REPUBLIGUE DU CAMEROUN REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON

Paix-Travail-Patrie Peace-Work-Fatherland
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MINESTERE DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT SUPERIEUR MINISTRY OF HIGHER
EDUCATION
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COMMISION NATIONALE D’ORGANISATION DE L’EXAMEN NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE
ORGANISATION
HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA (HND) EXAM OF HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA
(HND) EXAM
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National Exam of Higher National Diploma–2021 Session

Specialty/option: RCE, MEM, BOW, BST, ELT

Paper: Physics for Engineering
Duration: 4 hours
Credit: 5

Q1a i) A person’s speed can stay the same as he or she rounds a corner and changes
direction. Given this information, is speed a scalar or a vector quantity? Explain?
[2 marks]
ii) An airplane lands on a runway traveling east. Describe its acceleration? [2
marks].
1b) The planetary model of the atom pictures electrons orbiting the atomic nucleus
much as planets orbit the Sun. In this model you can view hydrogen, the simplest
atom, as having a single electron in a circular orbit 1.06 1010 m in diameter.
i) If the average speed of the electron in this orbit is known to be 2.20 x 106 m/s,
calculate the number of revolutions per second it makes about the nucleus?[3 marks]
ii) What is the electron’s average velocity? [2 marks]
1c) i) A student writes, “A bird that is diving for prey has a speed of − 10 m/s.” What
is wrong with the student’s statement? What has the student actually described? Explain.
[2 marks]
ii) Blood is accelerated from rest to 30.0 cm/s in a distance of 1.80 cm by the left
ventricle of the heart. (a) Make a sketch of the situation. (b) List the knowns in
this problem. (c) How long does the acceleration take? To solve this part, first
identify the unknown, and then discuss how you chose the appropriate equation
to solve for it. After choosing the equation, show your steps in solving for the
unknown, checking your units. (d) Is the answer reasonable when compared with
the time for a heartbeat?[5 marks]

Q2a i) A 3.0 kg object undergoes an acceleration given by a  (2.0ˆi  5.0ˆj) ms 2 . Find

the resultant force acting on it and the magnitude of the resultant force. [3 marks]
ii) A ball is held in a person’s hand. Identify all the external forces acting on the
ball and the reaction to each. [2 marks]
If the ball is dropped, what force is exerted on it while it is falling? Identify the
reaction force in this case. (Neglect air resistance.) [2 marks]

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2b) An object is acted upon by four forces: F1  (3.0ˆi  2.0ˆj) N , F2  (6.0ˆi  4.0ˆj) N ,
F  (2.0ˆi  5.0ˆj) N , and F  (3.0ˆi  4.0ˆj) N .
3 4

The object experiences acceleration of 5 m/s2.

i) Find the acceleration vector. [2 marks]
ii) Find the mass of the object. [2 marks]
iii) If the object begins from rest, find its speed after 2.5s. [2 marks]
iv) Find the components of the velocity of the object after 2.5s. [2 marks]
2c) i) The system shown in figure 2 is in equilibrium. Find the force F and magnitude
of total force on the bearing of pulley C. Each pulley is free to rotate about its
bearing, and the weights of all parts are small compared with the load. (g =
10m/s2)

Figure 2: A pulled block by pair of pulleys – Question 2c [3 marks]

ii) A car travelling at 28 m/s has no tendency to slip on a track of radius 200 m
banked at an angle θ. When the speed is increased to 35 m/s, the car is just on the
point of slipping up the track. Calculate the coefficient of friction between the car
and the track. [3 marks]

