

2-5 Centre of gravity and Determination of Centre of Gravity (c.g.) of

irregular lamina using the plumb line method
(i) An object may be made to balance at a particular point. When it is
balanced at this point, the object does not turn and so all the weight on one
side of the pivot is balanced by the weight on the other side. Supporting the
object at the pivot means that the only force which has to be applied at the
pivot is one to stop the object falling—that is, a force equal to the weight of
the object. Although all parts of the object have weight, the whole weight of
the object appears to act at his balance point. This point is called the centre of
gravity of the object.
Center of Gravity: The point on the object that no turning effect produced
by the force of the gravity.
Note: for a uniform body such as a ruler, the centre of gravity is at the
geometrical centre.
(ii) Determination of Centre of Gravity (c.g.) of irregular lamina using the
plumb line method:
Suppose we have to find the c.g. of an irregularly shaped lamina of cardboard
(Fig. 2.2).
Make a hole A in the lamina and hang it so that it can swing freely on a nail
clamped in a stand. It will come to rest with its c.g. vertically below A. to
locate the vertical line through A tie a plumb line to the nail, the figure below,
and mark its position AB on the lamina. The c.g. lies on AB.
Hang the lamina from another position C and mark the plumb line position
CD. The c.g. lies on CD and must be at the point of intersection of AB and
CD. Check this by hanging the lamina from a third hole. Also try balancing it
at its c.g. on the rip of your fore-finger.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

2-6 Density and Pressure

1. Weight density
The quantity which relates a body’s weight to its volume is known as its
weight density.
The weight density D of a body is defined as the ratio of its weight W to its
volume V. the SI unit is the Newton per cubic meter (N/m3).

W
D W  DV
V

2. Mass density
Since the weight of a body is not constant but varies according to location, a
more useful relation for density takes advantage of the face that mass is a
universal constant, independent of gravity.
The mass density  of a body is defined as the ratio of its mass m to its
volume V.

m
 m  V
V

SI unit of mass density is kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3).

Note:
The relation between weight density and mass density is found by recalling
that W  mg , thus

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

W mg
D   g
V V

3. Pressure
To make sense of some effects in which a force acts on a body we have to
consider not only the force but also the area on which it acts. For example,
wearing skis prevents you sinking into soft snow because your weight is
spread over a greater area. We say the pressure is less.
Pressure is the normal force acting on unit area and is calculated from

Where A is the area over which the perpendicular force F is applied.

The unit of pressure is the Pascal (Pa); it equals 1 Newton per square metre
(N/m2) and is quite a small pressure.
The greater the area over which a force acts, the less the pressure.

2-7 23 Worked examples

1. For the figure below, if P is a force of 20N and the object moves with
constant velocity. What is the value of the opposing force F?

Solution:
By the Newton’s first law of motion, the object is moving with constant
velocity, its resultant force is zero, that is P  F  0
So F  P  20 N

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

2. An object resting on a horizontal surface (Fig. 2.1), the resultant force is

zero.

Then W = S

3. An object of weight W = 5N is moving along a rough slope that is at an

angle of   30 to the horizontal with a constant speed, the object is acted
by a frictional force F and a support force S, as shown in Fig. 3.1:
Calculate the frictional force F and the support force S.

Strategy:
The object moving down the slope with a constant speed means it keeping in
equilibrium, that is the resultant of the three forces W, F, S is zero. Therefore
resolve the forces along the slope and vertically to the slope (Fig. 3.2).

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

From the figure, by the equilibrium condition,

W2 = F W1 = S
And W2  W sin   5sin 30o  2.5 N
W1  W cos   5cos 30o  4.3N
Frictional force F = W 2 = 2.5N
Support force S = W 1 = 4.3N

4. Fig. 4.1 shows a stationary metal block hanging from the middle of a
stretched wire which is suspended from a horizontal beam. The tension in
each half of the wire is 15 N.

T1 T2
15 N 15 N
200 A 20 0

Metal block

weight

Fig. 4.1

(a) Calculate for the wire at A,

(i) The resultant horizontal component of the tension forces,

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

The resultant horizontal component of the tension forces is equal to

T1 cos 20  T2 cos 20  0
(ii) The resultant vertical component of the tension forces.
The resultant vertical component of the tension forces,
T  T1 sin 20  T2 sin 20  10.3 N
(b) (i) State the weight of the metal block.
Strategy: the metal block is at a stationary state,
So weight of the metal block, W  T  10.3 N
(ii) Explain how you arrived at your answer, with reference to an
appropriate law of motion.
Strategy: From Newton’s first law, it follows that if an object is at rest or
moving at constant velocity, then the forces on it must be balanced.

