Physics 140 Hour Exam I February 7, 2006

Please do not open this exam book until you are told to do so.

You will need

1. A #2 pencil
2. One scantron answer sheet
3. One exam question booklet

On the scantron answer sheet:

1. Use a #2 pencil. Do not use a mechanical pencil or pen. Darken each circle completely, but
stay within the boundary. If you decide to change an answer, erase vigorously: The scanner
sometimes registers incompletely erased marks as intended answers, and this can adversely
affect your grade. Light marks or marks extending outside the circle may be read improperly
by the scanner. Be especially careful that your mark covers the center of its circle.
2. This Exam Booklet is Version A. Mark the A circle in the TEST FORM box near the
middle of your answer sheet. DO THIS NOW! WE WILL ASSESS A 1 POINT (RAW
SCORE) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO DO THIS.
3. Print YOUR LAST NAME in the designated spaces at the left side of the answer sheet, and
then mark the corresponding circle below each letter. Do the same for your FIRST NAME
INITIAL.
4. Print your NETWORK ID in the designated spaces at the right side of the answer sheet,
starting in the left-most column, and then mark the corresponding circle below each
character. If there is a letter "o" in your NetID, be sure to mark the "o" circle, and not the
circle for the digit zero. If and only if there is a hyphen "-" in your NetID, mark the hyphen
circle at the bottom of the column. When you have finished marking the circles
corresponding to your NetID, check particularly that you have not marked two circles in any
one of the columns.
5. Do not write in or mark the circles in any of the other boxes (STUDENT NUMBER, DATE,
SECTION, SCORES, SPECIAL CODE).
6. Mark only one answer per question.
7. When told to do so: Check to make sure that the test booklet is complete. There are 8
numbered pages, including this cover sheet.
8. If you understand the statement below, please sign (DO NOT PRINT) your name in the
space provided. If you do not understand, please ask the professor for clarification.
Academic Integrity—Giving assistance to or receiving assistance from another student or
using unauthorized materials during a University Examination can be grounds for
disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal from the University

Page 1 of 8 pages
(45 Problems)
Physics 140 Hour Exam I February 7, 2006

1. Suppose you have two cars, and the larger one is twice as massive as the smaller one. If you
and a friend push on them so that their accelerations are equal, how must the forces applied to
the cars compare?
A) The force on the larger car is equal to that on the smaller car.
B) The force on the larger car is ½ that on the smaller car.
C) The force on the larger car is twice that on the smaller car.
D) The force on the larger car is more than three times that on the smaller car.

2. Which of the following devices on a car can be used to cause the car to accelerate?
A) The gas pedal.
B) The brake pedal.
C) The steering wheel.
D) All the above.

3. The acceleration of an object is equal to

A) the rate of change of its position.
B) the rate of change of its velocity.
C) the rate of change of its speed only.
D) the time an object has been in motion.

4. Suppose you are at a stop light and hear on your car radio that tickets to the Illini basketball game for
this next weekend in Assembly Hall go on sale at the Athletic Office in 5 minutes. Naturally, you start
off very rapidly. You observe your physics 140 notes on the dashboard fly straight backwards. To
person standing on the curb, the physics notes
A) remain where they were.
B) move forward rapidly.
C) move backwards rapidly.
D) fall straight down.

5. The SI units of acceleration are

A) m/s
B) kg m/s2
C) m/s2
D) kg m2/s2

6. Suppose you have a car traveling down the road at constant speed and not changing direction. It is
experiencing gravity, wind resistance and frictional forces from the road. What can be said about the
car’s acceleration?
A) It is accelerating because there are forces acting on it.
B) It is accelerating because the motor is running, propelling the car forward.
C) It is not accelerating because gravity holds it down.
D) It is not accelerating because it has constant velocity.

7. Suppose you are driving north and suddenly hit your brakes to avoid a dog in the road. As you come to
a stop your acceleration is directed
A) North.
B) South.
C) nowhere, because acceleration is not a vector.
D) downwards.

