CHAPTER 5 DRILL
Section I: Multiple Choice
1. A
Traveling once around a circular path means that the final
position is the same as the initial position. Therefore, the
displacement is zero. The average speed, which is total distance
traveled divided by elapsed time, cannot be zero. Since the
velocity changed (because its direction changed), there was a
nonzero acceleration. Therefore, only (I) is true.
2. C
By definition . We determine Δv = v2 − v1 = v2 +
(−v1) geometrically as follows:
Since Δt is a positive scalar, the direction of a is the same as the
direction of Δv, which is displayed above; (C) is best.
3. C
Any object in free fall will experience an acceleration of g,
downward, which is (C). The launch conditions do not have any
impact.
4. C
The baseball is still under the influence of Earth’s gravity. Its
acceleration throughout the entire flight is constant, equal to g
downward.
5. C
The velocity can be found by taking the derivative of position.
v(t) = x(t) = (−3t3 + t2 + 6t) = −9t2 + 2t + 6
To find the maximum, set the derivative of this equation equal
to 0 and use the resulting time.
(−9t2 + 2t + 6) = 0 → −18t + 2 = 0 → t =
vmax = −9 +2 + 6 ≈ 6.11 m/s
6. D
Use Big Five #5 with v0 = 0 (calling down the positive
direction):
7. C
Apply Big Five #3 to the vertical motion, calling down the
positive direction:
Note that the stone’s initial horizontal speed (v0x = 10 m/s) is
irrelevant.
8. B
First we determine the time required for the ball to reach the
top of its parabolic trajectory (which is the time required for the
vertical velocity to drop to zero).
The total flight time is equal to twice this value:
9. C
After 4 seconds, the stone’s vertical speed has changed by Δvy =
ayt = (10 m/s2)(4 s) = 40 m/s. Since v0y = 0, the value of vy at t
= 4 is 40 m/s. The horizontal speed does not change. Therefore,
when the rock hits the water, its velocity has a horizontal
component of 30 m/s and a vertical component of 40 m/s.
By the Pythagorean theorem, the magnitude of the total
velocity, v, is 50 m/s.
10. E
Since the acceleration of the projectile is always downward
(because it’s gravitational acceleration), the vertical speed
decreases as the projectile rises and increases as the projectile
falls. Choices (A), (B), (C), and (D) are all false.
11. A
In order to maximize the horizontal distance, you would want
the minimum possible angle in this situation because the range
will continually decrease as θ increases beyond 45°. This would
result in the object reaching height h at the same moment it has
traveled the horizontal distance d. Focusing on the vertical
components first, we can use one of our Big 5 equations to say
d = v0t + at2 → h = (vsinθ)t + (−g)t2
We can substitute t out of the equation by using our horizontal
components.
Putting this value into the first equation gives us
12. D
The displacement of the object is the area between the velocity
function and the t-axis. Divide the area up to three seconds into
one rectangle created for the first second and one triangle for
the next two seconds.
Remember that the area is the displacement, not the position.
Since the object started at x = 3 m, when t = 0 s, it is now 8
meters away from that point. Therefore, its position is 11 m.
Section II: Free Response
1. (a) At time t = 1 s, the car’s velocity starts to decrease as the
acceleration (which is the slope of the given v-vs.-t graph)
changes from positive to negative.
(b) The average velocity between t = 0 and t = 1 s is (vt=0 + vt=1) =
(0 + 20 m/s) = 10 m/s, and the average velocity between t = 1
and t = 5 is (vt=1 + vt=5) = (20 m/s + 0) = 10 m/s. The two
average velocities are the same.
(c) The displacement is equal to the area bounded by the graph and
the t-axis, taking areas above the t-axis as positive and those
below as negative. In this case, the displacement from t = 0 to t
= 5 s is equal to the area of the triangular region whose base is
the segment along the t-axis from t = 0 to t = 5 s:
Δs (t = 0 to t = 5 s) = × base × height = (5 s)(20 m/s) = 50 m
The displacement from t = 5 s to t = 7 s is equal to the negative
of the area of the triangular region whose base is the segment
along the t-axis from t = 5 s to t = 7 s:
Δs (t = 5 s to t = 7 s) = − × base × height = − (2 s)(10 m/s) = −10 m
Therefore, the displacement from t = 0 to t = 7 s is
Δs (t = 0 to t = 5 s) + Δs (t = 5 s to t = 7 s) = 50 m + (−10 m) = 40 m
(d) The acceleration is the slope of the v vs. t graph. The segment of
the graph from t = 0 to t = 1 s has a slope of a = Δv/Δt = (20
m/s − 0)/(1 s − 0) = 20 m/s2, and the segment of the graph
from t = 1 s to t = 7 s has a slope of a = Δv/Δt = (−10 m/s − 20
s)/(7 s − 1 s) = −5 m/s2. Therefore, the graph of a vs. t is
(e) One way to determine the displacement is to determine
equations for v(t) and integrate to get s(t). The segment from t
= 0 to t = 1 s connects the points (0, 0) and (1, 20); the slope is
20, and we get v = 20t. The segment from t = 1 to t = 7 connects
the points (1, 20) and (7, −10); the slope is −5, and we get v =
−5t + 25. In summary,
Therefore, since , we find that
2. (a) The maximum height of the projectile occurs at the time at
which its vertical velocity drops to zero:
The vertical displacement of the projectile at this time is
computed as follows:
(b) The total flight time is equal to twice the time computed in part
(a):
The horizontal displacement at this time gives the projectile’s
range:
(c) For any given value of v0, the range,
will be maximized when sin 2θ0 is maximized. This occurs when
2θ0 = 90°, that is, when θ0 = 45°.
(d) Set the general expression for the projectile’s vertical
displacement equal to h and solve for the two values of t:
Applying the quadratic formula, we find that
Therefore, the two times at which the projectile crosses the
horizontal line at height h are
so the amount of time that elapses between these events is
3. (a) If we need to find how long the cannonball takes to reach the
plane of the wall, we are dealing with the horizontal direction.
The only equation we need is x = vxt.
220 = (50 cos 40°)t ⇒ t = 5.74 s
(b) To determine whether the cannonball hits the wall, we need to
know the vertical displacement of the ball when it reaches the
plane of the wall.
Since the wall is 30 m tall, the cannonball strikes the wall 7.2 m
below the top of the wall.
4. (a) Integrating a(t) with respect to time gives the velocity, v(t):
Setting this equal to 14, we solve for t:
(Note that we discarded the solution t = −2.)
(b) Integrating v(t) with respect to time gives the position, x(t):
Therefore, the particle’s position at t = 3 s is
