PHY1015 Tutorial Sheet 2 2020/21

Uniformly Accelerated Motion &

Projectiles.

01. The velocity-time graph of a runner is shown in the figure.

(i) How far does the runner go in 16 s? (ii) What is the acceleration of the runner at

t = 2 s? And at t = 11 s?

02. The speed of a nerve impulse in a human body is about 100 m/s. If you accidentally

stub your toe in the dark, estimate the time it takes the nerve impulse to travel to

your brain. What would happen if the speed of the nerve impulse was much lower say

1 m/s?

03*. A truck travelling at 22.5 m/s decelerates at 2.27 m/s2.

(a) How much time does it take for the truck to stop?

(b) How far does it travel while stopping?

(c) How far does it travel during the third second after the brakes are applied?

04*. Traumatic brain injury such as concussion results when the head undergoes a

very large acceleration. Generally, an acceleration less than 800 m/s2 lasting for any

length of time will not cause injury, whereas an acceleration greater than 1000 m/s2

lasting for 1 ms will cause injury. Suppose a small child rolls off a bed that is 0.40 m

above the floor. If the floor is hardwood, the child’s head is brought to rest in

approximately 2.0 mm. If the floor is carpeted, this stopping distance is increased to

about 1.0 cm. (a) calculate the magnitude and duration of the deceleration in both

case, to determine the risk of injury. Assume the child remains horizontal during the

fall to the floor. Note that a more complicated fall could result in a head velocity greater

or less than the speed you calculate.

 05*. A ball is thrown upward with an initial velocity of 15.0 m/s and then falls and is

caught by the person who threw it. (a) How high does the ball go? (b)After 1.5 s is the

ball still going up or it is on its way down? (c) How fast is it going the instant before it

is caught? (d) How long is it in the air? [(a)11.5 m, (b)determine the sign of the

velocity, (c) -15 m/s, (d) 3.06 s]

06* The thickest and strongest chamber in the human heart is the left ventricle,

responsible during systole for pumping oxygenated blood through the aorta to the rest

of the body. Assume aortic blood starts from rest and accelerates at 22.5 m/s2 to a

peak speed of 1.05 m/s. (a) How far does the blood travel during this acceleration?

(b) How much time is required for the blood to reach its peak speed?

07*. An airplane carrying out parcel drop releases a parcel while travelling at a steady

speed of 90 m/s at an altitude of 200 m. Calculate (a) the taken between the parcel

leaving the airplane and it striking the ground. (b) the horizontal distance travelled by

the parcel in this time. (c) the speed at which the parcel strikes the ground.

08*. The average person passes out at an acceleration of 7g (i.e 7*9.8 m/s2). Suppose

a car is designed to accelerate at this rate. How much time would be required for the

car to accelerate from rest to 96.6 km/h (The car would need rocket boosters!)

9* Runway design. You are designing an airport for small planes. One kind of

airplane that might use this airfield must reach a speed before takeoff of at least and

can accelerate at (a) If the runway is 150 m long, can this airplane reach the

required speed for takeoff? [in this case the v = 24.5 m/s] (b) If not, what minimum

length must the runway have? [193 m]

10. A paper in the journal Current Biology tells of some jellyfish like animals that attack

their prey by launching stinging cells in one of the animal kingdom’s fastest
movements. High-speed photography showed the cells were accelerated from rest for

700 ns. At 5.30 x 107 m/s2. (a) Calculate the maximum speed reached by the cells

and (b) the distance travelled during the acceleration.