Mechanics Answer Sheet 2

Exercises
1. (a) The acceleration of the mass is
F 1
a(t) = = (4t2 ı̂ − 3tȷ̂) m·s−2 .
m 5
Integrating from time 0 to time t gives
Z t Z t
′ ′ 1 ′2
a(t )dt = (4t ı̂ − 3t′ ȷ̂)dt′
0 0 5
 t
′ t 4 ′3 3 ′2
⇒ [v(t )]0 = t ı̂ − t ȷ̂
15 10 0
4 3 3 2
⇒ v(t) − v(0) = t ı̂ − t ȷ̂.
15 10
The question says that v(0) = 3ı̂ + 3ȷ̂, so
    
4 3 3 2
v(t) = 3 + t ı̂ + 3 − t ȷ̂ m·s−1 .
15 10
(b) Finding the position from the velocity is similar. Integrate both sides of the
expression for v(t) to get:
Z t Z t     
′ ′ 4 ′3 3 ′2
v(t )dt = 3 + t ı̂ + 3 − t ȷ̂ dt′
0 0 15 10
    t
′ t ′ 1 ′4 ′ 1 ′3
⇒ [r(t )]0 = 3t + t ı̂ + 3t − t ȷ̂
15 10
    0
1 4 1 3
⇒ r(t) − r(0) = 3t + t ı̂ + 3t − t ȷ̂.
15 10
The initial position is r(0) = (10ı̂ − 8ȷ̂) m, so
    
1 4 1 3
r(t) = 10 + 3t + t ı̂ + −8 + 3t − t ȷ̂ m.
15 10
2. (a) The tension is 25 N.
(b) The astronaut of mass M = 150 kg has acceleration aM = F/M = 61 m·s−2
and the astronaut of mass m = 75 kg has acceleration am = F/m = 31 m·s−2
in the opposite direction. Their relative acceleration a = aM + am is 61 + 31 =
1
2
m·s−2 . The time taken to close the initial distance s = 400 m between them
at this constant relative acceleration is given by
r
1 2 2s
s = at ⇒ t= = 40 s.
2 a

1
 (c) At the meeting time, t = 40 s, the relative speed of the two astronauts is
at = 20 m·s−1 . This is almost 45 mph, so it is going to hurt!
(d) If one astronaut let go of the rope, both astronauts would continue moving
towards each other at the speed they were travelling when the rope was
released.
(e) If the stronger astronaut decided to start pulling with all his/her might, the
other astronaut would not be able to hold on and would have to let go. This
is exactly what would happen on Earth; nothing changes because the two
astronauts are in space.
3. Label the particles i = 1, 2, . . . , N . NII applies to all of them:
dp1 X
= f1ext + fj on 1 , (particle 1)
dt
j (̸=1)

...
...
dpi X
= fiext + fj on i , (particle i)
dt
j (̸=i)

...
...
dpN X
= fNext + fj on N . (particle N )
dt
j (̸=N )

Adding these equations gives

X dpi X XX
= fiext + fj on i .
i
dt i i j (̸=i)

The double sum includes two terms for every pair of particles. For example, for
particles 7 and 234, there is one term with i = 7 and j = 234 and another term
with j = 7 and i = 234. The sum of these two terms is

f234 on 7 + f7 on 234 = 0

by NIII. The double summation gives zero and we get

dP
= F ext ,
dt
where P ≜ i pi and F ext ≜ i fiext .
P P

When you push on an object (a shopping trolley, say), you are exerting forces
on enormous numbers of surface atoms, all of which in turn exert forces on the

2
 atoms within the trolley, but the rate of change of the momentum of the trolley
as a whole is exactly as if it were a point particle feeling the total applied force.
This mathematical miracle explains why NII is just as useful in our macroscopic
world as it is in the world of point particles.

Problems for Reflection and Discussion

4. When the axes are oriented as shown in the diagram in the question, the compo-
nent of the gravitational acceleration in the x direction is −g sin α and the com-
ponent in the y direction is −g cos α. The equations for x(t) and y(t) become:

1
x =(u cos θ)t − (g sin α)t2 ,
2
1
y = (u sin θ)t − (g cos α)t2 .
2

Solving the equation y(t) = 0 now gives t = 0 (the firing time) or t = 2u sin θ
g cos α
(the
landing time). The distance travelled along the slope is the value of x when t is
the landing time:
   2
2u sin θ 1 2u sin θ
Range = u cos θ − g sin α
g cos α 2 g cos α
2
u
2 sin θ cos θ − 2 sin2 θ tan α


