Work/Energy/power

1-MARK QUESTIONS
Question.1 Does work done depend upon the velocity of the body.
Answer. No.

Question.2 State the law of conservation of energy.

Answer. It states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change its form.

Question.3 In a tug-of-war one team gives way to the other. What work is being done and by whom?
Answer.
The winning team does work. The work is equal to the product of the resultant force and the displacement undergone
by the losing team.

Question.4 What will cause greater change in kinetic energy of a body? Changing its mass or changing
its velocity ?
Answer. Changing its velocity.

Question.5 List two essential conditions for work to be done.

Answer. (i) A force must act and (ii) There should be displacement in the body.

Question.6 When is 1 joule of work said to be done ?

Answer. When a force of 1 newton acting on a body displaces it in its own direction.

Question.7 What is the SI unit of work done and power ?

Answer. Joule and Watt.

Question.8 What is power? What is its SI unit ?

Answer. It is defined as the rate of doing work. Its unit is watt.

Question.9 Find the energy in kWh consumed in 10 hours by a machine of power 500 W.
Answer. W = P x t = 500 x 10 = 5000 Wh – 5 kWh.

Question.10. When is work said to be done against the force of gravity ?

Answer. When a body lifted the work is done against the force of gravity.

Question.11 Write an expression for the work done in lifting a body of mass ‘m’ through a vertical height
Answer. Work done W = mgh, where g is acceleration due to gravity.

Question.12 When a book is lifted from a table, against which force work is done?
Answer. Work is done against the force of gravity.

Question.14 What is the work done when the force acting on the body and the displacement produced in
the body are at right angles to each other ?
Answer. Zero.

Question.15 Is it possible that some force is acting on a body but still the work done is zero ?
Answer. Yes, when force acts at an angle of 90° with the displacement.
Question.16 What is the work done on a body moving in a circular path ?
Answer. Zero, because force and displacement are perpendicular to each other.

Question.17 Does every change in energy of the body involve work ?

Answer. Yes.

Question.18 A force of 7 N acts on an object. The displacement is, say 8 m, in the direction of the force.
Let us take it that the force acts on the object through the displacement. What is the work done in this
case ?
Answer. Given, displacement = 8 m, Force = 7N Now, Work done = Force x Displacement =7x8 =56J

Question.19 When do we say that work is done?

Answer. Work is said to be done when a force causes displacement of an object in the direction of applied
force.

Question.20 A pair of bullocks exert a force of 140 N on a plough. The field being ploughed is 15 m long.
How much work is done in ploughing the length of the field ?
Answer. Work done = Force x Displacement = 140 x 15 = 2100 J

Question.21 What is the kinetic energy of an object?

Answer. The energy possessed by a body by virtue of its motion is called kinetic energy.

Question.22 Define 1 watt of power.

Answer. When a work of 1 joule is done in 1s, the power is said to be one watt.

Question.23 A lamp consumes 1000 J of electrical energy in 10 s. What is its power ?

Answer. Given, W = 1000 J, t = 10 s, R = ? ; Using p = W/t = 1000/10 = 100 W

Question.24 Define average power & energy

Answer. When a machine or person does different amounts of work or uses energy in different intervals of time,
the ratio between the total work or energy consumed to the total time is average power. Energy is the ability of a
body to do work. It is also defined as the capacity to do work.

Question.25 A body performs no work. Does it imply that the body possesses no energy ?
Answer. When a body does not perform any work, it never implies that the body has no energy. The body may
have energy but still does not perform any work, e.g., a book placed on a table has potential energy but is not
performing any work.

Question.26 Does a body at rest possess any kinetic energy ?

Answer.No.

Question.27 What will happen to the kinetic energy of a body if its mass is doubled and if its velocity is
halved ??
Answer. Its kinetic energy will be doubled. The kinetic energy of the body will become one-fourth.
Question.28 By how much will the speed of a body, of fixed mass, increase if its kinetic energy becomes
four times its initial kinetic energy ?
Answer. The speed is doubled.

Question.29 Can a body possess energy even if it is not in motion ?

Answer. Yes, it can possess potential energy.

Question.30 Define potential energy.

Answer. It is defined as the energy possessed by a body by virtue of its position or change in shape.

Question.31 Name the energy possessed by a stretched rubber band lying on the table.
Answer. Potential energy.

