Sample Exam 1
1/ A bicycle coasts along a horizontal road (the rider is not pedaling) and there is no wind. Which statement is true?
(A) The bicycle slows down because of inertia.
(B) The bicycle continues moving because of inertia.
(C) The bicycle slows down because of mass and gravity.
(D) The bicycle slows down because the rider is not pedaling.
2/ You drop a stone from a balcony and observe that it hits the ground 1.45 seconds later. How high is the balcony?
(A) 10.7 m (B) 10.5 m (C) 10.3 m (D) 10.1 m
3/ What force keeps the bowling ball in the figure rolling toward the 10 pin?
(A) no force (B) momentum (C) inertia (D) gravity
(E) the force of the bowler’s hand when he released the ball
4/ Consider some fishing equipment. A lead sinker and a plastic bobber of about the same size are dropped simultaneously from a height of 2 meters. Compare these objects when they hit the ground.
(A) The lead sinker is moving much faster.
(B) The plastic bobber is moving much faster.
(C) The two objects have approximately equal speed.
(D) The lead sinker hits the ground harder because it is moving faster.
5/ Galileo's ideas in physics were eventually accepted, because …
(A) Galileo was a famous scientist.
(B) his ideas agreed with common sense.
(C) his ideas agreed with the theories of physics.
(D) his ideas agreed with experiments.
6/ A car is moving at 30 miles per hour = 13.4 m/s when the driver slams on the brakes to avoid an accident. The car comes to rest in 2.3 seconds. The mass of the car is 1,000 kg and the mass of the driver is 60 kg. Calculate the force on the driver as he stops.
(A) 350 N (B) 5830 N (C) 6180 N (D) 780 N
7/ The approximate weight of a watermelon is 40 N. What is its mass?
(A) 10 kg (B) 4 kg (C) 2 kg (D) 8 pounds (E) 20 pounds
8/ The moon in the figure is pulled toward the planet, and vice versa. Calculate the gravitational force on the planet.
(A) 6.67 ´ 1016 N
(B) 9.81 ´ 1024 N
(C) 9.81 ´ 1022 N
(D) 6.67 ´ 1019 N
9/ An astronaut, whose mass is 67 kg on Earth, travels to the International Space Station (ISS). When she is orbiting the Earth in the ISS (altitude = 360 km) her mass is approximately
(A) 0 kg (weightless) (B) 5 kg (C) 10 kg
(D) 60 kg (E) 67 kg
10/ A small car (mass = m) hits a truck (mass = 2m). Before the collision the car moves with speed 5 m/s and the truck is at rest (speed = 0). Comparing the forces in this collision…
(A) the car exerts a stronger force because it is moving.
(B) the truck exerts a stronger force because it is more massive.
(C) the two vehicles exert forces of equal strength.
(D) the truck exerts no force because it is not moving.
(E) not enough information is given to compare the forces, which depend on the angle of the collision.
11/ The planet Mars revolves around the sun. Which choice describes the motion?
(A) a constant speed on a circle
(B) a constant speed on an ellipse
(C) a varying speed on an oval
(D) a varying speed on a circle
(E) a varying speed on an ellipse
12/ The planet
(A) 164 yr (B) 134 yr (C) 149 yr (D) 179 yr
13/ A car moves on a circular racetrack. The radius of the circle is 136 m. The speed of the car is a constant 29 m/s. Determine the acceleration of the car, in units of g. In other words, how many g’s is the driver’s acceleration? (g is the acceleration due to gravity, equal to 9.81 m/s2.)
(A) 0 g (B) 0.63 g (C) 0.73 g (D) 0.43 g
14/ The figure shows a star with two planets. The first planet moves on a circular orbit, and the period of revolution is 1 year. The second planet moves on an elliptical orbit. Calculate the period of revolution of the second planet.
(A) 2.6 yr (B) 2.2 yr
(C) 1.84 yr (D) 1.48 yr
15/ Before the Scientific Revolution, people believed that the Earth is a large place at the center of the universe. In what year did Copernicus publish the theory that the Earth revolves around the sun?
(A) 1492 (B) 1543 (C) 1508 (D) 1642 (E) 1594