Work, Energy& Power

1. A gardener pushes a lawn roller through a distance of 20m. If he applies a force of 20 kg wt in a direction
inclined at 60° to the ground, find the work done by him. Take g = 9.8 ms-2. [1960 J]

2. A person is holding a bucket by applying a force of 10 N. He moves a horizontal distance of 5m and then climbs
up a vertical distance of 10m. Find the total work done by him. [100 J]

3. A cyclist comes to a skidding stop in 10m During this process, the force on the cycle due to the road is 200 N
and is directly opposed to the motion. (a) How much work does the road do on the cycle? (b) How much work
does the cycle do on the road? [-2000J, Zero]

4. ( )
A force F = −K yi + x j , where K is a positive constant, acts on a particle moving in the XY-plane, Starting from

the origin, the particle is taken along the positive X-axis to a point (a, 0) and then parallel to the y-axis to the
point (a, a). Calculate the total work done by the force on the particle. [-Ka2]

5. A uniform chain of length 2m is kept on a table such that a length of 60 cm hangs freely from the edge of the
table. The total mass of the chain is 4 kg. What is the work done in pulling the entire chain on the table? Take g
= 10 ms-2. [3.6 J]

6. Calculate the work done in raising a stone of mass 5 kg and specific gravity 3, lying at the bed of a lake through
a height of 5m. [163.3 J]

7. A particle is acted upon by constant forces F1 = 2i − 3j + 4k and F2 = −i + 2j − 3k , is displaced from the point A

(2, 1, 0) to the point B (-3, -4, 2). Find the total work done by these forces. [2 units]

8. A 2 kg particle starts at the origin and moves along the positive x-axis. The net force acting on it measured at
intervals of 1m is: 27.9, 28.3, 30.9, 34.0, 34.5, 46.9, 48.2, 50.0, 63.5, 13.6, 12.2, 32.7, 46.6 and 27.0 (in
newtons). What is the total work done on the particle in this interval? [496.3 J]

9. A particle moves along the X-axis from x = 0 to x = 5 m under the influence of a force given by F = 7 – 2x + 3x2.
Find the work done in the process. [135 J]

10. Figures Shows the F-x graph. Here the force F is in newton and distance x in metre. What is the work done?

11. A body of mass 4 kg initially at rest is subject to a force 16N. What is the kinetic energy acquired by the body at
the end of 10s? [3200 J]

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12. A toy rocket of mass 0.1 kg has a small fuel of mass 0.02 kg which it burns out in 3s. Starting from rest on a
horizontal smooth track it gets a speed of 20 ms-1 after the fuel is burnt out. What is the approximate thrust of
the rocket? What is the energy content per unit mass of the fuel? (Ignore the small mass variation of the
rocket during fuel burning). [1000 J kg-1]

13. A bullet weighing 10g is fired with a velocity of 800 ms-1. After passing through a mud wall 1m thick, its velocity
decreases to 100 ms-1. Find the average resistance offered by the mud wall. [3150 N]

14. In a ballistics demonstration, a police officer fires a bullet of mass 50.0 g with speed 200 ms-1 on soft plywood
of thickness 2.00 cm. The bullet emerges with only 10% of its initial kinetic energy. What is the emergent
speed of the bullet? [63.2 ms-1]

15. It is well known that a raindrop or a small pebble falls under the influence of the downward gravitational force
and the opposing resistive force. The latter is known to be proportional to the speed of the drop but is
otherwise undetermined. Consider a drop of small pebble of mass 1.00 g falling from a cliff of height 1.00 km.
It hits the ground with a speed of 50.0 ms-1. What is the work done by the unknown resistive force?[-8.75 J]

16. If the linear momentum of a body increases by 20%, what will be the % increase in the kinetic energy of the
body? [44%]

17. If the kinetic energy of a body increases by 300%, by what % will the linear momentum of the body increase?

[100%]

18. A body of mass 0.3 kg is taken up an inclined plane to length 10m and height 5m and then allowed to slide
down to the bottom again. The coefficient of friction between the body and the plane is 0.15. What is the

(i) Work done by the gravitational force over the round trip,

(ii) work done by the applied force over the upward journey,

(iii) work done by frictional force over the round trip,

(iv) kinetic energy of the body at the end of the trip? [0, 18.5 J, 7.6 J, 10.9 J]

19. A running man has half the kinetic energy that a boy of half his mass has. The man speeds up by 1.0 ms-1 and
then has the same energy as the boy. What were the original speed of the man and the boy?

