PHYSICS 101/102 EXAM 1 Spring 2012
Read the questions and selection of answers very carefully. If you are in doubt about the meaning, ask.
1. Which of the following is a scientific statement?
a. The planet, Venus, is made of green cheese.
b. There are things in science we will never know about.
c. Matter is filled with undetectable particles.
d. There are parts of the universe that will never be found by man.
e. none of these
2. A skydiver steps from a helicopter and falls for 5 seconds before reaching her terminal velocity. During this 5 second interval, her acceleration
a. is constant. b. is zero. c. increases. d. decreases. e. none of these
3. A Mack truck and a Honda Civic traveling at the same speed collide head-on. The force is
a. greater on the Mack truck. b. greater on the Honda Civic. c. the same for both.
4. A Mack truck and a Volkswagen traveling at the same speed have a head-on collision. The vehicle that undergoes the greatest change in velocity will be the
a. Volkswagen. b. Mack truck. c. same for both.
5. A Mack truck and a Honda Civic, which is moving at twice the speed of the truck, collide head-on. The force is
a. greater on the Mack truck. b. greater on the Honda Civic. c. the same for both.
6. An object maintains its state of motion because it has
a. mass b. speed c. acceleration d. weight e. all of these
7. An open freight car rolls friction free along a level track in a pouring rain that falls vertically.
As water accumulates in the car, the car's speed
a. increases. d. can't tell - need to know about the masses.
b. decreases. e. none of the above.
c. doesn't change.
8. The rain has stopped! A plug is pulled out of a hole in the bottom of the car letting the water run out. As the water runs out, the car's speed will
a. increases. d. can't tell - need to know about the masses.
b. decreases. e. none of the above.
c. doesn't change.
The figure is for the next four questions.
A B C
9. On which hill does the ball roll down with increasing speed?
a. A b. B c. C d. none of these e. all of these
10. On which hill is the acceleration increasing?
a. A b. B c. C d. none of these e. all of these
PHYSICS 101/102 EXAM 1 Spring 2012
11. On which hill is the acceleration constant?
a. A b. B c. C d. none of these e. all of these
12. On which hill is the acceleration decreasing?
a. A b. B c. C d. none of these e. all of these
13. A package falls off a truck that is moving at 30 m/s. Neglecting air resistance, the horizontal speed of the package just before it hits the ground is
a. zero. d. more than 30 m/s.
b. less than 30 m/s but larger than zero. e. More information is needed for an estimate.
c. about 30 m/s.
14. A ride on a roller-coaster car containing 6 passengers takes 3 minutes. Neglecting friction, a similar ride with 12 passengers aboard would take
a. 1.5 minutes. b. 3 minutes. c. 6 minutes. d. 18 minutes.
15. A skydiver, who weighs 500 N, reaches terminal velocity of 90 km/h. The air resistance on the diver is then
a. 90 N. b. 250 N. c. 410 N. d. 500 N. e. none of these
16. You stand at the edge of a cliff and throw one ball straight up and another straight down at the same initial speed. Neglecting air resistance, the ball to hit the ground below the cliff with the greater speed will be the one initially thrown
a. upward b. downward c. they will hit at the same speed
17. When you flip a coin on an airplane, it behaves as if the airplane were at rest. This is a demonstration of
a. Newton’s First Law c. Newton’s Second Law
b. Kepler's Other Law d. Nobody’s law – that’s just the way it happens.
18. If the speedometer of a car shows a steady value, then the car
a. must be moving at constant velocity.
b. certainly has no acceleration.
c. might have constant velocity but also might not.
d. must have some acceleration to overcome the road friction which tries to make it go slower.
19. The starship Enterprise locks onto an alien ship (whose mass is much greater than the Enterprise's mass) with its tractor beam and starts to pull the alien ship toward it. Neither ship has its propulsion engines running. Which ship has greater acceleration towards the other?
a. The Enterprise
b. The alien ship
c. Both the same
d. It's a myth! Because there is really no friction in outer space neither ship could actually move
20. A ping-pong ball is dropped vertically, onto a stationary bowling ball resting on the floor. Which of the balls experiences the greater force as a result of the collision?
a. Neither, both experience forces of the same size. c. The ping-pong ball.
b. The bowling ball. d. It’s impossible to tell from this data.
21. When a falling object has reached its terminal speed, its acceleration is
a. constant but less than 9.81 m/sec2 c. constant but more than 9.81 m/sec2
b. 9.81 m/sec2 d. 0 m/sec2
PHYSICS 101/102 EXAM 1 Spring 2012
22. A ball is thrown into the air. Because of air resistance, its speed when it returns to its starting level compared to its initial speed is
a. less b. the same c. more
23. The frictional force, due to air resistance, acting on an object is always
a. in the direction of the objects motion. d. in the upward direction
b. greater than the net force. e. in the opposite direction to the objects motion.
c. smaller than object’s weight.
24. An object weight 30N on earth. Another object weight 30 N on the moon. Which has the greater mass?
a. the one on earth b. the one on the moon c. they both have the same mass
25. A 10N falling object encounters 10N of air resistance. The net force on the object is
a. 0N b 4N c 6N d 10N e none of these
For the next five questions consider a scene where an airplane flies at a constant altitude in a straight line at a constant speed. A box falls out of the plane and lands into the water below, right next to a small island. Some people on the small island, who had been stranded there due to a ship wreck watched the box fall and they know the box contains food as they had been in contact with rescue crews earlier for a brief moment before their cell phone died and expected the plane to search for them and bring food even though it had been at least a couple of days.
26. Which of Newton’s Laws of motion would apply to the airplane?
a. first b. second c first and second d first and third e second and third
27. Which of Newton’s Laws of motion would apply to the falling box?
a. first b. second c first and second d first and third e second and third
28. Which of Newton’s Laws of motion would apply to the box just floating there without going anywhere? (use a little common sense here and recall this is an open ocean area)
a. first b. second c first and second d first and third e second and third
29. Which of Newton’s Laws of motion would apply to the small island? (again, use a little common sense here)
a. first b. second c first and second d first and third e second and third
30. Finally, which of Newton’s Laws of motion would apply to the people on the small island? (and yet again, use a little common sense here)
a. first b. second c first and second d first and third e second and third
31. A scientific idea that is so well established that it cannot be questioned is
a. a hypothesis b. a theory c. a law d. an impossibility
32. A feather and a hammer hit the ground at the same time if dropped on the moon because
a. the force of gravity is the same for each on the moon.
b. the force of gravity does not act on the moon.
c. there is no atmosphere on the moon.
d. the ratio of each object’s weight to its mass is the same.
e. none of these.
33. If you drop a ball in the absence of air resistance it accelerates downward at 9.8m/s2. If instead you throw the ball downward, then its acceleration after release is
a. less than 9.8 m/ s2
b. equal to 9.8 m/ s2
c. greater than 9.8 m/ s2
PHYSICS 101/102 EXAM 1 Spring 2012
34. When we shoot a rifle “on the level” we know the bullet will eventually drop and hit the ground – but when? The bullet will start dropping
a. after going some considerable distance so air resistance can slow it down.
b. shortly after leaving the barrel, depending on the size of the bullet
c. just a soon as it leaves the barrel
d. just as soon as it finds out the barrel isn’t holding it up anymore
e. there is no way to determine just when it will start dropping because all bullets are not exactly the same
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