Question.32 What do you mean by trans- formation of energy ?

Answer. It is the change of energy from one form of energy into another form of energy.

Question.33 A cell converts one form of energy into another. Name the two forms.
Answer. It converts chemical energy into electrical energy.

Question.34 Name one unit of power bigger than watt.

Answer. A unit bigger than watt is kilowatt.

Question.35 When an arrow is shot from its bow, it has kinetic energy. From where does it get the kinetic
energy?
Answer. A stretched bow possesses potential energy on account of a change in its shape. To shoot an arrow;
the bow is released. The potential energy of the bow is converted into the kinetic energy of the arrow.

Question.36 A light body and a heavy body have the same kinetic energy. Which one will have
the greater momentum ?
Answer.

Question.37 A light and a heavy body have the same momentum. Which one will have greater
kinetic energy ?
Answer

Question.38
(a) Can a body have energy without having momentum ? Explain.
(b) Can a body have momentum without having energy ? Explain.
Answer.

Question.39 A light and a heavy body have equal kinetic energy. Which one is moving fast ?
Answer. The lighter body is moving fast.

Question.40 When is work done by a force negative?

Answer. Work done is negative if force and displacement are in the opposite direction.
2 MARKS QUESTIONS

Question.1 Is it possible that a body be in accelerated motion under a force acting on the body, yet no
work is being done by the force? Explain your answer giving a suitable example.
Answer. Yes, it is possible, when the force is perpendicular to the direction of motion. The moon revolving
round the earth under the centripetal force of attraction of the earth but earth does not do any work on the
motion of The moon.

Question.2 What is the work done by the force of gravity in the following cases ?
(a) Satellite moving around the earth in a circular orbit of radius 35000 km.
(b) A stone of mass 250 g is thrown up through a height of 2.5 m.
Answer.
(a) Zero, as the displacement in one complete revolution is zero.
(b) Given m = 250 g = 0.25 kg, h = 2.5 m, g = 10 ms-2, W = ?
Now, W = FS = mg x h = 0.25 x 10 x 2.5 = 6.25 J

Question.3 A mass of 10 kg is at a point A on a table. It is moved to a point B. If the line joining A and B is
horizontal, what is the work done on the object by the gravitational force? Explain your answer.
Answer. The work done is zero. This is because the gravitational force and displacement are perpendicular to
each other.

Question.4 The potential energy of a freely falling object decreases progressively. Does this violate the
law of conservation of energy? Why?
Answer. It does not violate the law of conservation of energy. Whatever, is the decrease in PE due to loss of
height, same is the increase in the KE due to increase in velocity of the body.

Question.5 What are the various energy transformations that occur when you are riding a bicycle?
Answer. The chemical energy of the food changes into heat and then to muscular energy. On paddling, the
muscular energy changes into mechanical energy.

Question.6 Does the transfer of energy take place when you push a huge rock with all your might and fail
to move it? Where is the energy you spend going?
Answer. Energy transfer does not take place as no displacement takes place in the direction of applied force;
the energy spent is used to overcome inertia of rest of the rock.

Question.7 An object thrown at a certain angle to the ground moves in a curved path and falls back to
the ground. The initial and the final points of the path of the object lie on the same horizontal line. What
is the work done by the force of gravity on the object?
Answer. Since the body returns to a point which is on the same horizontal line through the point of projection,
no displacement has taken place against the force of gravity; therefore, no work is done by the force due to
gravity.

Question.8 A battery lights a bulb. Describe the energy changes involved in the process.
Answer. Within the electric cell of the battery the chemical energy changes into electrical energy. The electric
energy on flowing through the filament of the bulb, first changes into heat energy and then into the light energy.
Question.9 Can there be displacement of an object in the absence of any force acting on it?
Answer. The answer is. both Yes and No. Yes, because when an object moves in deep space from one
point to another point in a straight line, the displacement takes place, without the application of
force. No, because force cannot be zero for displacement on the surface of earth.

Question.10 A person holds a bundle of hay over his head for 30 minutes and gets tired. Has he done
some work or not ? justify your answer.
Answer. The person does not do work because no displacement takes place in the direction of applied force as
the force acts in the vertically upward direction.

Question.11 An object of mass, m is moving with a constant velocity, v. How much work should be done
on the object in order to bring the object to rest ?
Answer. Work done to bring the object to rest is equal change in kinetic energy of the object.

