ASDAN - BPhO Physics Camp July 2022

Problem Solving in Physics

These questions are not about getting the answers, but explaining ideas and using the physics to understand what is going on. Try and
come up with more than one method for solving a problem. The questions are an introduction and you need to be able to discuss the
questions beyond pointing out the answer.

Dynamics
1. A small particle is released from rest at the top of a fixed sphere and slides down the smooth surface. At what angle θ has it swung
through when it loses contact with the sphere? Would it make any difference if the particle was a large spherical particle sliding
off a smooth sphere? What about a sphere rolling off a rough large sphere? Do the radii of the spheres make any difference?

2. A ball is projected upwards and is at height h after time t1 and again after time t2 during its fall. Show that the initial velocity
u = 21 g(t1 + t2 ) and that h = 12 gt1 t2 . Why is it clear that u must take this form? Do this using several different methods.

3. A circular wheel is rolled along a horizontal surface. A point P is marked on the circumference of the wheel.
Determine the equation in terms of x and y for the position of P, setting the origin from when the point is on the ground when the
wheel starts rolling. x = aθ − a sin(θ), y = a(1 − cos(θ))
If the wheel rolls at a uniform rate so that θ = ωt, determine ẋ, ẏ, ẍ ÿ. where ẋ = dx
dt . Draw these vectors on the wheel at
positions θ = 0, π/2, π, 3π/2. Comment on the distinction between the velocity vectors at points around the wheel, which moves
at a uniform rate, and the acceleration vectors around the wheel.

4. A helium filled balloon of total mass m descends with constant velocity, v. How much ballast must be jettisoned from the balloon
so that it should then rise with the same velocity, v? The lifting capacity of the balloon, B, is known. The air resistance is
proportional to the velocity.

5. A person holds one end of a plank of length ` while the other end rests on a drum of radius r with r  ` (see Fig. 1). The plank
is horizontal. The person walks towards the drum, making the drum roll away from them. No slipping occurs.
How far must they walk to reach the drum? Give three or four different arguments.

Figure 1: Plank rolling along a drum.

6. You are given billiard table in which the balls make perfectly elastic collisions with the sides. Balls are “shot” simultaneously
from anywhere along the edge of the long side of the table with velocities that are equal in magnitude but whose direction can
vary in the range 0 < θ ≤ π/2 where θ is the angle measured from the long side. How does the angle affect the time taken, t, to
return to the side of the table from which they started? Sketch a graph of t against θ.

7. Four containers show a block of ice floating in water in Fig. 2.

a) In (1) the ice is solid,

b) in (2) the ice has a large air bubble trapped inside,
c) in (3) the ice has a volume of water trapped inside, and
d) in (4) there is an iron nail.

What happens to the water level in each container when the ice
melts?

Figure 2: Four examples of ice floating in water.

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 8. A boat containing a large block of wood sits floating a lake. When the block is lifted out and thrown into the water, does the level
of the water in the lake rise or fall?

9. A tank of water has a small boat floating in it. It is carefully balanced on a pivot as shown in Fig. 3. What happens as the boat
slowly drifts to the right?

Figure 3: A tank of water balanced on a pivot.

10. The drum from a reel of wire consist of a cylinder between two concentric discs. A piece of string is wrapped around the drum,
and a force F on the string pulls the drum along the floor without slipping. Does the drum move forwards or backwards (in the
same or opposite direction to the pulling string)?

Figure 4: When the drum is pulled by the string, does it roll to the left or to the right?.

Electricity
1. What is the resistance between the ends A and B of the following two circuits?

Figure 5: Fancy resistor arrangement.

Figure 6: Using the same ideas to solve a harder problem.

2. What is the resistance between any two vertices of a tetrahedron of equal resistors R
shown in Fig. 7?
(on the diagram, each line has a resistance R = 4 Ω)

Figure 7: Tetrahedron of
equal resistors.

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 3. What is the resistance between opposite corners of a cubic framework of equal resistors
shown in Fig. 8? (all the lines have equal resistance R = 1 Ω)
What about the resistance between two diagonal corners on a face?
Figure 8: Cube of
equal resistors.

4. What happens to the bulbs A, B and C when the switch, S shown in Fig. 9?, is closed?
(the bulbs are identical)

Figure 9: Simple circuit

with three identical bulbs.

Explanations
1. When you stand on a stone table top, it pushes up by the same amount of force as your weight (not quite a Newton III statement).
How does the table know just how much to push upwards to match your weight?

2. Which is smoother – a table tennis ball or the Earth?

3. Why does a mouse need to eat more food as a proportion of its body weight than an elephant?

4. A metal disc has a hole cut in the middle, as in in Fig. 10. The disk is heated. What happens to the
size of the hole?

Figure 10: Metal

disc with a central
hole.

5. A glass bottle has a conical top end. It contains cream floating on milk. You shake the
bottle to make it homogeneous. What then happened to the pressure of the liquid at the
bottom of the bottle?

Figure 11: Milk bot-

tle with cream at the
top.

6. What are the conditions needed for interference of waves? How are they different from the conditions needed to observe interfer-
ence?