PHYSICS 12

Unit 3 ~ Learning Guide Name: ______________________________

Instructions:
Using a pencil, complete the following notes as you work through the related lessons. Show ALL
work as is explained in the lessons. You are required to have this package completed BEFORE
you write your unit test. Do your best and ask questions if you don’t understand anything!

Circular Motion:

1. A child on a merry-go-round is moving with a tangential velocity of 1.5 m/s. If she is sitting at a
position that is 1.1 m from the centre, what is her centripetal acceleration?

2. On the same a merry-go-round described above, how long would it take her to complete one
revolution at this speed?

3. On the same a merry-go-round again, what is the speed of a point located 2.2m from the centre
of the merry-go-round. What would the acceleration of this point be?

4. A pilot is doing the loop-de-loop manoeuvre.

a. Draw a FBD of the pilot at the bottom of the loop then draw a FBD of the pilot at the top of the
loop. What’s different?

b. It is said that the pilot is more likely to black out (due to blood leaving the brain) at the bottom
of the loop as opposed to the top. With the help of Newton's First Law, explain why the
bottom location of the loop creates the most danger for black-outs.

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c. Research - Describe how flight-suits are designed to help prevent black-outs from occurring.

5. Newton’s First Law states that objects will maintain their original motion unless they are acted on
by a Net Force. Newton’s Second Law states that objects will accelerate in the direction of the
Net Force. Use these two laws to explain the driver’s experience (what he/she feels) as well as
the direction of the car’s acceleration at the five locations shown below. You may assume that
the driver keeps his/her speed constant throughout (to avoid tickets). Parts are done for you.

Location FBD Use “FNET = ma” to solve What it “feels” like as v (ac)
for FN increases.

FNET = ma
(up=positive) Same (regular) force from seat.
A
FN – Fg = 0
FN = Fg

FNET = ma
(ac=down=positive)
C
= mac
FN = _______

FNET = ma
(ac=up=positive)
E
= mac
FN = _______

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Centripetal Forces:
1. Many older textbooks use the term "Centrifugal Force" to describe how objects behave when
moving in a circle. We now use the term "Centripetal Force" to correctly describe this
phenomena. What is the main misconception with the Centrifugal Force theory? (look it up)

2. Consider the FBD provided for a toy car turning a corner.

a. Which force here could be called the centripetal force?

b. Write a horizontal FNET equation and identify the acceleration as ac.

c. If Ffrict=50N and mass=2kg, what is the centripetal acceleration of the

car?

3. A 3.6 kg toy plane is hanging from string and moving in a horizontal circle of radius 2m,
as shown (θ=45°). The tension in the string is 50N. What is the speed of the plane?
Start with a FBD and FNET=ma.

4. A 1.50-kg rock is being twirled in a circle on a frictionless surface using a horizontal rope. The
radius of the circle is 2.00 m and the rope make 100 revolutions in 1.00 minutes.

a. What is the tension in the rope? Show all work.

b. The above will break when the tension exceeds 1000 N. What will be the speed of the rock
just as the rope breaks? Show all work.

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5. What is the apparent weight (FN) of a 75.0-kg driver travelling at 100 km/h
a. over the peak of a hill with radius of curvature equal to 500 m (R1). Show all work.

b. at the bottom of the hollow of the same radius (R2 = R1)? Show all work.

6. Bicycle racetracks, or velodromes, are banked at the ends. If we ignore friction, and the banking
angle is θ =25°

a. What will the maximum speed of a bicycle if it is to move around the end of the track at
constant radius r = 25m? Be sure to include a free body diagram. Show all work.

b. If the bicyclist goes faster than this value what must he do to compensate? What will
happen? If the bicyclist goes slower? Show any equations to help justify your answer. (ans. r
increases)

c. How slow could the bicyclist ride and still travel in a circle on the track? The radius at the top
of the ramp is 25m and at the bottom it is 15 m. Show all work.

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7. Compare and contrast the dynamics of a cyclist riding along a velodrome track at a constant
speed, to one who is freely rolling down the track/ramp (no friction).
a. Construct free-body diagrams for each situation (angle = ɵ).
b. Draw a “dotted arrow” showing the direction of acceleration for each case on the FBD.
c. Starting with FNET=ma (in the direction of “a”), determine an equation for “a” for each.
Riding Biker Rolling Biker

FBD’s

FNET = ma
(in the direction
of a)
to solve for “a”

Which has the

bigger FN?