5. Fig. 5.1 shows a sledge moving down a slope at constant velocity.

The angle of the slope is 22°.

The three forces acting on the sledge are weight, W, friction, F, and the
normal reaction force, R, of the ground on the sledge.
(a) With reference to an appropriate law of motion, explain why the sledge is
moving at constant velocity.
Solution:
Because the sledge is moving at constant velocity, the resultant force must be
zero.
(b) The mass of the sledge is 4.5 kg. Calculate the component of W,
(b) (i) parallel to the slope,
(b) (ii) perpendicular to the slope,
Solution:
(i) parallel to the slope:

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

W1  W sin 220  mg sin 220  (4.5kg )  (9.81N / kg )sin 220  16.5 N

(ii) Perpendicular to the slope
W2  W cos 220  mg sin 220  (4.5kg )  (9.81N / kg )cos 220  41N
(c) State the values of F and R.
Solution: The sledge is in equilibrium (moving with constant velocity), thus
the resultant force is zero.
Therefore
F  W1  16.5 N
R  W2  41N

6. Considering a uniform metre rule balanced on a pivot at its centre,

supporting weights W1 and W2 suspended from the rule on either side of the
pivot (Fig. 6.1).
d1 d2

W1d1  W2d 2
W1 W2

Weight W1 provides an anticlockwise moment about the pivot = W 1 d 1 .

Weight W2 provides an anticlockwise moment about the pivot = W 2 d 2 .
For equilibrium, applying the principle of moments:
W1d1  W2 d 2
If now adding a third weight W 3 on the same side of the weight W 2 at the
distance d 3 to the pivot, and then adjust the distance d 1 to d1 to keep the
rule rebalanced (Fig. 6.2).
d1 d2
d3

W1 W3 W2

Then

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

The sum of the clockwise moments = W3d3  W2 d 2

The sum of the anticlockwise moments = W1d1'
Applying the principle of moments:
W1d1'  W3 d3  W2 d 2

7. A child of weight 300N sits on a seesaw at a distance 1.5m from the pivot
at the centre. The seesaw is balanced by a second child of weight 500 N,
calculate the distance of the second child from the pivot, and the support
force N by the pivot.

Strategy:
For equilibrium,
The sum of the clockwise moments = the sum of the anticlockwise moments
Answers:
The sum of the clockwise moments = 500d
The sum of the anticlockwise moments = 300 × 1.5 = 450Nm
And 500d = 450
d = 0.9m
The net external force must be zero

F  0
Choose the upwards as the positive direction
Then, N + (-300) + (-500) = 0
N=800N

8. A ladder of length of 10m is placed against the wall at an angle of 30°,

weight of the ladder is 100N, the ladder is in equilibrium, calculate the
frictional force f and the support force N and S?

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Strategy: the ladder is in equilibrium, then

⒈ the net external force must be zero

F  0
F X  0 and F
y 0
⒉ the net external torque must be zero
  0
Solutions:

F  0
F  0X and F
y 0
Gives
f  ( S )  0  f  S
N  (mg )  0  N  mg  100 N
Choose O as the axis of rotation
And   0 , so
The sum of the clockwise moments = the sum of the anticlockwise moments
N and f do not produce turning effect about O, so
The sum of the clockwise moments = mg×B
B  5cos 30o =4.3m
The sum of the clockwise moments = mg×B = 100×4.3 = 430Nm
The sum of the anticlockwise moments = S×A
A  10sin 30o  5m
The sum of the anticlockwise moments = S×A = 5S
So

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

5S=430Nm S=86N
Then f  S  86 N

9. A uniform metre rule supports a 2N weight at its 50mm mark. The rule is
balanced horizontally on a horizontal knife-edge at its 400mm mark (Fig.
9.1). Sketch the arrangement and calculate the weight of the rule.

W1 W0

O: is the centre of the gravity.

