Some Sample Conceptual Questions for Midterm One, Physics 151

1. A ball is dropped from a height h = 5 m, taking about 1 second to hit the floor.
If the ball is dropped from 80 m, about how long does it take reach the floor?

a. 1s
a. 2 s
b. 4 s
c. 40 s
d. 80 s

2. An object moves from the origin in the following circuit: (x,y) = (0,0)=>(1,0) =>
(1,1)=>(0,1)=>(0,0) under the influence of a force F = ai. How much work is done along
the total path?

a. 0J
b. aJ
c. -a J
d. ½ a2 J
e. -½a2 J

3. Consider a rollercoaster moving frictionlessly through a complete, vertical circular loop. What
forces are equal to the centripetal force?

a. Fc = Normal Force top of the loop.

b. Fc = Normal Force at the midpoint of the loop.
c. Fc = Weight – Normal Force at the top of the loop.
d. Fc = Weight at the bottom of the loop.

4. Which of the following requires the most amount of work on the brakes of a car?

a. Slowing down from 300 kph to 200 kph.

b. Slowing down from 200 kph to 100 kph.
c. Slowing down from 100 kph to 0 kph.
d. All the above require the same amount of work.

5. A ball is thrown in the air, such that its path describes a parabola. What is true about the speed
of the ball once it leaves your hand and before it hits the ground? Here x points in the
horizontal direction, and positive y points upward; ignore wind resistance.

a. vx = vy = 0. d. vx = constant.
b. vx = vy = constant. e. vy = constant.
c. vx is a linear function of time.
6. A ball is thrown in the air, such that its path describes a parabola. What is true about the
acceleration of the ball once it leaves your hand and before it hits the ground? Here x points in
the horizontal direction, and positive y points upward; ignore wind resistance.

a. ax = ay = 0. d. ax = -g; ay = 0.
b. ax = ay = -g. e. ax and ay vary along the path.
c. ax = 0; ay = -g.

7. Consider the case of a skydiver in free fall. Eventually, she reaches a constant velocity due to air
resistance. Which of the following is then true?

a. The gravitational force is zero.

b. The force due to air resistance is zero.
c. The net force on the diver is zero.
d. The gravitational force is greater than the air resistance force.

8. You push a block against a spring 4m from its equilibrium point. If the spring constant is halved,
how far must you push the block to achieve the same force?

a. 1m
b. 2m
c. 4m
d. 8m
e. 16m

9. Two hockey pucks glide across a frictionless, horizontal surface and collide
elastically. Which of the following quantities is conserved in the collision?

a. Kinetic Energy
b. Momentum
c. Both of the above are conserved.
d. None of the above is conserved.
10. Consider two identical blocks with mass M on a frictionless surface, pictured below.

V1
V2 = 0 V

+x +x

Which of the following graphs best represent the data for the position of mass 1 (dashed line) and
the position of the combined masses 1 and 2 (solid line) as a function of time?

a) b)

x (m) x (m)

collision t (s) collision t (s)

c) d)
collision

x (m) x (m)

t (s)
collision t (s)
 11. Consider two disks made of the same material. Disk One has twice the radius as Disk Two.
Suppose both rotate once in one second about a rotation axis as shown. Which of the following
is true?

a. a. Ione < Itwo

b. Ione > Itwo
c. Ione = Itwo

12. A top spins on a frictionless table, such that its angular velocity vector points vertically away from the
table surface. A similar top with twice the mass spins in the opposite direction. Which of the following
is true about the total angular momentum of the two tops?

a. Combined, the tops have total zero angular momentum.

b. Combined, the tops have a total angular momentum vector that points away from the table.
c. Combined, the tops have a total angular momentum vector that points towards the table.
d. None of the above.

13. A ball rolls frictionlessly along a semi-circular track as shown (from above).
Which path represents the trajectory of the ball after it leaves the circular track?

a)

b)

c)

d)

e)
14. What are the SI units for momentum?

a. kg-m2/s
b. kg-m/s
c. kg-s/m
d. N-J
e. Liar! Momentum is unitless.

15. Captain Kirk boldly lands on a strange, new world in which the gravitational acceleration near the
surface is half as large as on the Earth: |gp|= 1/2|g|. Neglecting air resistance, how would this
affect the time it would take Kirk to fall a certain distance (naturally ripping his shirt in the process)?

a. tPlanet = tEarth.
b. tPlanet = 2tEarth.
c. tPlanet = (1/2)tEarth.
d. tPlanet = √2tEarth.
e. tPlanet = (1/√2)tEarth.

16. Suppose the frictional force between a car’s tires and the road is responsible for the inward
radial force that the car experiences as it makes a turn of radius R at constant speed v. Which
of the following expressions would be true?

a. N = W.
b. R = mv2/(mg).
c. R = v2/m
d. v = mg/N
 17. Consider the following graph of velocity in the y-direction vs. time for an object dropped from the
top of the atrium. Assume that the positive y-direction points downward (toward the floor).
According to the fit, was value of g should you report for this experiment?

y = a + b*M0
Velocity Value Error
(m/s) a 0.2707 0.15172

b 9.04 0.34252

Chisq 3.2324 NA
Time (s)
R 0.97093 NA

a. g = 9.81 ms-2.
b. g = 9.04 ms-2.
c. g = 9.04 ± 0.34 ms-2.
d. g = 9.04 ±1.02 ms-2.
e. g = 0.904 ± 0.15172 ms-2.
f. g = 0.904 ± 0.34252 ms-2.

18. Due to tides caused by the Sun and the Moon, and the Earth’s rotation, as seen
from above, the Earth is actually not exactly spherical, but slightly oval. It turns out
that the Moon lags behind this tidal bulge1 in its orbit, and so exerts a small torque
on the Earth. What is the result?

a. The Earth’s year is slowly increasing.

b. The Earth’s year is slowly decreasing.
c. The Earth’s day is slowly increasing.
d. The Earth’s day is slowly decreasing.
e. None of the above.

1
#twss
19. A skater spinning on the ice pulls in her arms. Which of the following is true?

a. Her rotation speed increases.

b. Her kinetic energy increases.
c. Her Angular Momentum increases.
d. Both a and b
e. A, b, and c are true

20. The Sun exerts a gravitational force on Jupiter, which has a mass about 1000 times
less than the Sun. As a consequence, the magnitude of the gravitational force that
Jupiter exerts on the Sun is

a. 1000 times less than the force the Sun exerts on Jupiter.
b. 1000 times greater than the force the Sun exerts on Jupiter.
c. the same as the force the Sun exerts on Jupiter.