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8. Engineers design roller coasters for

excitement. Feelings of
weightlessness and high
accelerations make a ride great. You
may have noticed that the loops in
roller-coasters are rarely circular.
They are called “clothoid loops”
Explain how this design changes the
experience of the passenger at the
top (where r is reduced).

Draw a FBD for a passenger at the

top of the loop and use FNET=ma to
show how it will change the ride
experience. (ans. Compared to the
Circular Loop, a Clothoid loop will create a larger FN on top and a similar FN on bottom since the
radius at the bottom is roughly the same for both loops. USE EQUATION of motion to show that
FN increases at the top!)

9. A favourite swimming hole includes a rope swing from an elevated

landing. The boy swings down and releases with a velocity of vf at
the bottom of the swing. Use a combination of Energy and
Dynamics knowledge to determine the tension on the rope at the
bottom (in terms of m and g).

Note: the initial height of the boy from the bottom of the swing is h0 –hf.
This height will be equivalent to the radius on the circle, r

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10. Mark and Sue are spinning together on a merry-go-round.

Mark yells across to Sue “Why are you on the outside far from the centre? According to the
equation ac = v2/r there is an inverse relation between r and the acceleration. Therefore, if r gets
smaller the acceleration will be bigger and the ride will be more exciting.”

Sue does not seem impressed with Mark’s abilities in Physics and yells back “According to the
equation ac = 4𝜋𝜋2r/T2 there is a direct relation between r and ac. If I remain on the outside my
acceleration will be bigger and the ride will remain exciting.”

Both equations are valid for centripetal acceleration. Who is correct? What was the flaw in logic
that caused the confusion?

11. What is the minimum speed for a rollercoaster to remain in contact with the tracks if it is doing an
upside down loop of radius 350 m. Show your work.

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12. Considering the Ferris wheel media in your lessons, complete the following table (keeping
both the radius and passenger's mass constant).
@ top @ bottom

Normal Force =

FBD (sketch)

As velocity increases, what

happens to normal force?

Fnet equation: Fnet = ma Fnet = ma

___________ = mac ___________ = mac

13. With the Ferris Wheel media (and keeping velocity and passenger mass constant),
consider:
a. What happens to the Normal Force AT THE TOP as you increase the radius of the
wheel?

b. Try to explain your observation in Part a.

c. What happens to the Normal Force AT THE BOTTOM as you increase the radius of the
wheel?

d. Try to explain your observation in Part c.

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Gravity:
1. The gravitational field strength, g, on earth is 9.8 N/kg. This is also known as the acceleration of
gravity and could have the units of m/s2. We often say that Fg = mg is simply a specific case of Fg =
GMm/r2.

Show that the gravitational attraction between any mass, m, and earth, M collapses down to Fg =
m(9.8 N/kg) provided m is on the surface of the earth. In other words PROVE that Fg = GMm/r2 can
be simplified to Fg = mg for any location on the surface of the earth.

2. Look up the height of Mount Everest and determine the gravitational field strength, “g” , at this
location. Show all work.

3. How far above the Earth’s surface must we be before “g” has decreased significantly by dropping
10%? Show all work.

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4. Ted and Alice are mutually attracted to one another in the gravitational sense. If Ted's mass is 80.0
kg and Alice's is 55.0 kg and they are 0.150 m apart, what is the magnitude of the attractive force on
each? Treat both people as spheres. Show all work.

5. There is a location between the Earth and the Moon where the gravitational pull acting on a mass at
this point is zero. It is known as the “Langrangian Point”. Locate where this point would be and label
any forces acting on the mass. You need not calculate the precise location but you must justify your
choice of location with the appropriate Physics equation(s).

6. The mass of the planet Mercury is 3.30 × 1023 kg and its radius is 2.439 × 106 m. What would a 65.0-
kg person weigh on Mercury? What is the acceleration due to gravity on Mercury. Show all work.

7. The moon circles the earth once every 27.3 days. We have already determined that the mass of the
earth is 5.98 × 1024 kg. What is the distance from the center of the earth to the centre of the moon?
Show all work.

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Planetary Motion:

1. Calculate the force of gravity between the earth and the moon. Show all work.

2. Given that the moon orbits the earth in 27.3 days compute the centripetal force acting on the moon.
How does this value compare to the question above? Account for any differences.