Page 2 of 8 pages
(45 Problems)
Physics 140 Hour Exam I February 7, 2006

8. An object experiences a net force of 20 N and has an acceleration of 4 m/s2. The object’s mass must be
A) 20 kg
B) 5 kg
C) 80 kg
D) 2 kg

9. Suppose you throw a ball up into the air. After the ball leaves your hand, what is the force pushing the
ball upwards?
A) There is no force pushing the ball upwards.
B) Inertia.
C) Gravity.
D) Energy.

10. It is a hot August day and you and your friends decide to play catch with water balloons. You throw a
full water balloon in a high arc towards your friend, hoping you will help cool her with a big splash on the
top of her head. When the ball is flying though the air its horizontal velocity (neglect air resistance):
A) changes throughout the path due to gravitational acceleration.
B) is zero at the top of the path.
C) is maximum at the top of the path.
D) remains constant throughout the path.

11. It is a hot August day and you and your friends decide to play catch with soft water balloons to cool
off. You throw a full water balloon in a very high arc towards your friend, hoping you will help cool her
with a big splash on the top of her head. When the ball is flying though the air, the vertical component of
its velocity (neglect air resistance):
A) changes throughout the path due to gravitational acceleration.
B) is zero at the top of the path.
C) is maximum at the top of the path.
D) remains constant throughout the path.
E) A and B.

12. A child throws a ball perfectly horizontally at the same time a dirt clump falls off of the ball, so the
dirt clump and the ball fall from the same height. The clump falls vertically downward. Ignoring air
resistance, the time when the clod hits the ground will
A) be equal to the time the ball hits the ground.
B) be earlier than when the ball hits.
C) be later than when the ball hits.
D) not depend upon how high it started falling from.

13. Suppose a tree branch falls down to the ground with constant acceleration and takes 2 seconds to hit
the ground. Which of the following statements regarding the path of the branch is true?
A) It covers the same distance during the first second as it does during the last second.
B) It covers more distance during the last second.
C) It covers less distance during the last second.
D) Its acceleration is increasing during the time it falls.

Page 3 of 8 pages
(45 Problems)
Physics 140 Hour Exam I February 7, 2006

14. Suppose you go from the earth to a planet where the acceleration of gravity is 3 m/s2. There, your
mass will be
A) 1/3 of its value on Earth.
B) 9 times its value on Earth.
C) 3/10 of its value on Earth.
D) the same as its value on Earth.

15. A projectile is thrown directly upward and caught again. At the top of its path
A) it stops accelerating.
B) its vertical velocity is zero.
C) its horizontal velocity changes.
D) its acceleration changes.

16. A car starts from rest and accelerates at 4 m/s2. How much time will it take the car to reach a speed of
20 m/s?
A) 5 s
B) 10 s
C) 4 s
D) 8 s

17. Suppose you weigh 986 N. How much gravitational force does the Earth exert on you, if any?
A) it cannot be determined
B) 986 N
C) 98.6N
D) 9860 N
E) none

18. You are riding a bicycle into a strong head wind, but manage to keep moving in a straight line at a
constant speed. The net force on you is
A) zero.
B) in the direction of your motion.
C) in the direction the wind is pushing you (backwards).
D) downward, due to your weight.

19. In order to do a positive amount of work you must

A) exert a force in the direction of motion.
B) exert a force opposite to the direction of motion.
C) exert a force in any direction, since work is always positive.
D) change an object’s position.

20. You just aced Physics 140 and as you drive back home from Urbana, your friends toss rose petals at
your car in celebration. Some of the rose petals stick to the car and some bounce off. How does the force
your car exerts on each rose petal compare to the force each rose petal exerts on your car?
A) The force the car exerts on each rose petal is more.
B) The force the car exerts is more only for the rose petals that bounce off the car.
C) The force the car exerts on each rose petal is equal.
D) The force the car exerts is less only for the rose petals that bounce off the car.