Question.12 Meerab says that the acceleration in an object could be zero even when several forces are
acting on it. Do you agree with her? Why ?
Answer. Yes, we do agree when the number of forces act on a body, such that they constitute balanced forces,
then net force acting on the body is zero. In such a situation no acceleration acts on the object.

Question.13 A freely falling object eventually stops on reaching the ground. What happens to
its kinetic energy ?
Answer. The KE on reaching the ground changes into heat energy, sound energy etc. and, therefore,
gets dissipated in air.

Question.14 What kinds of energy transformations take place at a thermal power station ?
Answer. At a thermal power station, the chemical energy of coal is changed into heat energy which is
further changed into electrical energy with the help of an electric generator.

Question.15 Name the transformation of energy involved in the following cases :

(a) When a body is thrown upwards.
(b) When a body falls from the top of a hill.
(c) When coal burns.
(d) When a gas bums.
(e) When water falls from a height.

(a) Kinetic energy into potential energy.

(fa) Potential energy into kinetic energy.
(c) Chemical energy into heat energy.
(cf) Chemical energy into heat energy.
(e) Potential energy into kinetic energy.

Question.16 What are the factors on which the work done depends ?
Answer. The work done by a force depends upon:
(i) The magnitude of the force.
(ii) The magnitude of the displacement and
(iii) The angle between force and displacement

Question.17 What is the work done by a coolie walking on a horizontal platform with a load on
his head ?
Answer. In order to balance the load on his head, the coolie applies a force on it in the upward
direction, equal to its weight. His displacement is along the horizontal direction. Thus, the angle
between force F and displacement is 90°. Therefore, work done W = FS cos θ = FS cos 90° =0.

Question.18 We wind our watch once a day, what happens to the energy ?
Answer. When we wind our watch, we wind the spring inside the watch. As a result, energy is stored
in the spring in the form of elastic potential energy. This elastic potential energy is used to make the
watch work the whole day.

Question.19 What is the amount of work done by a force when body moves in a circular path?
Answer. Work done is given by the expression W = FS cos θ. When a body moves in a circular path,
then the displacement (S) is zero. Therefore, work done is W = F x 0 = 0.

Question.20 When an arrow is shot from its bow, it has kinetic energy. From where does it get
the kinetic energy ?
Answer. A stretched bow possesses potential energy on account of a change in its shape. To shoot
an arrow; the bow is released. The potential energy of the bow is converted into the kinetic energy of
the arrow.
Question.21 A spring which has been kept compressed by tying its ends together is allowed
to be dissolved in an acid. What happens to the potential energy of the spring ?
Answer. The PE of the spring gets converted into KE of acid molecules whose temperature rises.

3 MARKS QUESTIONS
Question.1 Look at the activities listed below.
Reason out whether or not work is done in the light of your understanding of the term ‘work’
(i) swimming in a pond.
(ii) A donkey is carrying a load on its back.
(iii) A wind-mill is filling water from a well.
(iv) A green plant is carrying out photosynthesis.
(v) An engine is pulling a train.
(vi)Food grains are getting dried in the sun.
(vii) A sailboat is moving due to wind energy.

(i) Work is done because the displacement of swimmer takes place in the direction of applied force.
(ii) If the donkey is not moving, no work is done as the displacement of load does not take place in the
direction of applied force.
(iii) Work is done, as the displacement takes place in the direction of force.
(iv) No work is done, because no displacement takes place.
(v) Work is done, because displacement takes place in the direction of applied force.
(vi)No work is done, because displacement does not take place.
(vii)Work is done because displacement takes place in the direction of the force.

Question.2 Illustrate the law of conservation of energy by discussing the energy changes
which occur when we draw a pendulum bob to one side and allow it to oscillate. Why does the
bob eventually come to rest? What happens to its energy eventually? Is it a violation of the
law of conservation of energy ?
Answer. When the pendulum bob is pulled (say towards left), the energy supplied is stored in it is the
form of PE on account of its higher position. When the pendulum is released so that it stars moving
towards right, then its PE changes into KE, such that in mean position, it has maximum KE, and zero
PE. As the pendulum moves towards extreme right, its -KE changes into PE such that at the extreme
position, of has maximum PE and zero KE. When it moves from this extreme position to mean
position, its PE again changes to KE. This illustrates the law of conservation of energy. Eventually,
the bob comes to rest, because during each oscillation a part of the energy possessed by it
transferred to air and- m overcoming friction at the point of suspension. Thus, the energy of the
pendulum is dissipated in air.
The law of conservation of energy is not violated because the energy merely changes its form and is
not destroyed.

