Edexcel AS Levels Physics – Senan Alwis

Tutorial 2 – Linear and Projectile Motion

1. The following question is about an object that is moving.

a. State the difference between distance and displacement.
b. Figure 1 shows an idealised displacement-time graph for the journey of a train along a straight
horizontal track, from the moment when it passes a point A on the track. Initially the train moves
in an easterly direction away from A.

i) Describe the position of the train relative to A at the end of the 8 minutes covered by the
graph.
ii) Calculate the velocities at each stage of the journey and plot a velocity against time graph of
the journey shown in Figure 1.
2. The following questions are about linear motion.
a. A skydiver accelerates towards the ground at 9.81 m s–2 at the instant that he leaves the
aeroplane.
i. Explain why his acceleration will decrease as he continues to fall
ii. The skydiver opens his parachute. Explain why he reaches a terminal velocity shortly
afterwards.
iii. The velocity at which he then hits the ground is similar to that achieved when falling
iv. freely from a height of 3 m. Calculate this velocity.
b. An astronaut on the moon drops a hammer. The gravitational acceleration is 1.6 m s–2
i. How long does the hammer take to fall 1.0 m from rest?
ii. Calculate the velocity of the hammer just before it hits the ground.
c. The graph below shows how the velocity of a motorbike varies with time during the final 10 s of
a race.

i. Describe the motion shown by the graph.

ii. Show that during the final 10 s the motorbike travels a distance of approximately 800 m.
iii. Sketch a graph showing how the distance of the motorbike from the finishing line varies
with time during the final 10 s of the race.

d. The diagram shows part of a rollercoaster ride. The car begins its descent at P where it has
negligible speed. It reaches maximum speed at Q. If there were no forces opposing its motion,
show that the speed of the car at Q would be approximately 30 m s-1.
e. A cyclist and a car are both stationary at traffic lights. They are alongside each other with their
front wheels in line. The lights change and they both move forward in the same direction along a
straight flat road. The idealised graph shows the variation of velocity against time for both the
cyclist and the car from the instant the lights change to green to the instant they are again level.
 i. What does the time interval of 0.8 s at the beginning of the graph represent?
ii. How long does it take, from the instant the lights change to green, for the car to reach the
same velocity as the cyclist?
iii. Determine the distance between the cyclist and the car at this time.

3. The following questions are about projectile motion.

a. A shot putter launches the shot at an angle of 30o to the horizontal. The throw is repeated with
the same launch speed, but this time at an angle of 40o to the horizontal. Which of the following
is not correct?
1. The horizontal range is greater
2. The horizontal velocity component is increased
3. The maximum height reached is greater
4. The shot is in the air for longer

b. An athlete throws a javelin. Just as it hits the ground the javelin has a horizontal velocity
component of 20 m s–1 and a vertical velocity component of 10 m s–1. Calculate the magnitude
and direction of the javelin’s velocity as it hits the ground.

c. Performing complex jumps is an important aspect of a figure skater’s program. Jumps with great
heights and jump distances tend to leave a better impression with the judges, resulting in better
marks for the skater. A skater of mass 60 kg leaves the ice with a velocity of 10 m s–1 at an
angle of 25° to the horizontal.

i. Show that the vertical component of the skater’s velocity is approximately 4 m s–1.
ii. Calculate the time taken to reach the top of the jump.
iii. Calculate the maximum height reached.

d. A student investigates the projectile motion with the following spreadsheet showing the variation
of horizontal and vertical components of velocity with time. She has assumed there is no air
resistance. She collects her data in a spreadsheet as shown below.
i. Write the formula which is used to calculate cell C6, the vertical component of velocity after
0.2 s.
ii. The vertical component changes with time but the horizontal component is constant.
Explain why the values in cells B5 to B16 are all the same.
iii. What is the significance of the negative values in column C?
iv. Calculate the ball’s velocity at time t = 0.4 s. Include the angle in your answer.
v.The launch angle is now changed to 35°. Calculate the initial vertical and horizontal velocity
components if the launch speed remains at 15.2 m s–1.
vi. The student finds that the ball travels further when the launch angle is 35°. Suggest a
reason why a football thrown at 35° to the horizontal travels a greater distance than one
thrown at 45°.
 e. A cricketer bowls a ball from a height of 2.3 m. The ball leaves the hand horizontally with a
velocity u. After bouncing once, it passes just over the stumps at the top of its bounce. The
stumps are 0.71 m high and are situated 20 m from where the bowler releases the ball.

i. Show that from the moment it is released, the ball takes about 0.7 s to fall 2.3 m.
ii. How long does it take the ball to rise 0.71 m after bouncing?
iii. Use your answers to parts (a) and (b) to calculate the initial horizontal velocity u of the
ball. You may assume that the horizontal velocity has remained constant.
iv. In reality the horizontal velocity would not be constant. State one reason why.

4. Some world class soccer players are famous for being able to bend their free kicks, i.e. to make the ball
deviate from a straight path. They do this by getting the ball to spin when they kick it. The ball
experiences a sideways force due to its spinning motion, so it moves sideways as well as forwards, as
shown on the diagram.
 Ignore vertical motion throughout the question.

a. A player kicks a ball, giving it a velocity of 25 m s–1 northward. Calculate the time taken for
the ball to travel 30 m North. Assume the component of velocity in this direction remains
constant.
b. The sideways force causes an acceleration to the west of 8 m s–2. Calculate the westward
component of the ball’s velocity after it has travelled 30 m North. Assume the force remains
constant and continues to act in a westward direction.
c. Calculate the westward displacement of the ball after it has travelled 30 m North.
d. Determine the velocity of the ball, stating its magnitude and direction, after it has travelled
30 m North.

5. A student is investigating projectiles. He fires two small identical balls, A and B, simultaneously. Their
trajectories are shown in the sketch below. The balls land at the same instant at the target, T.

a. The initial velocity of ball A is Va and that of ball B is Vb. Explain why the magnitude of Vb must
be greater than that of Va.
b. The paths AT and BT have different lengths. However, balls A and B take the same time to reach
the target T. Explain how this is possible.
6. The graph below shows the altitude (height above sea level) of the space shuttle during part of its
descent after re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

a. Use the graph to show that the vertical component of the shuttle’s velocity at 300 s is about 70 m
s–1 downwards.
b. The vertical component of the shuttle’s velocity at 400 s is 38.0 m s–1 downwards. Calculate the
average vertical acceleration between 300 s and 400 s and state its direction.
c. The graph below shows velocity against time for a shuttle launch.
i. Use the graph to estimate the height of the shuttle after 120 s.

ii. In the early stages of the flight the acceleration of the shuttle increases rapidly from the
initial 5 m s–2, even though the engine thrust remains roughly constant. Suggest and explain a
reason for this.
iii. Later in the climb towards orbit it becomes necessary to reduce the engine thrust. Suggest
a reason for this.