=
g cos α
u2
= (sin(2θ) + (cos(2θ) − 1) tan α) .
g cos α
To find the maximum range we differentiate with respect to θ (remember that
the slope α is fixed) and set the result equal to 0 to obtain

u2
[2 cos(2θ) − 2 sin(2θ) tan α] = 0,
g cos α
and hence
1
tan(2θ) = cot α = .
tan α
If α = π/6, the equation for the value of θ that maximises the range becomes

1 √
tan(2θ) = = 3,
tan(π/6)

telling us that the optimal θ is also π/6. Plugging this value of θ back into the
equation for the range above and setting u = 200 m·s−1 and g = 10 m·s−2 then

3
 gives:
"√ #
(200)2
 
3 1 1
Range = √ + −1 √
10( 3/2) 2 2 3

8000 8
= m = km.
3 3
5. Car n (≥ 1) feels a force Fn to the right (exerted by the coupling to car n − 1, or to
the locomotive when n = 1) and a force Fn+1 to the left (exerted by the coupling
to car n + 1).

The difference between these two forces accelerates the car of mass m = M/540
at acceleration a, which is the same for every car:
Fn − Fn+1
a= , n = 1, 2, . . . , N,
m
with N = 540 in this case. This rearranges to give
Fn = Fn+1 + ma.
Starting from the last car, which is numbered n = N = 540, noting that FN +1 = 0,
and using Fn = Fn+1 + ma repeatedly, gives the formula:
(N + 1 − n)M a
Fn = (N + 1 − n)ma = .
N
The maximum force exerted across a coupling is that between the locomotive
and the first car: Fn=1 = M a = 7 × 107 a. If this is not to exceed 107 N, the
maximum allowed acceleration is 71 m·s−2 . At any acceleration greater than this,
the coupling between the locomotive and the first car is at risk of breaking.
The time the train takes to reach a speed of v = 20 m·s−1 is t = v/a = 20 × 7 =
140 s. The distance travelled during the acceleration time is
1 1 1
s = at2 = × × (140)2 = 1400 m = 1.4 km.
2 2 7
6. (a) The acceleration a of a falling object with inertial mass mI and gravitational
mass mG is given by
mG g
F = mG g = mI a ⇒ a= .
mI
The value of mG /mI is larger for lead, so aPb > aCu and the lead ball hits the
ground first.

4
(b) The lead ball is dropped from the top of the tower of height h = 60 m at
time t = 0 s and falls with constant acceleration aPb until it hits the ground
at time r
2h
tPb = .
aPb
At this exact time, the Cu ball has dropped a distance
1 aCu h
sCu = aCu t2Pb = .
2 aPb
The distance it still has to go (which is the separation of the two balls when
the first hits the ground) is
 
aCu
∆s = h − sCu = 1 − h.
aPb
We are told that mG /mI = 1 for Cu and 1 + 3 × 10−11 for Pb, so
aCu 1
= −11
= [1 + (3 × 10−11 )]−1 .
aPb 1 + (3 × 10 )
Using the binomial (or Taylor) expansion,
(−1)(−2) 2 (−1)(−2)(−3) 3
(1 + x)−1 = 1 + (−1)x + x + x + ...
2! 3!
= 1 − x + x2 − x3 + . . . ,
with x = 3 × 10−11 gives
aCu
= 1 − (3 × 10−11 ) + (3 × 10−11 )2 − (3 × 10−11 )3 + . . .
aPb
≈ 1 − (3 × 10−11 ).
The approximation in the last line is very good because 3 × 10−11 is such a
small number. Hence
∆s ≈ 3 × 10−11 h = 1.8 × 10−9 m = 1.8 nm.

[You might wonder why Iused a power expansion? Why not just work out the
1
value of 60 1 − 1+3×10−11 using a calculator or the Python interpreter? That
method works fine in this example, but if the 3 × 10−11 is replaced by 3 × 10−20 ,
Python says the result is exactly zero (try it and see). The problem is that 1/(1+3×
10−20 ) = 1 − 3 × 10−20 + . . . is so close to 1 that computers and calculators, which
only keep a finite number of significant figures (around 14 in the case of Python),
cannot tell the difference. When working with numbers of very different magni-
tudes, it is safer to expand in powers of the small number before using a computer
or calculator.]

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 (c) The value of g cancels out of the analysis above so the separation on the
Moon would be the same as on Earth.
7. (a) The hanging picture looks like this:

The force diagrams for the two hooks and the nail (neglecting the weights
of the hooks and nail themselves) are:

Resolving the forces on either of the hooks gives

10
T sin θ = 10 ⇒ T = N.
sin θ
(b) If the professor wants the nail to be hidden behind the picture, θ must be
less than the angle θmax shown in the diagram below:

From the diagram,

10
sin θmax = √ ≈ 0.196,
102 + 502
so the minimum tension in the string is
10
Tmin = ≈ 51 N.
sin θmax
Oh dear . . .