Strategy:
For equilibrium,
The sum of the clockwise moments = the sum of the anticlockwise moments
The sum of the clockwise moments = W0  D  W0 100 103  0.1W0
The sum of the anticlockwise moments = W1  d  2  350 103  0.7 Nm
And 0.1W0  0.7  W0  7 N

10. A uniform beam of weight 230N and of length 10m rests horizontally on
the tops of two brick walls, 8.5m apart, such that a length of 1.0m projects
beyond one wall and 0.5m projects beyond the other wall (Fig. 10.1).
Calculate:
a: the support force of each wall on the beam
b: the force of the beam on each wall.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Strategy: the beam keeps rest on the wall, for equilibrium

⒈ the net external force must be zero

F  0
F X  0 and F
y 0
⒉ the net external torque must be zero
  0
Solutions:

F  0
So, S 1 + S 2 + (-W) = 0, rearranging: S 1 + S 2 = W = 230N……①
  0
Choose the point O as the axis, then
4S 1 =4.5S 2 …… ②
From equation ② we get S 1 = 1.125 S 2
And S 1 + S 2 = 230N
So, it can be gained that:
1.125 S 2 + S 2 = 230N S 2 = 108N
S 1 = 230 – 108 = 122N
b: 122N at the 1.0m end and 108N at the other end, both vertically
downwards.

11. (a) State the principle of moments.

(b) (i) Draw a labeled diagram of the apparatus you would use to verify the

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

principle of moments.
(ii) Describe the procedure that would be used and state what measurements
are taken.
You may be awarded marks for the quality of written communication in your
answer.
(iii) Explain how the results would be used to verify the principle of
moments.
Memos and answers:
Considering the moments of the forces about any point, for equilibrium,
The sum of the clockwise moments = the sum of the anticlockwise moments;
This statement is known as the principle of moments.
Diagram to verify:
Considering a uniform metre rule balanced on a pivot at its centre, supporting
weights W1 and W2 suspended from the rule on either side of the pivot (Fig.
11.1).
d1 d2

W1d1  W2d 2
W1 W2

Weight W1 provides an anticlockwise moment about the pivot = W 1 d 1 .

Weight W2 provides an anticlockwise moment about the pivot = W 2 d 2 .
Move W 1 and W 2 till the metre is in equilibrium, measure the distance d 1 and
d 2 , change the weight, repeat the process above.
For equilibrium, applying the principle of moments:
W1d1  W2 d 2

12. (a) Define the moment of a force.

Answers: The moment of a force about any point is defined as the force
× the perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to the point.
Thus, the moment of the force = F × d
(b) Fig. 12.1 shows a uniform diving board of weight, W, that is fixed at A.
The diving board is supported by a cylinder at C, which exerts an upward

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

force, P, on the board.

(i)
By considering moments about A, explain why the force P must be greater
than the weight of the board, W.
Answers: if the board is in balance, then the sum of the clockwise
moments (W × AD) = the sum of the anticlockwise moments (P × AC).
Because AC is less than AD, the force P must be greater than the weight of
the board, W.
(ii) State and explain what would be the effect on the force P of a girl
walking along the board from A to B.
Answers: the force P must increase, since the moment of the girl’s weight
about the pivot A increases as the distance increases from A to B. so when
the girl at A the force P is a minimum value, and at B, the force has a
maximum value.

13. (a) Define the moment of a force about a point.

The moment of a force about any point is defined as the force × the
perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to the point.
That is:
The moment of the force = F × d
Note: d is the line of action of the force to the point.
Unit of the moment of the force: Newton metre (Nm)
(b) Fig. 13.1 shows a trailer attached to the towbar of a stationary car. The
weight of the trailer is 1800 N and is shown acting through its centre of
gravity. F is the force exerted by the towbar on the trailer. F R is the total

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

normal reaction force experienced by the trailer. When stationary all forces
acting on the trailer are vertical.

Fig. 13.1

(i) Explain what is meant by centre of gravity.

Center of Gravity:
The point on the object that no turning effect produced by the force of the
gravity.

(ii) Calculate the force, F, exerted by the towbar on the trailer.

Strategy: the system is in equilibrium,
⒈ the net external force must be zero

F  0
F  0
X and F y 0

⒉ the net external torque must be zero

  0
So
FR  F  1800
And choose the centre of gravity as the pivot, F  (2.5  0.35)  0.35FR
From the above two equation, FR  1548 N F  252 N
(iii) Calculate F R .
From (ii) FR  1548 N
(c) The car starts to move forwards. State and explain what happens to the
magnitude and direction of force, F.
You may be awarded marks for the quality of written communication in your

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

answer.
Answers: the force must have a horizontal component, so the force increases
in magnitude and act at an angle to the vertical.