Page 4 of 8 pages
(45 Problems)
Physics 140 Hour Exam I February 7, 2006

21. Suppose you are returning a stack of books to the library. To enter the library from the road, you can
either walk up a steep set of stairs or a long, gentle ramp. To do the least amount of work you decide to
A) walk up the steep steps.
B) walk up the long, gentle ramp.
C) it does not matter because you will do the same amount of work by either path.

22. Suppose you push horizontally on the wall of a building. For you to do work on the wall, which of
the following needs to happen?
A) The wall moves away from you.
B) The wall lifts straight up.
C) The wall moves sideways.
D) Both B) and C).

23. You push on a box with a horizontal force of 20 N and the box moves a distance of 8 m. The amount
of work you have done on the box is
A) 160 J
B) 320 J
C) 20J
D) zero

24. When chewing hard nuts, we use the teeth towards the back of our mouth because we are able to exert
a greater _____________ on the nuts.
A) force
B) torque
C) angular velocity
D) lever arm

25. A baseball player throws a bat up in the air, so that it rotates as it translates. The bat will rotate about
its
A) end farthest from the handle.
B) center of mass.
C) center of percussion.
D) long axis.

26. A baseball player balances a bat on his finger; the bat is lying sideways and not standing on end. The
bat will balance
A) near the end of its handle.
B) near the end farthest from the handle.
C) at its middle.
D) at its center of mass.

27. Suppose you are changing a car tire and loosening a lug nut. You weigh 800N and stand on the end
of a 2 m long wrench. How much torque do you exert on the lug nut?
A) 1600 J
B) 1600 N m
C) 800 N m
D) 2 N m

Page 5 of 8 pages
(45 Problems)
Physics 140 Hour Exam I February 7, 2006

28. In soap box car races, the cars have no engines. They are boxes with wheels that sit at the top of a hill
and at the start they all begin rolling down the hill. The soap box car that reaches the bottom of the hill
first is the winner. You have entered a soap box car derby (race) where the rule is all the wheels must
have equal mass. Since you have taken Physics 140 you know that it is better to have solid wheels rather
than ones with spokes (where the mass is mostly on the rim) because
A) The solid wheels have a lower moment of inertia and therefore a greater angular acceleration.
B) The solid wheels are easier to paint.
C) The solid wheels have a higher moment of inertia and therefore retain more rotational energy.
D) The wheels with spokes have a higher moment of inertia and therefore a greater angular acceleration.

29. Consider the earth spinning from west to east on its axis. It is slowing down in its rotation due to
friction with the air. Using the right hand rule, in what direction is the frictional torque?
A) S pole to N pole
B) N pole to S pole
C) Counterclockwise along the equator
D Clockwise along the equator

30. The right end of a see-saw accelerates downward, as you view it. By the right-hand rule, the torque
on the see-saw is;
A) away from you.
B) towards you.
C) down.
D) counterclockwise.
E) clockwise.

31. A child is riding a bike and skids to a stop. What happens to his kinetic energy?
A) It is turned into potential energy.
B) It is conserved.
C) It is dissipated by static friction.
D) It is turned into thermal energy by sliding friction.

32. You are rearranging your carpeted bedroom and decide to move your clothes dresser across the room.
To use the least amount of force, you:
A) push parallel to the floor, with all you force directed towards where you wish to move it.
B) slightly lift the dresser (some of the force directed upwards) with most of your force directed towards
where you wish to move it.
C) push slightly down on the dresser, with most of your force directed towards where you wish to move
it.
D) It does not matter if you have a component of force up or down, as long as most of the force is directed
towards where you wish to move it.

33. Sliding friction is not desirable in wheel bearings because

A) too much energy is transferred to the wheel.
B) sliding friction will store too much energy.
C) the wheel will lock on the axle and not move
D) work will be converted into thermal energy, and be dissipated.