Q3a i) One student argues that a satellite in orbit is in free fall because the satellite
keeps falling toward Earth. Another says a satellite in orbit is not in free fall
because the acceleration due to gravity is not 9.80 m/s2. With whom do you agree
with and why? [2 marks]
ii) What is the force responsible for maintaining a satellite's orbital motion around
another body? [1 mark]
3b A 200-kg object and a 500-kg object are separated by 0.400m.
i) Find the net gravitational force exerted by these objects on a 50-kg placed
midway between them.
ii) At what position (other than the infinitely remote one) can the 50-kg object be
placed so as to experience a net force of zero? [5 marks]
3c i) Miranda, a satellite of Uranus, is shown in part (a) of the figure 4 below. It can
be modeled as a sphere of radius 242 km and mass 6.68 x 1019Kg.Find the free-
fall acceleration on its surface. [2 marks]
ii) A cliff on Miranda is 5.00 km high. It appears on the limb at the 11 o'clock
position in part (a) of the figure below and is magnified in part (b) of figure 4. A

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 devotee of extreme sports runs horizontally on the top of the cliff at 7.70 m/s. For
what time interval is he in flight? [2 marks]

Figure 4: Sattelite of Uranus (Miranda)

Q4a i) Does the work you do on a book when you lift it onto a shelf depend on the
path taken? On the time taken? On the height of the shelf? On the mass of the
book?. [2 marks]
ii) A spark of static electricity, such as that you might receive from a doorknob
on a cold dry day, may carry a few hundred watts of power. Explain why you are
not injured by such a spark. [3 marks]
4b A bungee cord exerts a nonlinear elastic force of magnitude F  x   k1 x  k2 x 3 ,
where x is the distance of the cord being stretched, k1  204 N / m , and
k2  0.233 N / m 3 How much work must be done on the cord to stretch it 16.7
m? [5 marks]
4c Boxing gloves are padded to lessen the force of a blow. (a) Calculate the force
exerted by a boxing glove on an opponent’s face, if the glove and face compress
7.50 cm during a blow in which the 7.00-kg arm and glove are brought to rest
from an initial speed of 10.0 m/s. (b) Calculate the force exerted by an identical
blow in the days when no gloves were used and the knuckles and face would
compress only 2.00 cm. (c) Discuss the magnitude of the force with glove on.
Does it seem high enough to cause damage even though it is lower than the force
with no glove? [6 marks]

Q5a i) Football coaches advise players to block, hit, and tackle with their feet on the
ground rather than by leaping through the air. Using the concepts of momentum,
work, and energy, explain how a football player can be more effective with his
feet on the ground [3 marks]
ii) What is an inelastic collision? What is a perfectly inelastic collision? [2
marks]
5b i) When visiting some countries, you may see a person balancing a load on the
head. Explain why the center of mass of the load needs to be directly above the
person’s neck vertebrae. [2 marks]
ii) What force must be exerted by the wind to support a 2.50-kg chicken in the
position shown in? (a) What is the ratio of this force to the chicken’s weight? (b)
Does this support the contention that the chicken has a relatively stable
construction? [5 marks]

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 Figure 3: Question 5b (ii)
5c A uniform ladder 5.0 m long rests against a frictionless, vertical wall with its
lower end 3.0 m from the wall. The ladder weighs 160 N. The coefficient of static
friction between the foot of the ladder and the ground is 0.40. A man weighing
740 N climbs slowly up the ladder. Start by drawing a free-body diagram of the
ladder. (a) What is the maximum friction force that the ground can exert on the
ladder at its lower end? (b) What is the actual friction force when the man has
climbed 1.0 m along the ladder? [6 marks]

Q6a i) Water has a density of 1 g/cm3 and alcohol has a density of 0.8 g/cm3. Calculate
the average density of a mixture of 50 cm3 of water and 40 cm3 of alcohol. [3
marks]
6b State what is meant by
i) Hydrostatic equilibrium, [1 mark]
ii) Viscosity [1 mark]
iii) Buoyant force, [1 mark]
iv) Pascal’s principle. [1 mark]
6c ii) calculate the buoyant force on 10,000 metric tons (1.00×107 kg) of solid steel
completely submerged in water, and compare this with the steel’s weight. (b)
What is the maximum buoyant force that water could exert on this same steel if
it were shaped into a boat that could displace 1.00×105 m3 of water? [6 marks]
iii) How is momentum related to the pressure exerted by a gas? Explain on the
atomic and molecular level, considering the behavior of atoms and molecules.[4
marks]

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