Question.3 Distinguish between work, energy and power. State the SI units for each of these
quantities.
Answer.
Work: It is defined as the product of force applied and the distance moved by the body on the
application of the force. In SI it is measured in joule.
Energy : It is defined as the capacity of a body to do work. In SI it is measured in joule.
Power: It is defined as the rate of doing work. It measures how fast or slow the work is done. In SI it
iis measured in watt.

Question.4
(a) What is meant by mechanical energy ? State its two forms. State the law of conservation of
energy. Give an example in which we observe a continuous change of one form of energy into
another and vice-versa.
(b) Calculate the amount of work required to stop a car of 1000 kg moving with a speed of 72
km h”1.
Answer.
(a) It is the sum of KE and PE of an object. It states that energy can neither be created nor be
destroyed. We observe a continuous change in energy in a simple pendulum and its : explanation. At
the mean position, the energy is wholly kinetic while at the extreme position it is wholly potential. As
the pendulum oscillates its energy continuously changes between kinetic and potential.

Question.5 State the law of conservation of energy? Show that when a body falls from a
certain height the total mechanical energy remains conserved.
Answer.

Question.6 What is the work done to increase the velocity of a car from 36 km h-1 to 72 km h~1
if the mass of the car is 1500 kg ? Does the work done by the force have a negative or a
positive magnitude.

Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Questions

Question.1 justify giving proper reasoning whether the work done in the following cases is
positive or negative :
(a) Work done by a man in lifting a bucket out of a well by means of a rope tied to the bucket.
(b) Work done by gravitational force in the above case.
(c) Work done by friction on a body sliding down an inclined plane.
(d) Work done by an applied force on a body moving on a rough horizontal plane with uniform
velocity.
(e) Work done by resistive force of air on a vibrating pendulum in bringing it to rest.
Answer.
(a) Work done is positive as the bucket moves in the direction of force applied by the man.
(b) Work done by the gravitational force is negative, as the bucket moves upwards i.e., opposite to
the gravitational force.
(c) Work done is negative, as frictional force acts opposite to the direction of motion of the body.
(d) Work done is positive because applied force acts along the same direction as the direction of
motion of the body.
(e) Work done is negative because the resistive force of air always acts opposite of the direction of
motion of the vibrating*pendulum.

Question.2 What is the work done by a coolie walking on a horizontal platform with a load on
his head?
Answer. In order to balance the load on his head, the coolie applies a force on it in the upward
direction, equal to its weight. His displacement is along the horizontal direction. Thus, the angle
between force F and displacement is 90°. Therefore, work done W = FS cos θ = FS cos 90° = 0.

Question.3 The work done in lifting a box on to a platform does not depend upon how fast it is
lifted up. Explain your answer giving proper reasoning.
Answer. The work done (W) in lifting a box through a distance (S) against the gravitational force (F)
is given by W = FS. Hence, it is obvious that it is independent of the rate at which the box is lifted.

Question.4 Is it possible that a body be in accelerated motion under a force acting on the
body, yet no work is being done by the force? Explain your answer giving a suitable example.
Answer. Yes, it is possible, when the force is perpendicular to the direction of motion. The moon
revolving round the earth under the centripetal force of attraction of the earth, but earth does no work
on the motion.

Question.5 A body moves along a circular path. How much work is done in doing so? Explain.
Answer. In case of a body moving along a circular path, the force (centripetal) is always along the
radius while displacement is tangential. Hence, work done W = FS cos 90° = 0 as angle between F
and S is 90°.

Question.6 A man rowing a boat upstream is at rest with respect to the shore. Is he doing
work ? Answer. The man is doing work relative to the stream because he is applying force to
produce relative motion between the boat and the stream. But he does zero work relative to the shore
as the displacement relative to the shore is zero.

Question.7 What type of energy is stored in the spring of a watch? [SAII-2013]

Answer. When we wind a watch, the configuration of its spring is changed. The energy stored in the
spring is obviously potential in nature (elastic potential energy to be more accurate).