CHINHOYI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

INSTITUTE OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, PROCESSING AND ENGINEERING

TECHNOLOGY

Engineering Physics (CUPY106/CUMS102): Assignment 2

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
1. Answer all questions
2. Assignment due 08:00hrs Wednesday 30 June 2021
3. Total marks: 100
4. Ignore air friction and take g = 9.81 m/s2
5. All assignments to be submitted on University VLE platform. Assignments submitted on
email or whatsapp WILL NOT be considered.

1. (a) State the law of conservation of linear momentum. [1]

(b) Explain the difference between inelastic collision and elastic collision. In your
explanation use both momentum and kinetic energy considerations. [4]
(c) Distinguish between average velocity and instantaneous velocity. [4]

2. A particle is moving along a straight line such that when it is at the origin it has a velocity
v 0  4 m/s. If it begins to decelerate at the rate a  b v , where b = -1.5 (m/s3)½ determine
the particle’s position and velocity at t = 2 s. [8]

3. The period T and the semimajor axis, a (in meters), of the orbit of a planet about the Sun
 A 2  3
are related by T 2   a where A is a dimensionless constant and Ms is the mass of
 BM s 
the sun. Using dimension analysis, deduce the units of B. [6]

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4.

Fig. 1 for Question 4

Determine the magnitude and direction θ of F so that the particle in fig. 1 is in equilibrium,
given F1 = 7 kN, F2 = 3 kN, c = 4 and d = 3. [6]

Fig. 2 for Question 5

5. In Fig. 2, mass of the block, m = 8.5 kg, angle θ = 30°, and the coefficient of kinetic
friction  k  0.23 .
(a) Determine the tension in the cord
(b) If the cord is cut, determine the magnitude of the resulting acceleration of the
block. [8]

6. A truck on a straight road starts from rest, accelerating at 2 m/s2 until it reaches a speed of
20 m/s. Then the truck travels for 20.0 s at constant speed until the brakes are applied,
stopping the truck in a uniform manner in an additional 5.0 s.
(i) Plot the position-time, velocity-time and acceleration-time graphs for this
motion.
(ii) State the physical quantities that can be determined from the slope of position-
time and velocity-time graphs.
(iii) Determine the average velocity of the truck for the motion described.
[7,2,1]

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7.

v1i = 4.0 m/s v2i = 2.5 m/s

Fig. 3a for Question 7

v1f = 3.0 m/s v2f

Fig. 3b for Question 7

(a) A block of mass m1 = 1.60 kg, initially moving to the right with a speed of 4.0 m/s
on a frictionless horizontal track, collides with a massless spring attached to a
second block of mass m2 = 2.10 kg, moving to the left with a speed of 2.50 m/s as
in figure 3a. The spring has a spring constant of 600 N/m.
(i) At the instant when m1 is moving to the right with a speed of 3.0 m/s as in
figure 3b., determine the speed of m2.
(ii) Determine the distance the spring is compressed at the instant when the
speed of m1 is 3.0 m/s.
(iii) Calculate the maximum distance by which the spring is compressed during
the collision.
[3,5,6]
8. The position of a particle is defined by r = {a cos(bt) i + c sin(bt) j}. Given that a = 5 m,
b = 2 rad/s and c = 4 m, determine the magnitudes of the velocity and acceleration of the
particle when t = 1 s. [5]

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 Fig. 4 for Question 9

9. Three blocks are supported using the cords and two pulleys as in Fig. 4. Given that weights
of A, B and C are W, 0.25W and W, respectively, determine the angle θ for equilibrium.
[4]

10. A simple harmonic oscillator takes 12.0 s to undergo five complete vibrations. Determine
(a) the period of its motion,
(b) the frequency in hertz, and
(c) the angular frequency in radians per second [2,2,2]

11. Determine whether the following equations are dimensionally correct.

a
(i) x f  xi  2vi t  12 at 2
vi
(ii) x f  (2m) cos kxi ,
where x i and x f are the initial and final position respectively, v i is the initial velocity,
a is the acceleration, t is time, m stands for meters and k  4m 1 . [5]

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12.

Fig. 5 for Question 12

In Fig. 5, a block m1 of mass M sits on a horizontal frictionless surface and is pulled

by a string attached to an identical block m2 of mass M sliding down an inclined plane
angled at θ with respect to the horizontal. The inclined plane has a non-zero kinetic
coefficient of friction, μ. Assuming the string and pulley are massless, determine in
terms of M, θ, μ and g;
(i) the acceleration of the blocks and
(ii) the largest possible value of μ for which the blocks will not slow down.
[8,4]
N/B: 3 marks for (c) part (i) are reserved for the free body diagram.

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13.

Fig. 6 for Question 13

(i) State and prove the Work-Kinetic Energy theorem.

(ii) In Fig.6, a child of mass m = 24kg is released from rest at the top of a water slide,
of radius r = 4 m, at a height of h = 11 m above the bottom of the slide. Assuming
that the slide is frictionless because of the water on it, determine the child’s speed
at the bottom of the slide. [2,5]

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