PHY

2048C Sec 2 Spring 2019 UCF

Non-Comprehensive Review for Final

Caveat: As the title implies, this is not meant to be a comprehensive review of
everything that has been done in the course. This is simply a collection of important
concepts – phrased as questions – that I think are important. You can consider it a
“study guide” but, again, it is not necessarily complete. In other words, do not
assume that you will ace the test simply by just only reviewing this document. Use it
as a guide to understand what concepts you might be unsure about. Note that this is
also not intended to be a review of the quantitative aspects of the course; use
homework problems and the numerical examples in class to review problem-
solving techniques.

Also note that the review documents for the midterms are still valid, and should be
reviewed. I give here in this document only material that is available for the final
that was not available for any of the midterms. Here are those relevant class
periods:

Ch11 – class 31, 32, 34.
Ch13 – class 34, 36, 37, 38.


Chapter 11

What is the relationship between the linear velocity of a wheel that’s rolling without
slipping and the rotational speed of that wheel? What about linear acceleration of
the wheel and angular acceleration? What about distance traveled and angular
displacement?

Is the linear acceleration and linear velocity of a point on the rim of the wheel
different from the linear acceleration and linear velocity of the wheel’s center of
mass? Is the a and v on the rim the total a and v, or is it just a component of the a
and v? If just a component, which component?

How does the tangential velocity of a point on the rim of the wheel compare to the
tangential velocity of a point in between the wheel’s rim and center?

Are there any points on the wheel that have an instantaneous velocity of zero? How
can that be the case?

If a wheel is rolling with slipping, what is the force that causes that slippage?

How do you determine the direction that a angular momentum vector points based
on the radius and velocity vectors? What about the radius and linear momentum
vectors?

How do two vectors have to be oriented for you to find the angle between them?
How does that relate to the magnitude of the angular momentum?

Do you need to have something spinning to be able to define an angular momentum?
Why or why not?

In a three-dimensional object that is spinning about an axis, is the “r” that you need
to calculate the angular momentum of a piece of that object the same as the distance
of the object from the coordinate origin? If not, what does that “r” in the angular
momentum formula actually represent?

In what situation can you say that an object’s angular momentum is conserved? If
the angular momentum is not conserved, what can you say about any torques that
occur in the system? Is there a distinction between internal torques and external
torques?

If you have an external force on an object that has some angular momentum, are you
guaranteed to have a torque? Are you guaranteed to not have angular momentum
conserved? What kind of situation might you have where you could have an external
force but still conserve angular momentum? Can you think of an example?

If an object is in a circular orbit around Earth, is the angle between the radius vector
and the momentum vector every different from 90º? If an object is in an elliptical
orbit around Earth, what about then? Are there points in an elliptical orbit where
the angles are 90º?

For an object with angular momentum orbiting another object, is the moment of
inertia that’s needed for the angular momentum formula the moment of inertia of
the object’s own spin around an axis going through its own center of mass, or is it
some other moment of inertia?


Chapter 13

How does Newton’s Third Law apply to understanding how the gravitational force
exerted by one object on a second object compares to the force exerted by that
second object back on the first object? How do the directions of the force vectors
compare?

How does the gravitational force exerted by you on Earth compare to your weight?
What if you are in the air, in free fall?

How does the gravitational force between two terrestrial objects of moderate size
(like say, a person, an automobile, a bicycle, etc.) compare to the force of friction
between each object and the ground?

When calculating the gravitational force between two objects that are touching (like
say you and planet Earth), what distance do you need to use? When calculating the
gravitational force between two objects that are not touching, what distance do you
use?

For something in orbit around Earth, how does the acceleration of the orbiting thing
compare to the acceleration of Earth as a result of the gravitational force exerted by
the orbiting thing on Earth?

Why is it the case that we say that a satellite orbits Earth even though the
gravitational force exerted by the satellite on Earth is exactly the same as the
gravitational force exerted by Earth on the satellite?

Is the value of “g” on planet Earth the same everywhere? Why or why not?

Can you always say that a planet with a smaller radius than Earth will always have a
smaller “g” (acceleration due to the planet’s own gravity)? Can you always say that a
planet with a lower mass than Earth will always have a smaller “g” (acceleration due
to the planet’s own gravity)? Why or why not?

What do you need to consider to be able to ascertain whether a planet’s gravity is
higher or lower than Earth’s?

If a plane is more massive and larger than Earth, will the gravity definitely be higher
than on Earth?

How does the acceleration due to gravity on Earth change as you go off the ground?
In other words, even though g is 9.8 m/s2 on the ground, is it the same value when
you’re up off the ground? If you’re at the top of a tall building, is it a lot less? What
about if you’re in an airplane? What if you’re hundreds of miles high? How much
less is it generally in these places?

Why is mgh not appropriate for the gravitational potential energy if you are off the
ground? What is a better statement of GPE that will work in more generality?

Is the “r” in the formula for general GPE the distance from the object to the ground,
or is it something else?

Is the negative sign in the formula for general GPE important?

With a more generalized expression for mechanical energy, is there any difference
when considering when that energy is conserved? If you have a net non-
conservative force acting on an object, are you guaranteed to not conserve
mechanical energy? What about a net non-conservative force has to be the case for
you to have no conservation of mechanical energy?

What does the escape velocity off a planet represent? What speed would you have
when you were infinitely far (or far “enough”) away from that planet after leaving it
at the escape velocity?

If a planet’s acceleration due to gravity (it’s own “g”) is higher than Earth’s, does that
guarantee that the escape velocity is higher? Can you ever have a case where the
escape velocity of a planet matches Earth’s, but the gravity doesn’t? What about vice
versa? What do you need to consider to make that assessment?

What is the escape velocity from the edge of a black hole? How densely do you have
to pack in some mass to make a black hole? Are black holes from everyday objects
very common? Why or why not?

Do black holes suck everything up like vacuum cleaners? If an object like Earth
suddenly became a black hole, what would happen to an object orbiting it, like the
Moon? If the Sun suddenly became a black hole, what would happen to the orbit of
Earth?

If you keep the mass of Earth the same, but shrink it down to smaller and smaller
diameters, what happens to the escape velocity from the surface? What happens to
the escape velocity from a position at the original radius of Earth?

Why do satellites orbiting Earth not need to fire their engines continuously to stay
in orbit?

How does the kinetic energy with which you leave Earth determine what kind of
orbit you end up on? Is it possible to end up on an elliptical orbit? Is it possible to
end up on an “orbit” that actually doesn’t come back around to Earth?

What are the basic properties of an ellipse and an elliptical orbit? How do the
minimum and maximum distances compare to the major axis (or semimajor axis) of
the ellipse?

Can a planet be on an elliptical orbit around the Sun that has the Sun at the center of
the ellipse?

How does the eccentricity of an elliptical orbit affect the time it takes for the object
to make a complete orbit? In other words if you had several satellites orbiting Earth
but all on orbits of different elongation (eccentricity) but the same average distance
from Earth, would they all have the same or different times to complete an orbit?
What about the reverse situation, if you have several satellites that all took the same
time to go around Earth, but were on differently-shaped orbits, would the average
distance to Earth be the same or different?