Physics 321 -- Spring 2005

Homework #1, due Friday Jan. 21 at beginning of class

1.         [2pts] Marion & Thornton: Appendix A, problem A-2. (Expand to order (x - pi/4)^5.)

2.         [2pts] Marion & Thornton: Appendix A, problem A-3.

3.         [2pts] Marion & Thornton: problem 1-9.

4.         [3pts] Marion & Thornton: problem 1-10.

5.         [3pts] Marion & Thornton, problem 2-9.  Write the retarding force as –kmv.

            After you have finished this problem, check that your answer to part (b) becomes the same as the answer to part (a) in the limit when the air resistance is small.  Then go one step further: Your answer to part (b) has a term that looks like ln(1+“stuff”).  Expand the logarithm in a Taylor series to second order in “stuff”.  (See Appendix A.)  The first term in your answer should be the same as the answer to part (a), and the second term is the correction to lowest order in k.

6.         [2pts] Marion & Thornton, problem 2-17.

7.         [4pts] Marion & Thornton, problem 2-25, parts (a)-(c) only.

8.         [4pts] Marion & Thornton, problem 2-32.

9.         A race track has a curve banked at an angle theta = 34 degrees with respect to the horizontal. The radius of the curve (looking down from directly above) is R=54 m.

(a) [1pt] If the race track is icy, so that the tires slide without friction, at what speed must the car go around the curve so as not to slide up or down the track?

            (b) [3pts] On a dry day, the coefficient of friction between the tires and the track is mu_s = 0.35. What are the minimum and maximum speeds that a racecar could go around the curve so as not to slide up or down the track?

10.         [4pts] Marion & Thornton, problem 2-55. (This problem is not in Edition 4.)