[2.414 ms-1, 4.828 ms-1]

20. A girl of mass 40 kg sits in a swing formed by a rope of 6m length. A person pulls the swing to a side so that the
rope makes an angle of 60° with the vertical. What is the gain in potential energy of the girl? [1176 J]

21. The string of a pendulum is 2.0 m long. The bob is pulled sideways so that the string becomes horizontal and
then the both is released. What is the speed with which the bob arrives at the lowest point/ Assume that 10%
of the initial energy is dissipated against air resistance, g = 10 ms-2. [6 ms-1]

22. A ball at rest is dropped from a height of 12m. It loses 25% of its kinetic energy in striking the ground, find the
height to which it bounces. How do you account for the loss in kinetic energy? [9 m]

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23. A body of mass M = 9.8 kg with a small disc of mass m = 0.2 kg placed on its horizontal surface ab, rests on a
smooth horizontal plane, as shown in figure. The disc can move freely along the smooth groove abc of mass M.
To what height (relative to the initial position) will the disc rise after separating from the body of mass M when
initial velocity v = 5 ms-1 is given to it in the horizontal direction? [1.25 m]

24. A bob of mass m is suspended by a light string of length L. It is imparted a horizontal velocity v0 at the lowest
point A such that it completes a semi-circular trajectory in the vertical plane with the string becoming slack
only on reaching the topmost point, C. This is shown in figure. Obtain an expression for (i) v0; (ii) the speeds at
points B and C; (iii) the ratio of the kinetic energies (KB / KC) at B and C. comment on the nature of the
trajectory of the bob after it reaches the point C. [3 : 1]

25. A 30 kg block, as shown in figure has a speed of 2 ms-1 at a and 6 ms-1 at B. if the distance from A to B along the
curve is 12m, how large a frictional force acts on it/ Assuming the same friction, how far from B will it stop?

[3.35 N, 24.5 M]

26. Two springs have force constants k1 and k2 (k1 . k2). On which spring is more work done, if (i) they are stretched
by the same force and (ii) they are stretched by the same amount? [W1 > W2]

27. The potential energy of a spring when stretched through a distance x is 10 J. What is the amount of work done
on the same spring to stretch it through an additional distance x? [30 J]

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28. To simulate car accidents, auto manufactures study the collisions of moving cars with mounted springs of
different spring constants. Consider a typical simulation with a car of mass 1000 kg moving with a speed 18.0
kmh-1 on a smooth road and colliding with a horizontally mounted spring of spring constant 6.25 × 103 Nm-1.
What is the maximum compression of the spring? [2.0 m]

29. The spring shown in figure has a force constant of 24 Nm-1. The mass of the block attached to the spring is 4 kg.
Initially the block is at rest and spring is unstretched. The horizontal surface is frictionless. If a constant
horizontal force of 10 N is applied on the block, then what is the speed of the block when it has been moved
through a distance of 0.5 m? [1 ms-1]

30. A ball of mass m is dropped from a height h on a platform fixed at the top of a vertical spring, as shown in
figure. The platform is depressed by a distance x. What is the spring constant k?

31. Two blocks A and B are connected to each other as shown in figure. The string and spring is massless and
pulley frictionless. Block B slides over the horizontal top surface of stationary block C and the block A slides
along the vertical side of C both with same uniform sped. The coefficient of friction between the blocks is 0.2
and the spring constant of spring is 1960 Nm-1. If mass of block A is 2 kg, calculate (i) the mass of block B and
(ii) energy stored in spring. [0.098 J]

32. Calculate the energy in meV equivalent to the rest mass of an electron. Given that the rest mass of an electron,
m0 = 9.1 × 10-31 kg, 1 MeV = 1.6 × 10-13 J and speed of light, c = 3 × 108 ms-1. [0.512 MeV]

