Bagrut (Secondary School Matriculation) · Physics

Mechanics, Gravitation and Harmonic Motion

26 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 26 questions

  1. A projectile is launched from ground level at an angle of 30 degrees above the horizontal with initial speed 40 m/s. Assuming g = 9.8 m/s^2 and neglecting air resistance, what is its maximum height ab…
  2. A car accelerates uniformly from rest to 25 m/s in 10 seconds, then travels at constant speed for 20 seconds, and finally brakes uniformly to a stop in 5 seconds. What is the total distance traveled?
  3. A stone is thrown horizontally from the roof of a 45 m tall building with an initial speed of 20 m/s. Taking g = 10 m/s^2, what is the speed of the stone just before it strikes the ground?
  4. A projectile is launched from a cliff of height 20 m with initial speed 30 m/s at an angle of 30 degrees above the horizontal. Taking g = 10 m/s^2, what is the horizontal range to the landing point?
  5. A particle moves along a straight line such that its position is given by x(t) = 2t^3 - 9t^2 + 12*t + 5, where t is in seconds. At what times is the particle momentarily at rest?
  6. Boat A sails east at 12 km/h and boat B sails north at 16 km/h. What is the magnitude of the velocity of boat B relative to boat A?
  7. A motorboat crosses a 240 m wide river flowing east at 3 m/s. The boat heads due north relative to the water at 4 m/s. How far downstream from its starting point does the boat land on the opposite ban…
  8. Two cars travel towards each other on a straight road. Car A starts from rest at x = 0 accelerating at 2 m/s^2. Car B starts simultaneously from x = 200 m moving towards A at constant speed 10 m/s. At…
  9. A block of mass 5 kg rests on a rough horizontal surface with coefficient of static friction mu_s = 0.4 and kinetic friction mu_k = 0.3. A horizontal force of 15 N is applied. Taking g = 9.8 m/s^2, wh…
  10. A 10 kg box is pushed up a 30-degree frictionless incline by a horizontal force F. Taking g = 9.8 m/s^2, what magnitude of F keeps the box moving at constant velocity?
  11. In an Atwood machine, masses m_1 = 3 kg and m_2 = 5 kg are connected by a light string over a frictionless, massless pulley. Taking g = 9.8 m/s^2, what is the acceleration of the system?
  12. Two blocks with masses m_1 = 4 kg and m_2 = 2 kg are connected by a light string on a double inclined plane. Block 1 is on a 30-degree incline and block 2 is on a 60-degree incline. The planes are fri…
  13. A highway curve of radius 150 m is banked for traffic traveling at 72 km/h (20 m/s) with no reliance on friction. Taking g = 9.8 m/s^2, what is the banking angle theta?
  14. A mass m rests on a turn-table at distance r = 0.5 m from the axis of rotation. The coefficient of static friction is mu_s = 0.32. Taking g = 9.8 m/s^2, what is the maximum angular speed omega before…
  15. A 1000 kg elevator is supported by a cable. When the elevator is moving downward and decelerating at 2 m/s^2, taking g = 9.8 m/s^2, what is the tension in the cable?
  16. A block of mass 2 kg is placed on an incline with angle 37 degrees (sin = 0.6, cos = 0.8) and static friction coefficient mu_s = 0.5. A variable force F is applied parallel to the incline. Taking g =…
  17. A roller coaster car of mass m enters a vertical circular loop of radius R. What is the minimum speed at the top of the loop required for the car to remain in contact with the track?
  18. A satellite moves in a circular orbit of radius r around a planet of mass M. What is its total mechanical energy in terms of G, M, m, and r?
  19. What is the escape velocity from the surface of Earth (radius R = 6.37 10^6 m, mass M = 5.97 10^24 kg, G = 6.674 * 10^-11 N m^2/kg^2)?
  20. A satellite in a circular orbit of radius r_1 has total energy E_1. It is transferred to a higher circular orbit of radius r_2 = 2*r_1. How much work was done by its propulsion system during this tran…
  21. A small block of mass m slides down a frictionless spherical dome of radius R, starting from rest at the top. At what vertical height h above the base does the block lose contact with the dome?
  22. A variable force F(x) = 3x^2 - 4x + 1 (in Newtons) acts on a 2 kg object moving along the x-axis from x = 1 m to x = 3 m. What is the total work done by the force?
  23. A spring with spring constant k = 200 N/m is compressed by 0.1 m and launches a 0.2 kg toy car on a smooth horizontal floor. What is the launch speed of the car?
  24. A 0.5 kg ball is dropped from a height of 5 m onto a hard floor and bounces back to a height of 3.2 m. Taking g = 10 m/s^2, what is the mechanical energy lost during the impact?
  25. A 2 kg cart moving at 4 m/s collides head-on with a stationary 6 kg cart. The two carts stick together after collision. What is the common velocity after the collision?
  26. A particle undergoes simple harmonic motion with amplitude A = 0.2 m and period T = 2.0 s. What is its maximum acceleration?

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