3. For orbiting satellites, the mass of the satellite always cancels in our centripetal force equation. Use
the equation to justify why it is the satellite’s mass, and not the mass of the central planet, that must
cancel.

4. Newton’s first law states that objects with more mass have stronger tendencies to maintain their
original motion (more inertia). Yet our centripetal force equation suggests that all masses will
maintain a steady orbit provided that their tangential speed, v, is the correct match for their orbital
radius, r. Provide a physical argument that explains why objects with larger inertias (masses) do not
fly off. Is there something that counters this increase in inertia?

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5. Our sun orbits around the center of our galaxy (the Milky Way) once every 2.5 x 108 years. The
radius of the sun’s orbit about the center of the galaxy is approximately 3.15 x 1020 m. The sun has
made only about 20 revolutions since the Earth was formed over 3 billion years ago! The centripetal
force keeping our sun in orbit is supplied by the force of gravity. Calculate the mass of the galaxy.
Show all work.

6. Assuming that the typical star contains ten times the mass of our sun, estimate the number of stars in
our galaxy. Show all work.

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7. The brightest four moons of Jupiter were discovered by Galileo with one of his earliest telescopes.
These moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, are called the Galilean moons in his honour.
Some of the available data about these moons are given below.
MOON r (km) v T (earthyears)
4.219 ×
Io - 0.004837
105
6.712 ×
Europa - -
105
Ganymede - - 0.0195884
1.853 ×
Callisto - -
106

The radii are from the centre of Jupiter to the centre of the moon in question. One earth year has
365 days.

a. Using the data for above, find the mass of Jupiter. Be specific as to which line of data was
used and why. Show all work.

b. From the above data, determine the period of Europa, the distance between Jupiter and
Ganymede, and the speed of Callisto. Show all work.

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Potential Energy:

1. How much work would a 60.0 kg person do in climbing from the surface of the Earth to the top of a
mountain 2.00 km high?

a. Use Ep = mgh to find your solution. Show all work.

b. Use Ep = -GMm/r (both answers should be close)

c. Why do both methods agree in this case?

2. Repeat the above question for the same person climbing a ladder to the moon (ignore the effect of
the Moon’s mass on his potential energy – only the Earth).
a. Use Ep = mgh to find your solution. Show all work.

b. Use Ep = -GMm/r . Show all work.

c. Why do both methods disagree in this case?

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3. The escape velocity applies to any object regardless of its mass. Even very small particles, such as
atmospheric gases, can reach escape velocities. Gas molecules at 20°C move with a velocity of
approximately 5000 m/s, which is well below the escape velocity for Earth - Phew - we breath again!
The value of a planet’s escape velocity is one of the primary reasons why small planetoids, such as
the moon, have no atmosphere. Determine the escape velocity for the moon. Will it be able to trap
atmospheric gases at 20°C? Show all work.

Kepler's Laws:
1. Summarize Kepler's first law.

2. Summarize Kepler's second law.

3. Summarize Kepler's third law.

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4. Include FBD and start with Fnet = ma to demonstrate Kepler's third law.

Answers:

Circular Motion:
1) 2.05 m/s2 2) 4.6s 3) 4.1m/s2 4)b) bottom 5) FN=Fg, FN=Fg-mac, FN=Fg+mac

Centripetal Forces:
2) Ffrict, Ffrict=mac, 25m/s2[inwards]3) 4.43 m/s 4) a) 329N b) 36.5m/s
5) a) 619 N b) 851 N 6) a) 10.7 m/s b) r increases c) 8.28 m/s
7) b) horizontal, along ramp c) ac=gtanɵ, a=gsinɵ d) riding 9) 3mg 10) Sue is correct 11) 58.6 m/s

Gravity:
1) 9.81 m/s2 2) 9.79 m/s2 3) 349 km 4) 1.3x10-5 N 6) 241 N, 3.7 N/kg 7) 3.83x108m

Planetary Motion:
1) 2.0 x 1020 N 2) 2.0 x 1020 N 5) 2.97 x 1041 kg 6) 1.5 x 1010 stars 7) a) 1.91 x 1027 kg
b) 3.06 x 105 s, 1.07 x 109 m, 8290 m/s

Potential Energy:
1)a) 1.18 x 106 J 2)a) 2.22 x 1011 J b) 3.69 x 109 J 3) 2380 m/s

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