14. Fig. 14.1 shows a supermarket trolley.

Fig. 14.1

The weight of the trolley and its contents is 160 N.

(a) Explain what is meant by centre of gravity.
Center of Gravity:
The point on the object that no turning effect produced by the force of the
gravity.
(b) P and Q are the resultant forces that the ground exerts on the rear wheels
and front wheels respectively. Calculate the magnitude of
(i) Force P,
(ii) Force Q.
Strategy: Condition for equilibrium:
⒈ the net external force must be zero

F  0
F  0
X and F y 0

⒉ the net external torque must be zero

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

  0
So P + Q = weight = 160 N … equation ①
And choose the centre of the gravity as the pivot,
P × 40 = Q × 50 … equation ②
From equation ① and ②, P = 71 N, Q = 89 N.
(c) Calculate the minimum force that needs to be applied vertically at A to lift
the front wheels off the ground.
Strategy: the minimum force to lift the front wheels off the ground means the
force Q is equal to zero.
So let the force applied at A as R, and choose the force P as the pivot,
R × 10 = weight × 40 = 160×40, so R = 640 N.
(d) State and explain, without calculation, how the minimum force that needs
to be applied vertically at A to lift the rear wheels off the ground compares to
the force you calculated in part (c).
You may be awarded marks for the quality of written communication in your
answer.
Answers: The force now needed is less than that to lift the front wheels,
because the distance to the pivot increases now. Then smaller force causes
larger moment.

15. Figure 15.1 shows an apparatus used to locate the centre of gravity of a
non-uniform metal rod.

Fig. 15.1

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

The rod is supported horizontally by two wires, P and Q and is in

equilibrium.
(a) State two conditions that must be satisfied for the rod to be in equilibrium.
Solution:
Condition for equilibrium:
⒈ the net external force must be zero

F  0
F X  0 and F
y 0

⒉ the net external torque must be zero

  0

(b) Wire Q is attached to a newtonmeter so that the force the wire exerts on
the rod can be measured. The reading on the newtonmeter is 2.0 N and the
weight of the rod is 5.0 N.
Calculate
(i) The force that wire P exerts on the rod,
Solution:
The net external force must be zero, thus P = 5.0 – 2.0 = 3.0 N.
(ii) The distance d.
Solution:
Choose the centre of the rod as the pivot, therefore
P  d  Q  (90  d ) gives
3  d  2  (90  d )
d = 36 cm

16. (a) Define the moment of a force.

Solution:
The moment of a force about any point is defined as the force × the
perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to the point.
That is:
The moment of the force = F × d
Note: d is the line of action of the force to the point.
Unit of the moment of the force: Newton metre (Nm)

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

(b) Fig. 16.1 shows the force, F, acting on a bicycle pedal.

(i) The moment of the force about O is 46 Nm in the position shown.

Calculate the value of the force, F.
Solution:
It can be calculated that
F  0.25  cos 400  46
Gives
46
F  240 N
0.25  cos 400
(ii) Force, F, is constant in magnitude and direction while the pedal is moving
downwards. State and explain how the moment of F changes as the pedal
moves through 80°, from the position shown.
Solution:
The angle decreases to zero, and then increasing from zero to 40°.
Thus, the perpendicular distance increases to a maximum value, and then
decreasing again. At the same time, the force is constant in magnitude and
direction.
Therefore, the moment increases to a maximum value when shaft is
horizontal and then decreases.

17. Figure 17.1 shows two of the forces acting on a uniform ladder resting
against a smooth vertical wall.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

A P

Q
150
N
Fig. 17.1 B

The ladder is 6.0 m long and has a weight of 150 N. The horizontal force, P,
exerted on the ladder by the wall is 43 N. Force Q (not shown) is the force
the ground exerts on the ladder at B.
(a) Explain why the force, Q must have
(i) a vertical component,
(ii) a horizontal component.
Solution:
The ladder is keeping rest, thus the resultant force acting on the ladder must
be zero.
Therefore, there must be a vertical component force of Q to balance the
weight, a horizontal component force of Q to balance the force P.
(b) Draw an arrow on the diagram to represent the force Q.
(c) State the
(i) Horizontal component of Q,
(ii) Vertical component of Q.
Solution:
(i) From (a), the horizontal component of Q equals to force P, whose value is
43 N.
(ii) The vertical component of Q equals to weight, whose value is 150 N.
(d) State and explain the effect on force Q if a person stands on the bottom of
the ladder and the direction of P is unchanged.
You may be awarded additional marks to those shown in brackets for the
quality of written communication in your answer.
Solution:
Force Q increases in magnitude, since the vertical component of force
increases. And the direction of Q moves closer to vertical.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

18. (a) State the principle of moments.