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33. A car of mass 2000 kg is lifted up a distance of 30m by a crane in 1 min. A second crane does the same jo in 2
min. Do the cranes consume the same or different amounts of fuel? What is the power supplied by each
crane? Neglect power dissipation against friction. [9800 W, 4900 W]

34. The human heart discharges 75 mL of blood at each beat against a pressure of 0.1 m of Hg. Calculate the
power of heart assuming that pulse frequency is 80 beats per minute. Density of Hg = 13.6 × 10 3 kgm-3.
[1.33 W]

35. An elevator which can carry a maximum load of 1800 kg 9elevator + passengers) is moving up with a constant
speed of 2 ms-1. The frictional force opposing the motion is 4000 N. Determine the minimum power delivered
by the motor to the elevator in watts as well as in horse power. [59 hp]

36. A well 20m deep and 3m in diameter contains water to a depth of 14 metre. How long will a 5 hp engine take
to empty it? [3381.6 s]

37. The turbine pits at the Niagra falls are 50 m deep. The average horse power developed is 500. If the efficiency
of the generator is 85%, how much water passes through the turbines per minute/ Take g = 10 ms-2.

[5.39 × 105= g]

38. A machine can take out 1000 kg of mud per hour from a depth of 100 m. If efficiency of the machine is 0.9,
calculate its power. [302.47 W]

39. Water is pumped out of a well 10m deep by means of a pump rated at 10 kW. Find the efficiency of the motor
if 4200 kg of water is pumped out every minute. Take g = 10 ms-2. [70%]

40. A 10 kg ball and 20 kg ball approach each other with velocities 20 ms-1 and 10 ms-1 respectively. What are their
velocities after collision if the collision is perfectly elastic? [-20 ms-1, 10 ms-1]

41. Two ball bearings of mass m each moving in opposite directions with equal speeds v collide head on with each
other. Predict the outcome of the collision, assuming it to be perfectly elastic. [v]

42. A railway carriage of mass 9000 kg moving with a speed of 36 kmh-1 collides with a stationary carriage of the
same mass. After the collision, the carriages get coupled and move together. What is their common speed
after collision? What type of collision is this? [5 ms-1]

43. Slowing down of neutrons. In a nuclear reactor a neutron of high speed (typically 107 ms-1) must be slowed to
235
103 ms-1 so that it can have a high probability of interacting with isotope 92 U and causing it to fission. Show

that a neutron can lose most of its kinetic energy in an elastic collision with a light nucleus like deuterium or
carbon which has a mass of only a few times the neutron mass. The material making up the light nuclei, usually
heavy water (D2O) or graphite is called a moderator.

44. A ball is dropped to the ground from a height of 2m. The coefficient of restitution is 0.6. To what height will
the ball rebound? [0.72 m]

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45. A sphere of mass m moving with a velocity u hits another stationary sphere of same mass. If e is the coefficient
of restitution, what is the ratio of the velocities of two spheres after the collision?

46. A ball moving with a speed of 9 ms-1 strikes an identical ball such that after the collision the direction of each
ball makes an angle 30° with the original line of motion. Find the speeds of the two balls after the collision. Is
the kinetic energy conserved in the collision process?

47. Consider the collision depicted in figure to be between two billiard balls with equal masses m1 = m2. The first
ball is called the cue while the second ball is called the target. The billiard player wants to “sink” the target ball
in a corner pocket, which is at an angle θ2 = 37°. Assume that the collision is elastic and that friction and
rotational motion are not important. Obtain θ1. [53°]

48. A nucleus of radium ( 226

88 Ra ) decays to 222
86 Rn by the emission of α-particle ( 4
2 He ) of energy 4.8 MeV. If mass
86 2
of Rn = 222.0 amu and mass of He = 4.003 amu, then calculate the recoil energy of the daughter
222 4
222
nucleus 86 Rn . [0.8666 MeV]

49. In a one dimensional elastic collision, a body of mass 2 kg collides with another body of mass m which is at rest
and returns with a speed one-third of its initial speed. Find the value of m. [4 kg]

50. Show that when a moving body collides with stationary body of mass m or 1/m times its mass, then the
4m
moving body transfers part of its kinetic energy to the stationary body.
(1 + m )2
---------

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