CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: WORKBOOK

Exam-style questions and sample answers have been written by the authors. In examinations, the way marks are awarded
may be different.

Workbook answers
Chapter 3
b contact force
Exercise 3.1 Identifying forces
1 a contact force

push of man

friction

weight

b contact force weight

3 a upthrust

drag push of man

resistance forward
of water force

weight
weight
c  he force of the car on the ground acts
T
on the ground, not on the car. The free b
body diagram only shows forces acting on
the car.
2 a contact force
friction weight

Exercise 3.2 How forces

affect motion
1 a, b   20 N

4N
B C

weight
Forces on A are balanced.
c  will not move; B will accelerate
A
upwards; C will accelerate to the right.

1 Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics – Sang & Jones © Cambridge University Press 2020
 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: WORKBOOK

2 a diagram 1 d  hey are equal in magnitude, opposite in

T
direction.
b 350 N to the right
e I ncrease the thrust of the engines; reduce
c weight, contact force, drag (of brakes) drag by streamlining the shape, etc.
d 800 N to the left f  raph C; acceleration is maximum
G
at start, so gradient of v–t graph is
Exercise 3.3 Force, mass maximum at start, decreases to zero.
and acceleration g

Acceleration
1 a F = ma = 40 × 103 × 1.2 = 48 kN
F 48
b a= = = 17.1 m s–2
m 2.8
F 200 0
c =
m = = 500 kg 0
a 0.40 Time
2 a weight = mg = 95 × 9.81 = 932 N (The precise shape of the graph is
uncertain, but acceleration decreases
b resultant force = 1200 − 932 = 268 N
towards zero.)
upwards
268 2 a upward force = drag (air resistance);
c acceleration = = 2.82 m s–2 downward force = weight
95
b  iagram 1; air resistance is greater than in
d
510
3 a a = = 0.75 m s–2 diagram 2
680
v = u + at = 12 + 0.75 × 20 = 27 m s–1 c  iagram 2; the two forces are equal and
d
opposite
12 + 27
b s= × 20 = 390 m
2 d  ir resistance is much greater than his
A
downward weight, so there is a resultant
2 s 2 × 2.0 force which acts upwards.
4 a s= 1
gt2 so g = = = 1.6 m s–2
2
t2 1.62
weight 3.9 Exam-style questions
b m= = = 2.4 kg
g 1.6 1 a resultant force = 140 − 65 = 75 N to the
left
c weight on Earth = mg = 2.4 × 9.81 = 24 N
b unbalanced
5 a s peed: m s−1, velocity: m s−1, acceleration:
m s−2, force: kg m s−2, kinetic energy: 75
c a= = 3.75 m s −1
kg m2 s−2 20
b  ase units of a are m s−2 and base units of
B d s = 12 at 2 = 0.5 × 3.75 × 102 = 188 m
m
are s−2 kg−1, which are not the same.
F 2 a contact force
or normal reaction force
c  I base units: kilogram and mole; derived
S
units: newton and m s−1

Exercise 3.4 Terminal velocity weight

1 a 250 kN forwards b weight = mg = 12.0 × 9.81 = 118 N

b 1.25 m s –2
contact force = weight = 118 N
c 0 m s–2
c  he forces on the box are balanced; it is
T
not accelerating.

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 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: WORKBOOK

3 a 4 a kg m s−2
b density: kg m−3; k: m2
weight air resistance
2
F  10 
b downwards c  2 = constant so new F = 27 ×  
v  30 
c  cceleration will be less. Weight is the
A = 3.0 N
same but air resistance is now upwards,
d Base units of v are m s−1, base units of gλ
reducing the resultant force and hence the
resultant acceleration. are m s−2 × m = m2 s−2, so value of n = 12 .

d Acceleration = g at highest point. The

ball is instantaneously stationary so air
resistance = 0; the only force acting on the
ball is its weight.

3 Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics – Sang & Jones © Cambridge University Press 2020