Solution:
For a body in equilibrium,
The sum of the clockwise moments=the sum of the anticlockwise moments;
This statement is known as the principle of moments.
Fig. 18.1 shows a child’s mobile in equilibrium.

Fig. 18.1

A piece of cotton thread is attached to the rod supporting objects A and B and
another piece of cotton thread supports the rod holding objects C and D. The
tension in the cotton threads is T and all the rods are horizontal.
(b) (i) Complete the following table assuming the weights of the rods are
negligible.
Weight of object Weight of object Weight of object Weight of object
A/N B/N C/N D/N
0.40 0.10
Solution:
By the principle of moments:
WA  0.06  WB  0.06 , gives WB  0.40 N .
And
WA  WB  WC  WD
Thus 0.4  0.4  0.1  WC , gives WC  0.7 N .
(ii) Calculate the distance, d.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Solution:
By the principle of moments:
(0.7 N ) d  (0.10 N )  (0.08 m )
Thus, d = 0.011 m.
(iii) Calculate the magnitude of T.
Solution:
T  WA  WB  0.4  0.4  0.8 N
(c) Object A becomes detached and falls to the ground. State and explain the
initial effect on
(i) The rod holding objects A and B,
Solution:
The beam holding B turns clockwise.
(ii) The rod holding objects C and D,
Solution:
The rod falls.
(iii) The rod closest to the top of the mobile.
Solution:
The beam rotates clockwise due to because of the unbalanced moment.

19. (a) State the principle of moments for a body in equilibrium.

Solution:
Considering the moments of the forces about any point, for equilibrium,
The sum of the clockwise moments=the sum of the anticlockwise moments;
This statement is known as the principle of moments.
(b) Fig. 19.1 shows a vertical force, F, being applied to raise a wheelbarrow
which has a total weight of 500 N.

(i) On Fig. 19.1 draw an arrow to represent the position and direction of the

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

force, R, exerted by the ground on the wheel.

(ii) Calculate the minimum value of the vertical force, F, needed to raise the
legs of the wheelbarrow off the ground.
Solution:
(ii) From figure 1, when Fmin  (1.5m)  (500 N )  0.7m
The legs of the wheelbarrow are raised off the ground.
(500 N )  0.7m
Fmin   233 N
1.5m
(iii) Calculate the magnitude of R when the legs of the wheelbarrow have just
left the ground.
Solution:
For the wheelbarrow, the resultant force is zero now:
Fmin  R  500 N  R  500  233  267 N

20. (a) (i) State two conditions necessary for an object to be in equilibrium.
(a) (ii) For each condition state the consequence if the condition is not met.
(i) Condition for equilibrium:
⒈ the net external force must be zero

F  0
F  0
X and F y 0
⒉ the net external torque must be zero
  0
(ii) If the net external force is not zero, there will be acceleration.
If the net external torque is not zero, the object would rotate with angular
acceleration.

Fig. 20. 1 shows a pole vaulter holding a uniform pole horizontally. He keeps
the pole in equilibrium by exerting an upward force, U, with his leading hand,
and a downward force, D, with his trailing hand.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Weight of pole = 200 N

Length of pole = 3.7 m
1 (b) Calculate for the situation shown in Fig. 20.1,
1 (b) (i) the force, U,
1 (b) (ii) the force, D.
Solutions:
The pole is in equilibrium, thus the net external force and the net external
torque must be zero.
Therefore
U  D  200 N …… (1)
Choose the point A as the pivot, then
U 1.1m  (200 N ) 1.85m …… (2)
Form equation (1) and (2), we get
U = 336.4 N
D = 136.4 N
(c) Explain the effect on the magnitudes of U and D if the vaulter moves his
leading hand closer to the centre of gravity of the pole and the pole is still in
equilibrium.
You may be awarded additional marks to those shown in brackets for the
quality of written communication in your answer.
Solution:
When the vaulter moves his leading hand closer to the centre of gravity of the
pole, the perpendicular distance to the pivot is increased. So the force U
decreases. And U  D  200 N , thus the change in D is consistent with U.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

21. Fig. 21.1 shows a motorcycle and rider. The motorcycle is in contact with
the road at A and B.

Fig. 21.1

The motorcycle has a weight of 1100 N and the rider’s weight is 780 N.
(a) State the principle moments.
Solution:
For equilibrium,
The sum of the clockwise moments = the sum of the anticlockwise moments;
This statement is known as the principle of moments.

