Chapter 4 – Work, Energy and Power

1. Loaded cart has a total mass of 227 kg. If a 312-N force acting at an angle of 30 o to the ground is
applied, how much work is done in moving the cart 15 m?
2. A force of 50 N exerted over a distance of 3.0 m causes a block having a mass of 20 kg to move 1.0
m. Find the AMA; the IMA; the efficiency.
Ans. 2.5, 3.0, 83 percent
3. A safe weighing 10 Tons is to be loaded on a truck 5.0 ft high by means of planks 20 ft long. If it
requires 350 lb to overcome friction on the skids, find the least force necessary to move the safe.
4. A man weighing 450 N sits on a platform suspended from a movable pulley and raises himself by a
rope by passing over a fixed pulley. Assuming the ropes parallel, what force does he exert? (Neglect
the weight of the platform.)
Ans. 150.
5. A box weighing 150 lb is moved across a horizontal floor by dragging it by means of a rope attached
to the front end. If the rope makes an angle of 30 o with the floor and if the coefficient of friction
between box and floor is 0.400, find the force exerted by the man pulling the rope.
6. A 1,000-N piano is moved 20 m across a floor by a horizontal force of 350 N. Find the coefficient of
friction. What happens to the energy expended?
Ans. 0.35
7. A 350-g block of wood on a horizontal plane is fastened to a cord passing over a frictionless pulley
and attached to a 265-g load. The coefficient of kinetic friction between block and plane is 0.45. (a)
Determine the acceleration of the system of the system after it is set in motion. (b) What is the force
in the cord?
8. A sled-weighing 100 lb reaches the foot of a hill with a speed of 40 ft/s. The coefficient of kinetic
friction between the sled and the horizontal surface of the ice at the foot of the hill is 0.030. How far
will the sled travel on the ice?
Ans. 830 ft
9. What average net thrust must a 17-ton airplane have to reach an altitude of 5,000 ft and a speed of
600 mi/h at an airline distance of 10 mi from its starting point?
10. An automobile traveling at 50 mi/h on a level road is stopped by sliding the wheels. If the coefficient
of kinetic friction between tires and road is 0.75, what is the minimum distance in which the car can
be brought to rest?
A. 112 ft
11. A panelboard sheet hangs in a vertical position while gripped between the jaws of a clamp. One side
has a coefficient of static friction of 0.30 with the clamp and the other a coefficient of 0.45. How
much horizontal force must each face of the clamp exert if the sheet weighs 150 N? How much
vertical force will each face of the clamp then exert?
12. A 3,200-lb car starts to roll from the top of a 400-ft hill which is 500 ft long. How fast is it going when
it reaches the bottom?
Ans. 160 ft/s
13. A man lifts a 100-N can of oil by pressing his two hands against the smooth sides, toward each other.
If the coefficient of static friction is 0.30, what force must he apply with each hand?
14. A worker can supply a maximum pull of 150 lb on a cart which has a handle set at an angle of 40 o
above the horizontal. What is the coefficient of friction if he can just move a total load of 1,500 lb?

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Ans. 0.082
15. A 4.45 x104 N truck is traveling at 100 km/h. If the coefficient of friction between the tires and the
roadway is 0.50, what is the minimum distance the truck will go before stopping?
16. A roller coaster which weighs 640 lb starts from rest at point A and begins to coast down the track. If
the frictional force is 5.0 lb, how fast will the coaster be going at point B, which is 100 ft down the
track and 30 ft below point A, and at point C, which is 50 ft farther along the track and 20 ft higher
than point B?
Ans. 43.3 ft/s at B; 23.8 ft/s at C.
17. A prony brake is a device often used to measure the power of an engine. In a small motor the brake
may be a strap passing halfway around the pulley of the motor, with the ends of the strap supported
by spring balances (Fig. 4-15). In one case a pulley had a diameter of 45.2 cm, and the balances
indicated a net difference in force of 0.525 N, when the motor speed was 500 r/min. The power
input was 16.7 W. What was the efficiency?
Figure 4-15
A proby,or band, brake

18. A rocket rises to a height of 20.0 mi, 200 mi, 2,000 mi, and 20,000 mi above the surface of the earth
on a flight toward the moon. If it weighs 3,000 lb at the surface of the earth (at a radius of 4,000 mi),
what is its potential energy at each of these altitudes? (For which cases must the variation of gravity
with altitude be taken into account? G = 3.44 x 10-8 ft 3/(slug)(s2); Me = 4.10 x 1023 slugs.
Ans. Taking Ep = 0 at earth’s surface: 3.17 x 108 ft.lb; 3.00 x 109 ft.lb 2.08 x 1010 ft.lb; 5.25 x 1010
ft.lb.
19. A proton is accelerated to a kinetic energy of 1.60 x 10 -9 J in a modern ___ its mass increase over its
rest mass of 1.67 x 10-27 kg and its relative mass gain.

