AP Physics 1 : Work, Energy, and Power

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Physics 1

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Example Questions

Example Question #11 : Conservation Of Energy

A  block is released from rest on a frictionless ramp inclined at an angle of  with respect to the horizontal. Using conservation of energy methods, calculate the final velocity of the block if it slides a distance of  down the incline.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve this problem, we must look at the total energy of the system at two different times: at the beginning before the motion starts, and at the end of the incline.  From there, we can use the conservation of energy to solve for the speed of the object at the bottom of the incline.

Example Question #14 : Conservation Of Energy

2 objects(named object A and object B) of equal masses and initial kinetic energy collide onto one another. During the collision, object A loses  of its kinetic energy, which object B gains. Assume mass of both objects remain unchanged. 

By what factor will the velocity of the object A change after the collision? 

Possible Answers:

Velocity will change by a factor of 

Velocity will change by a factor of 

Velocity will change by a factor of 

Velocity will change by a factor of 

Correct answer:

Velocity will change by a factor of 

Explanation:

Kinetic energy  is related to velocity  and mass  by

Object A's kinetic energy has decreased by . We know that its mass hasn't changed. 

Relate velocity to kinetic energy, while mass is not changing

Since  has changed by a factor of  will change by a factor of

Example Question #21 : Conservation Of Energy

Coaster

A roller coaster cart is starting at rest at a height of . It goes down the track and around a loop. Assuming there is no friction between the track and the cart, what is the velocity of the cart when it has come out of the loop at the bottom of the track in miles per hour?

Possible Answers:

None of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Conservation of energy is a very powerful tool for solving some mechanics problems. If we used Newtonian mechanics this would be a lot more difficult. The conservation of energy for the cart denotes:

Where  is the kinetic energy of the system and  is the potential energy.   and  are defined by:

When the cart is at the top of the track it is at rest. This means that there is no initial kinetic energy. When the cart is at the bottom of the track it's height is zero, so it has no final potential energy. Therefore,

Notice that the mass cancels. Solve for :

Convert to miles per hour:

Example Question #202 : Ap Physics 1

You are in Paris, France, holding on to a tennis ball of mass .

 

You throw it straight up. It leaves your hand two meters above the ground at a speed of .

 

What is the maximum height above the ground the ball obtains?

 

You may use as your acceleration.

Possible Answers:

None of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We will use conservation of energy to help us.

 

We will treat our initial situation as the moment the ball left the hand, and the final situation as the ball at the maximum height.

 

 

 

Mass cancels out

 

 

will be zero at our maximum height

 

 

Rearranging our equatin to solve for

 

 

We then plug in our values


Example Question #203 : Ap Physics 1

An object of mass  falls from a  tall building.

Determine the velocity just before hitting the ground.

Possible Answers:

None of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Use conservation of energy:

At the moment of dropping, there will be no velocity and thus no kinetic energy. Right before hitting the ground, there will be no height, and this no potential energy.

Solve for velocity:

Example Question #204 : Ap Physics 1

An object of mass  falls from a  tall building.

Determine the momentum just before hitting the ground.

Possible Answers:

None of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Use conservation of energy

At the moment of dropping, there will be no velocity and thus no kinetic energy. Right before hitting the ground, there will be no height, and this no potential energy.

Solve for velocity:

Use definition of momentum:

Example Question #205 : Ap Physics 1

An object of mass  falls from a  tall building.

Determine the potential energy after the object has fallen .

Possible Answers:

None of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Use the formula for potential energy due to gravity:

Example Question #206 : Ap Physics 1

An object of mass  falls from a  tall building.

Determine the kinetic energy of the object 1.5S after being dropped.

Possible Answers:

None of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First, use the velocity update kinematic equation:

Then use the definition of kinetic energy:

Example Question #22 : Conservation Of Energy

A solid disk of mass  and radius  rolls down a frictionless incline of height  and angle . The disk starts from rest at the top of the ramp, and the moment of inertia of the disk is

If the mass rolls without slipping, what is the linear velocity of the mass at the bottom of the ramp in terms of , and ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Since the ramp is frictionless and the disk rolls without slipping, we can infer two things: one conservation of energy applies here, and two we have the condition that , where  is the linear velocity, and  is the angular velocity. For convenience, we will set the potential energy to 0 at the bottom of the ramp, since then for the final energy of the disk will not contain any potential energy terms. Now the initial energy of the disk  will be all potential energy, since the disk starts rolling from rest. Thus , its gravitational potential energy. At the bottom of the ramp, it will not have any potential energy, but it will have two types of kinetic energy: translational kinetic energy due to the fact that the disk itself is moving down the ramp, and rotational kinetic energy due to the fact that the disk is rotating about its center. Thus its final energy  is given by 

 

Where the first term is the translational kinetic energy contribution, and the second term is the rotational kinetic energy contribution. Now, applying conservation of energy gives us:

Since we are solving for  the linear velocity, we use the fact that  and also we replace the moment of inertia  with  to obtain the following:

Now we solve for  by multiplying each side by  and then taking the square root. We obtain: 

Thus the linear velocity is given by 

Example Question #207 : Ap Physics 1

A spring-loaded pop gun fires a dart out of the muzzle at . The spring inside is compressed a distance of  and the dart has a mass of .

What is the spring constant for the spring in the popgun?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The popgun compresses a spring and stores potential energy in the spring. The spring then releases and fires the dart, converting all of the potential energy in the spring into kinetic energy which launches the dart out of the gun at . Therefore, we can use conservation of energy to find the value of the spring constant. The initial energy is given by

Where  is the spring constant and  is the compression distance. Because the dart is sitting in the gun, there is no initial kinetic energy. The final energy is given by 

Where  is the mass of the dart, and  is the velocity of the dart. From the givens in the problem, we know that 

, and  

Now we apply conservation of energy. We have:

To solve for , we multiply each side of the equation by  to obtain:

Therefore the spring constant is .

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