(b) Calculate the moment of the rider’s weight about B. give an appropriate
unit.
Solution:
The moment of a force about any point is defined as the force × the
perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to the point.
That is:
The moment of the force = F × d
Note: d is the line of action of the force to the point.
Unit of the moment of the force: Newton metre (Nm)
Therefore,
The moment of the weight about B = 780×0.35 = 273 Nm
(c) By taking the moments about B, calculate the vertical force that the road
exerts on the front tyre at A. state your answer to an appropriate number of

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

significant figures.
Solution:
The sum of the clockwise moments  N A 1.3
The sum of the anticlockwise moments  1100  0.60  780  0.35  933N  m
For equilibrium:
N A  1.3  933
933
NA   718 N
1.3
(d) Calculate the vertical force that the road exerts on the rear tyre at B.
Solution:
The net external force must be zero.
Thus
718  N B  1100  780  1880
N B  1880  718  1162 N
(e) The maximum power of the motorcycle is 7.5 kW and it has a maximum
speed of 26m / s , when travelling on a level road.
Calculate the total horizontal resistive force for this speed.
Solution:
Power and velocity

Above, the car’s engine provides a forward force F which balances the total
frictional force on the car. As a result, the car maintains a steady velocity v.
the displacement of the car is s in time intervals t . P is the power being
delivered to the wheels.
So the work done (by F) = Fs
work done Fs
power  P  
timetaken t
s
But v 
t
So P  Fv
Therefore, at its maximum speed, the resistive force is given by

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

P 7.5  103
F   288.5 N
v 26

22. A cylindrical tank for water (   1000kg / m3 ) is 3 m long and 1.5 m in

diameter. How many kilograms of water will the tank hold?
Solution:
First we find the volume:
2
 1.5 
V   r h  3.14  
2
  3  5.3 m
3

 2 
Substituting the volume and mass density into m  V , we obtain
m  V  1000kg / m3  5.3 m3   5.3 103 kg

23. A lady of weight 495 N, standing on the ground with the contact area of
412 cm 2.
(i) What is the pressure of her shoes to the ground?
(ii) now she stands on the ground on one foot, what is the pressure？
Strategy:

(i) F = 495 N, S 1 = 412 cm 2 = 0.0412 m 2

495
P1   1.2  104 Pa
0.0412
(ii) F = 495 N, S 2 = 412/2 cm 2 = 0.0206 m 2
495
P2   2.4  104 Pa
0.0206

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Chapter 3 Car safety

3.1. Stopping distance
Traffic accidents often happen because vehicles are being driven too fast and
too close. A driver needs to maintain a safe distance between his or her own
vehicle and the vehicle in front. If a vehicle suddenly brakes, the driver of the
following vehicle needs to brake as well to avoid a crash.
Thinking distance: is the distance traveled by a vehicle in the time it takes the
driver to react. So for a vehicle moving at constant speed v, the thinking
distance S1 = speed × reaction time = u t，where t is the reaction time of the
driver.
So the thinking distance is affected by the car’s speed and the driver’s
reaction time; and the reaction time is affected by tiredness, alcohol and
drugs and distractions.

Braking distance: is the distance traveled by a car in the time it takes to stop
safely, from when the brakes are first applied. Assuming constant
deceleration, a, and from initial speed u to zero speed.
u2
So the braking distance, S2 
2a
Braking distance is affected by the car’s speed, road conditions (icy, wet) and
car conditions (tyres, brakes).
Stopping distance:
u2
Stopping distance = thinking distance + braking distance = ut 
2a

3.2. Car safety

(i) Impact force
The effect of a collision on a vehicle can be measured in terms of the
acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle. By expressing an acceleration or
deceleration in terms of g, the acceleration due to gravity, the force of the
impact can then easily be related to the weight of the vehicle. For example,
suppose a vehicle hits a wall and its acceleration is 30ms 2 . In terms of g, the
acceleration = －3g. So the impact force of the wall on the vehicle must have

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

been 3 times its weight (= 3mg, where m is the mass of the vehicle). Such an
impact is sometimes described as being ‘equal to 3g’. This statement,
although technically wrong because the acceleration not he impact force is
equal to 3g, is a convenient way of expressing the effect of an impact on a
vehicle or a person.