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20. A loaded sled weighing 1,250 lb is given a speed of 25.0 mi/h while moving a distance of 140 ft from
rest on a horizontal ice surface. If the coefficient of friction is 0.105, what constant force, applied
horizontally, would be necessary to produce this motion?
Ans. 320 lb.
21. An electron whose mass is 9.11 x 10 -31 kg is moving at 3.00 x 10 7 m/s. What constant force is
required to bring it to rest in 1.5 x 10 -9 cm, as might occur at the target of an x-ray tube?
22. The coefficient of friction between a block and the surface on which it slides is 0.18, and the surface
is inclined at an angle of 15 o with the horizontal. If the block weighs 300 lb, what force is needed to
drag it up the incline at uniform speed? What force is required to let it slide down the plane at
uniform speed?
Ans. 130 lb; 26 lb.
23. A 100-lb box slides down a skid 20.0 ft long and inclined at an angle of 60 o to the horizontal. At the
bottom of the skid the box slides along a level surface of equal roughness. If the coefficient of kinetic
friction is 0.100, how far will the box travel, and how long a time will elapse after it reaches the level
surface before it comes to rest?
24. A coin lying on a meterstick starts to slide when one end of the stick is raised 36.4 cm above the
horizontal. (a) What is the limiting angle for friction? (b) What is the coefficient of starting friction?
Ans. 21o; 0.38.
25. In the pulley system as shown in Fig. 4-16 how far must the applied force move if the load moves 1
ft? If the load weighs 200 lb and the efficiency of the system is 90 percent, what must be the applied
force?
Fig. 4-16
Pulley and tackle

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26. Seven pulleys, three movable and four fixed are connected by a single cord. What resistance will a
100-N effort move with this machine?
Ans. 700 N
27. The screw jack of Fig. 4-17 has a pitch p of 0.25 in, a lever arm 18 in. long, and an efficiency of 40
percent. How far must the force, applied at the end of the lever arm, move in one turn? What is the
ratio of the load to the applied force (called the actual mechanical advantage)?
Figure 4-17.
Screw jack

28. A pulley system has a mechanical advantage of 5 and is used to lift a load of 1,000 lb. If the effort
moves 10 ft, how far does the load move? If this work was done in 15 s, what horsepower was

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developed? If the machine was 80 percent efficient, how much effort would be needed to lift the
load?
Ans. 2 ft; 0.243 hp, 250 lb.
29. For the compound machine of Fig. 4-18, the radii of the wheel and axle are 18 in. and 6.0 in.,
respectively. If the load is lifted 2.00 in, through what distance does the applied force move? What
would be the ratio of the load to the applied force if the efficiency were 100 percent?
Figure 4-18.
A compound machine

30. A man raises a 500-N stone by means of a lever 5.0 m long. If the fulcrum is 0.65 m from the end
that is in contact with the stone, what is the ideal mechanical advantage?
Ans. 6.7
31. The radius of a wheel is 1.8 ft, and that of the axle is 2.5 in. (Fig. 4-19). What force, neglecting
friction, must be applied at the rim of the wheel in order to lift a load of 800 lb which is attached to a
cable wound around the axle?
Figure 4-19
Wheel and axle

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32. Using a wheel and axle, a force of 30 lb applied to the rim of a wheel can lift a load of 240 lb. The
diameters of the wheel can lift a load of 240 lb. The diameters of the wheel and axle are 3 ft and 4
in, respectively. Determine the efficiency of the machine.
Ans. 89 percent.
33. A load of 400 N is lifted by means of a screw whose pitch is 5.0 mm. The length of the lever is 20 cm,
and the force applied is 5.0 N. Determine the efficiency of the machine.
34. Out of a total of 300 ft.lb of work put into a machine, an amount equal to 75 ft.lb is lost in
overcoming friction. What is the efficiency of this machine?
Ans. 75 percent
35. A motor operates at its rated load of 10 hp for 8.0 h a day. Its efficiency is 87 percent. What is the
daily cost of operation if electric energy costs 5 cents/kWh?

END