Page 6 of 8 pages
(45 Problems)
Physics 140 Hour Exam I February 7, 2006

34. If you are starting and stopping your bicycle with the greatest efficiency, the kind of friction between
your tires and the road is
A) sliding.
B) static.
C) equal amounts of sliding and static.
D) inertial.
E) equal amounts of sliding, static and inertial.

35. In rearranging your bedroom, you try to move your bunk-bead, but even though you apply 150 N, the
bed does not move. Which of these forces might have a magnitude different from 150 N?
A) the horizontal component of the frictional force exerted by the floor on the dresser)
B) the horizontal component of the force exerted by the dresser on you
C) the vertical component of the force exerted by the ground on you

36. Impulse is
A) the change in momentum of an object.
B) the force applied to an object.
C) the change in potential energy of an object.
D) the change in kinetic energy of an object.

37. Imagine a small firecracker inside of a bottle. The firecracker explodes scattering pieces in many
directions. If the momentum of the bottle (ignore friction!) initially at rest is conserved during the
explosion, what can be said about the kinetic energy of the various fragments immediately after the
explosion, when the fragments are flying?
A) The KE of various parts of the system are necessarily conserved.
B) The sum of all the KE of the various pieces equals what it was originally.
C) The total KE afterwards is greater that what it was initially.
D) The total KE afterwards is less that what it was initially.

38. Suppose your car’s speed doubles. By what factor will its kinetic energy change?
A) quadruple
B) double
C) remain constant
D) Can’t tell

39. An 800 kg car moving at 4 m/sec to the right strikes a 400 kg car moving 8 m/sec to the left. If the
cars stick together and stop moving right after the collision, is momentum conserved?
A) No
B) Yes
C) Cannot tell from the information given.

40. Suppose the earth’s polar ice caps melted, sending water towards the equator and increasing the
moment of inertia of the earth to10% greater than its present value. The angular velocity of the earth will
be
A) 10% less than the present value
B) unchanged
C) 10% more than its present value
D) cannot determine with the information given.

Page 7 of 8 pages
(45 Problems)
Physics 140 Hour Exam I February 7, 2006

41. You and your friend are in a park where there is a simple merry-go-rounds that rotates when you push
on it (no motor). Your friend is sitting about half-way out from the center when you give the merry-go-
round a big push. Your friend wants to have the merry-go-round spin more slowly, so he moves closer to
the outside edge. Why does the rotational rate of the system decrease?
A) There was a net force on the entire system, slowing it down.
B) There was a net torque on the entire system, slowing it down.
C) Angular momentum is conserved and the moment of inertia increased.
D) Angular momentum is conserved and the moment of inertial decreased

42. You are playing catch with your sister using a hard baseball. You sister has a very strong throwing
arm and you do not wish to hurt your hand when catching the ball. Therefore, the best way to stop the
ball without hurting your hand is to
A move your hand towards the ball coming to you as you catch it.
B) move your hand away from the ball coming to you as you catch it.
C) let the ball bounce off your hand: Don’t catch it at all!
D) keep your hand still as you catch it.
E) The force on your hand will be the same in all four cases, so it does not matter what you do (ouch).

43. Now that you have taken physics 140 you understand why it is not only important to wear your
seatbelt, but that you should wear it tightly. This is because during an abrupt stop, if your seatbelt is
pulled tightly (as compared to it being loose),
A) you would experience a lower force.
B) you would experience a lower change in momentum.
C) you would experience a lower impulse.
D) you would experience a lower change in kinetic energy.

44. A satellite is orbiting around the Earth in a circle at constant speed. Which of the following
statements is correct?
A) The satellite’s velocity is constant, but its acceleration is not constant.
B) The satellite’s velocity is not constant, but its acceleration is constant.
C) The satellite’s velocity is not constant, and its acceleration is not constant.
D) The satellite’s velocity is constant, and its acceleration is constant.
E) Not enough information to tell.

45. If you weigh 120 pounds, which is approximately 480 N, what is your approximate mass?
A) 120 kg
B) 12 kg
C) 480 kg
D) 48kg

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Page 8 of 8 pages
(45 Problems)