(ii) Contact time and impact time

When objects collide and bounce off each other, they are in contact with each
other for a certain time, which is the same for both objects. The shorter the
contact time, the greater the impact force for the same initial velocities of the
two objects. When two vehicles collide, they may or may not separate from
each other after the collision. If they remain tangled together, they exert
forces on each other until they are moving at the same velocity. The duration
of the impact force is not the same as the contact time in this situation.
The impact time, t, (the duration of the impact force) can be worked out by
1
applying the equation s  (u  v)t to one of the vehicles, where s is the
2
distance moved by that vehicle during the impact, u is its initial velocity and
v is its final velocity. If the vehicle mass is known, the impact force can also
be calculated.
For a vehicle of mass m in time t,
2s
the impact time, t 
uv
vu
the acceleration, a 
t
the impact force, F  ma

For example, suppose a 1000kg vehicle moving at 20ms 1 slows down in a

distance of 4.0 m to a velocity of 12ms 1 , as a result of hitting a stationary
vehicle. Rearranging the above equation gives
2s 2 4
t   0.25s
u  v 20  12
v  u 12  20
The acceleration, a    32ms 2  3.3g
t 0.25
(Where g = 9.8 m s -2)

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

The impact force F = ma = 1000 × (-32) = -32000N.

Note: the work done by the impact force F over an impact distance s (= Fs) is
equal to the change of kinetic energy of the vehicle, the impact force can also
be worked out using the equation
change of kinetic energy
F
impact dis tan ce

(iii) Car safety features

Vehicle bumpers: gives way a little in a low-speed impact and so increase the
impact time. The impact force is therefore reduced as a result. If the initial
speed of impact is too high, the bumper and/or the vehicle chassis are likely
to be damaged.

Crumple zones: the engine compartment of a car is designed to give way in a

front-end impact. If the engine compartment were rigid, the impact time
would be very short, so the impact force would be very large. By designing
the engine compartment so it crumples in a front-end impact, the impact time
is increased and the impact force is therefore reduced.

Seat belts: in a front-end impact, a correctly-fitted seat belt restrains the

wearer from crashing into the vehicle frame after the vehicle suddenly stops.
The restraining force on the wearer is therefore much less than the impact
force would be if the wearer hit the vehicle frame. With the seat belt on, the
wearer is stopped more gradually than without it.

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

Air bags: an airbag reduces the force on a person, because the airbag acts as a
cushion and increases the impact time on the person. More significantly, the
force of the impact is spread over the contact area, which is greater than the
contact area with a seat belt. So the pressure on the body is less.

3.3 2 Worked examples

1. A vehicle is traveling at a speed of 18ms 1 on a level road, when the driver
sees a pedestrian stepping off the pavement into the road 45 m ahead. The
driver reacts within 0.4 s and applies the brakes, causing the car to decelerate
at 4.8ms 2 .
a. calculate the thinking distance, braking distance and the stopping distance
b. how far does the driver stop from where the pedestrian stepped into the
road？
Strategy: the thinking distance S 1 = speed×reaction time = u t，where t is the
reaction time of the driver.
u2
The braking distance, S2 
2a
u2
Stopping distance = thinking distance + braking distance = ut 
2a
Answers:
a.
S1  18  0.4  7.2 m
u2 182
S2    33.75m
2a 2  4.8
Stopping distance, S = S 1 + S 2 = 33.75 + 7.2 = 40.95 m

b. the distance between the car and the pedestrian = 45－40.95 = 4.05 m

2. a car of mass 1200 kg traveling at a speed of 15 m s -1 is struck from

behind by another vehicle, causing its speed to increase to 19 m s -1 in a time

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved

 http://www.mppe.org.uk

of 0.20 s. calculate:
a. the acceleration of the car, in terms of g.
b. the impact force on the car.
vu
Strategy: the acceleration, a  , the impact force, F  ma
t
v  u 19  15
Answers: a    20ms 2
t 0.2
F  ma  1200  20  24000 N

Copyright © mppe.org.uk and its license. All Rights Reserved