AP Physics 1 : AP Physics 1

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Physics 1

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Example Questions

Example Question #294 : Forces

Suppose that a  box sits on top of a  box. A force is applied to the bottom box, causing both boxes to accelerate in the direction of the force. If the applied force remains the same, but the top box is removed, how does the acceleration of the system change?

Possible Answers:

The acceleration decreases by a factor of 

The acceleration does not change

The acceleration increases by a factor of 

The acceleration decreases by a factor of 

The acceleration increases by a factor of 

Correct answer:

The acceleration increases by a factor of 

Explanation:

To solve this question, we need to determine how the acceleration of the system changes once the top box is removed. To do this, we'll first have to evaluate the acceleration of the system before the top box is removed, and then do the same after its removal.

First, let's determine the initial acceleration. Since the applied force is causing both boxes to accelerate, we know that the total mass of the system has to be the combination of the masses of both boxes.

Next, we can write an expression for the final acceleration of the system, which will only consist of the bottom box.

Since the force applied doesn't change in either instance, we can relate each of the two expressions shown above.

Next, we can rearrange the above expression to isolate the term for final acceleration.

Now, we just need to plug in the values that we know to obtain our answer.

Example Question #901 : Ap Physics 1

Force 1 pushes on a  ball with  to the right. Force 2 pushes on the ball with  to the left. Force 3 pushes on the ball with  to the left. The up and down forces can be assumed to be equivalent.

What is the acceleration of the ball?

Possible Answers:

 to the left.

 to the right.

 to the right.

 to the left.

 to the right.

Correct answer:

 to the right.

Explanation:

Acceleration can be found by dividing the sum of the forces acting on an object by the mass of the object:

It is important to notice that both acceleration and the forces in the equation are vectors, meaning that both magnitude and direction matter.

In physics, we usually assign up and right as the positive directions, and down and left as the negative directions.

With that in mind, we first sum the forces:

Because our result is positive, the sum of the forces is directed towards the right.

Plugging in our sum and given mass in to our acceleration equation we find:

Example Question #902 : Ap Physics 1

An person is riding upward in an elevator. The elevator is coming to a stop, accelerating at . What is the perceived weight of the person?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The person's perceived weight is a result of gravity and the elevator's acceleration changing the normal force between person and elevator. Using Newton's second law, we can express all of the forces in the y-direction as:

. Plugging in known values gives that 

 

Example Question #297 : Forces

 remote controlled helicopter is dropped from a height of . The spinning rotors in the helicopter create a constant upward force of . How long is the helicopter airborne before hitting the ground?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The only forces acting on the helicopter are the upward mechanical force and gravity. Newton's second law gives that the net force can be given by . The total acceleration can then be expressed as .

Using kinematics, we can find the time the helicopter is airborne. Using this kinematic equation , we can plug in known values and solve for time:

 and 

Example Question #51 : Newton's Second Law

 person slides down a  ladder to the ground. If they started from rest, slid down at constant acceleration, and touched the ground  later, what was the upward force on the person exerted by the ladder?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The only forces acting on the person are gravity and an unidentified opposing force that slows the person's descent.

Using kinematics, we can find the net acceleration of the person:

. Plugging in our known values, we find  and .

Using Newton's second law, we know that

. All of the forces in the y-direction can then be expressed as . Solving for  we find that 

Example Question #861 : Newtonian Mechanics

A cat of mass 5kg jumps on a dining table of mass 30kg. As the cat walks around on the table, what is the average force that the table applies to the cat?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This question is testing your understanding of Newton's third law (equal and opposite forces). The forces between the cat and table depend solely on the mass of the cat; therefore, the mass of the table is irrelevant.

The force that the cat applies to the table is simply its weight. According to Newton's third law, the table also applies a force to the cat of the same magnitude. The force on the cat from the table is:

Example Question #1 : Newton's Third Law

Pulley

A 15 kg block and a 10 kg block are hanging on opposite sides of a pulley (see picture). Assuming a frictionless, massless pulley, determine the acceleration of the blocks once they are released from rest.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Since the two blocks are connected by the rope of the pulley, they will have the same acceleration and we can treat them as a single system. Start by drawing a free-body diagram including all the forces acting on each object.  Also, choose a direction to be considered the positive direction (+) and a direction to be the negative direction (-).

Pulley_answer1

Each block has two forces acting on it: weight and tension. The weight of each block can be found using the equation:

Therefore, the weight of the 10 kg block is 100 N, and the weight of the 15 kg block is 150 N.

According to Newton's third law, for every force there is an equal and opposite force. The two tension forces, in this case, are an action/reaction pair; they are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction.

Now, using Newton's second law:

Since we are treating the system as a whole, or as if it is moving as a single object, we will add up all the forces acting on each object.

All forces which point in the positive (+) direction, as shown in the free body diagram above, will also be positive when put into the equation. All forces pointing in the negative (-) direction will also be negative in the equation.

What should we use for "" in the equation? Since we are treating the whole system as a single object, we must add all the masses together. In other words, 10 kg plus 15 kg, which is 25 kg total mass.

Notice now that the two tension forces will be canceled out, since they are action/reaction pairs and thus are equal but opposite in sign. So, solve for acceleration:

Example Question #301 : Forces

Dave is riding his skateboard and pushes off the ground with his foot. This causes him to accelerate at a rate of . Dave weighs 589 N. How strong was his push off the ground?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Dave weighs 589 N. This means his mass is

He accelerates at , which means he was pushed by a force of

By Newton's third law of motion, Dave must also have pushed of the ground with a force of 240 Newtons.

Example Question #301 : Forces

A man shoots a rifle and the force of the shot results in recoil. The magnitude of the force on the rifle __________ the magnitude of force on the bullet, and the magnitude of acceleration of the rile __________ that of the bullet.

Possible Answers:

is less than . . . is less than

is greater than . . . is less than

equals . . . is less than

is less than . . . is greater than

equals . . . equals

Correct answer:

equals . . . is less than

Explanation:

Consistent with Newton's third law, which states that every force has an equal and opposite reaction, the force on the rifle is equal to the force on the bulet. However, the rifle has a larger mass, so the magnitude of its acceleration is less than that of the bullet.

Example Question #871 : Newtonian Mechanics

Two cars, one of mass 500kg and one of mass 250kg, collide head on. The car with more mass experiences a(n) __________ force and a(n) __________ acceleration with respect to the the smaller car. 

Possible Answers:

equal . . . smaller

larger . . . larger 

larger . . . smaller 

equal . . . larger 

Correct answer:

equal . . . smaller

Explanation:

The cars will experience the same force, due to Newtown's third law. Because the larger car experiences the same force and has a larger mass, by Newton's first law, it will have a smaller acceleration. 

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