AP Physics 1 : Circular, Rotational, and Harmonic Motion

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Physics 1

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Example Questions

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Example Question #1 : Other Circular And Rotational Motion Concepts

Two cars are racing side by side on a circular race track. Which has the greater linear velocity?

Possible Answers:

They have the same linear velocity

Impossible to determine

The car on the outside

The car on the inside

Correct answer:

The car on the outside

Explanation:

If the cars are racing side by side on a circular track, then they have the same angular velocity, because they complete their circles in the same amount of time. However, the car on the outside has a larger circle to complete, and thus must have a higher linear velocity.

Example Question #1 : Other Circular And Rotational Motion Concepts

Use energy conservation and your knowledge of rotational dynamics to solve the following problem

For a ball of radius and mass starting at the top of a friction-less ramp of height , as shown below, what will the final velocity of the ball be just as it leaves the bottom of the ramp? Assume that the gravity on earth is  and round your answer to the nearest 2 significant figures.

Ball on ramp 1

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For this problem the ball picks up rotational velocity as well as linear velocity. Keeping this in mind we first set up our equation of conservation of energy

Because the object starts at rest the initial kinetic energy is 0 and likewise the final potential energy is 0 because it has spent all its potential energy to become kinetic.

Where m is mass of the ball, g is gravity, h is height of the ramp, v is final velocity of the ball, I is the moment of inertia of the ball, and w is the final rotational velocity of the ball.

Now because the ball is a solid sphere we can represent I and w as follows

and

Plugging this into our equation of energy conservation

Now solve for velocity:

Now plugging in our value for height, we arrive at a final answer of 

Example Question #137 : Circular And Rotational Motion

Question 5

Michelle and her two brothers have some toys (spheres) they wish to roll down an incline in a race to the finish. Three objects are shown in which the siblings can choose from. Object A is a solid sphere with a mass of  and radius of ; Object B is a hollow sphere with a mass of  and radius of ; Object C is a solid sphere with a mass of  and radius of . The rules are that everyone starts at the same time and cannot push the spheres down, they must roll on their own. Which is most likely the best choice for Michelle if she wishes to win the race?

Possible Answers:

Object A & B will have the same outcome

Object C only

Object B only

Object A only

Correct answer:

Object A only

Explanation:

This question deals with inertia. You can solve this mathematically, but the answer can also be found conceptually.

Inertia (in physics) is the object's ability to resist change in motion. In this case, it is based on mass, and how the mass of the object is distributed around it's rotational axis (Center of mass = middle of sphere). The larger the inertia, the more resistant to rotation; the more resistant to rotation, the slower the object will move down the incline.

Have you ever seen figure skating? When skaters want to make very tight turns or rotations, they pull their arms and head really close into their chest and crouch down into a smaller formation.

Why do skaters do this? Physics of course! The closer the mass of an object is to its COM, the smaller inertia they have, and the smaller resistance to change in motion. If the same skater (same height, weight, dimensions) attempts a turn in a further stretched out position (limbs untucked, etc), they will have a larger inertia, and therefore would not be able to turn as quickly as they could when tucked.

Okay so back to the spheres. As with the skaters, the further a mass is distributed from its COM, the larger the inertia. So between spheres A and B, which do you think has a lower inertia?

Sphere A has it's mass more evenly distributed throughout itself, whereas sphere B has the same mass, but with it's weight distributed solely to the exterior of its shell. Therefore, sphere A is a better choice that sphere B.

Now, what about sphere C? Typically, the larger the mass, the larger the inertia, same scenario for the objects' radii. The larger the M and R, the larger the inertia and the more resistant the object is to rotation. The best answer for Michelle to win is object A only. If you want to plug in some numbers to the inertia equations, I'll provide them here:

Example Question #201 : Circular, Rotational, And Harmonic Motion

Laura plans on running track in college. She has a 5:08 mile time which means she can run 4 laps around a circular track (, ) in this time. As she crosses the finish line, what is the displacement of Laura's run?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Displacement is the change in distance from start to finish

Where  is her position on the circular track. Since Laura starts and ends at the same place, the displacement is 0. It doesn't matter what we label her start/end position as, it's her initial position compared to her final.

Example Question #139 : Circular And Rotational Motion

Steve likes to work out after school. He goes to a new gym's free-weight section, he notices something strange about the dumbbells (see image).

Dubbell

What did Steve notice when he was doing his bicep curls?

Possible Answers:

It felt the same as his usual 30lb workout

He could not even lift the new dumbbell

It seemed easier than his usual 30lb workout

It seemed harder than his usual 30lb workout

Not enough information

Correct answer:

It seemed harder than his usual 30lb workout

Explanation:

Inertia is the ability for an object to resist motion. In this case, inertia is determined by how far away the mass (weights) are distributed from the dumbbell's COM (center of handle). While there is no definitive equation for the "inertia of a dumbbell", we can conceptualize this. All inertia equations deal with a mass and a radius. The larger either of these numbers are, the larger the inertia! We know that the larger the inertia, the more resistant that object is to change in motion (or the more awkward it would be to pick up that object). With that said, it would be harder for Steve to pick up the new weight. Not because of the weight itself, but because of how that same weight is distributed around that object. Think about it this way; a piece of paper weighs roughly .16 oz. if I gave you a 1 cm cube that weighed .16 oz, which would be easier to pick up and balance on your head? I would most likely assume that you would say the cube. This is because the weight of the cube is more closely positioned near the COM, rather than the thin sheet of paper with it's weight evenly spread throughout 8.5" x 11".

 

Example Question #131 : Circular And Rotational Motion

Question 2

Alex is swinging a bucket in a vertical circle via a massless rope. If his brother Matthew sneaks behind him and cuts the rope at the "3 o'clock position" (not depicted), then what is the initial direction of the buckets motion? 

Possible Answers:

From left to right

Downwards

Upwards

Inwards

Correct answer:

Upwards

Explanation:

The bucket would proceed in the same direction as the tangential velocity at that given time. As seen in the figure below, each position of the bucket around the circle will give rise to a new tangential velocity vector. If the bucket is going counter clockwise and is released at the "3 o'clock" position, the  will be in the upward direction.

Grav v 7

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