10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

PSS5.2:TheRopePull

LearningGoal:
TopracticeProblemSolvingStrategy5.2fordynamicsproblems.

Onabrightsunnyday,twogirlsplaytugofwarwhilestandingontheoppositesidesofapond.Initially,eachstandsatadistance
dfromheredgeofthepond.Jackie,whoweighslessthanheropponentSue,losesthetugofwarandisforcedtotakeadivein

thepond.(Mostoften,thetugofwariswonbytheheaviest,notthestrongest,teamyouwillfindoutwhywhenyoulearnmore
aboutfriction.)

Jackie'smassism,thetensionintheropeisT ,andtheopposingforceoffrictionbetweenJackie'sfeetandthegroundisf .

FindthetimetittookSuetowinthecompetition.

MODEL:Makesimplifyingassumptions.

VISUALIZE:

PictorialrepresentationShowimportantpointsinthemotionwithasketch,establishacoordinatesystem,define
symbols,andidentifywhattheproblemistryingtofind.Thisistheprocessoftranslatingwordsintosymbols.
PhysicalrepresentationUseamotiondiagramtodeterminetheobject'saccelerationvectora.Thenidentifyall
forcesactingontheobjectandshowthemonafreebodydiagram.

Itisperfectlyaccepabletogobackandforthbetweenthesetwostepsasyouvisualizethesituation.

SOLVE:ThemathematicalrepresentationisbasedonNewton's2ndlaw:

.
F net = F i = ma
i

Thevectorsumoftheforcesisfounddirectlyfromthefreebodydiagram.Dependingontheproblem,either

solveforacceleration,thenusekinematicstofindvelocitiesandpositions,or
usekinematicstodeterminetheacceleration,thensolveforunknownforces.

ASSESS:Checkifyourresulthasthecorrectunits,isreasonable,andanswersthequestion.

Model
Makesimplifyingassumptionsandchooseanappropriatemodel.

PartA
Whichofthefollowingdescribesanappropriatemodelforthisproblem?
ANSWER:

Jackiecanbetreatedasaparticlemovingwithconstantvelocity.

Jackiecanbetreatedasaparticlemovingwithconstantnonzeroacceleration.

Jackiecanbetreatedasaparticlemovingwithvaryingacceleration.

Correct

PartB

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One
Whichofthefollowingassumptionsorinterpretationsarereasonable?
Checkallthatapply.
ANSWER:

Airresistanceissubstantial.

Airresistanceisnegligible.

Thegroundnearthepondisslantedtowardthewater.

Thegroundnearthepondishorizontal.

ThemassoftheropeequalsJackie'smass.

Themassoftheropeisnegligible.

Theropeisunstretchable.

Correct

Visualize
Nowdrawalltheelementslistedintheproblemsolvingstrategy.Besurethatyourpictorialrepresentationisclearandincludes
allnecessarysymbols,bothknownandunknownyourfreebodydiagramshouldincludeallrelevantforces,clearlydrawnand
labeled.Don'tforgetthemotiondiagram.Useyoursketchestoanswerthefollowingquestions.

PartC
AssumingthatinthetugofwarJackieisbeingpulledtotheright,whichofthefreebodydiagramsshowniscorrect?

Notethattheforcesarenotdrawntoscale.Also,theyarenotlabeledhowever,theyshouldbelabeledonyourown
diagram.

ANSWER:

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

Correct

PartD
Basedonyourmotiondiagram,whichstatementsaboutJackie'sverticalaccelerationay mustbetrue?

Checkallthatapply.
ANSWER:

Themagnitudeofay isgreaterthanthatofax .

Themagnitudeofay iszero.

Themagnitudeofay isinfinitelylarge.

ay isdirecteddownward.

ay isdirectedupward.

Correct

PartE
Lookatyourpictorialrepresentation.Whichofthefollowingareknownquantitiesinthisproblem?
Checkallthatapply.

ANSWER:

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

Jackie'sinitialhorizontalposition

ThedistanceJackieispulledbeforereachingtheedgeofthepond

Jackie'shorizontalacceleration

Jackie'sinitialhorizontalvelocity

Jackie'shorizontalvelocityatthemomentshereachestheedgeofthepond

ThetimeittakesforSuetopullJackieintothepond

Correct
Besuretochooseappropriatesymbolsforeachimportantquantitythatdoesn'talreadyhaveone.Hereisone
possibilityfollowingtheconventionsofyourtextbook:

x0 forJackie'sinitialhorizontalposition,
x1 forJackie'shorizontalpositionatthemomentshereachestheedgeofthepond,
ax forJackie'shorizontalacceleration,

v 0x forJackie'sinitialhorizontalvelocity,and

v 1x forJackie'shorizontalvelocityatthemomentshereachestheedgeofthepond.

NotethatJackie'saccelerationdoesnotneedasubscript0or1becauseitisconstantthroughouttheproblem.

Solve
Nowusetheinformationandtheinsightsthatyouhaveaccumulatedtoconstructthenecessarymathematicalexpressionsand
toderivethesolution.

PartF
FindthetimetitwouldtakeSuetopullJackieintothepond.

Expressyouranswerintermsofthequantitiesgivenintheproblemintroduction.Youmayormaynotuseallof
them.

Hint1.Howtoapproachtheproblem
FollowingtheoutlinegivenintheSolvestepoftheproblemsolvingstrategy,firstuseNewton's2ndlawtofind
Jackie'sacceleration.Then,usethekinematicsequationstofindt.

Hint2.WriteNewton's2ndlaw
AssumethatJackieisbeingpulledinthepositivexdirection.CompleteNewton's2ndlawforJackiebyfillinginthe
forcecomponentswiththeirappropriatesign.
Expressyouranswerintermsofthequantitiesgivenintheproblemintroduction.Youmayormaynotuseall
ofthem.

ANSWER:

max = (F net )
x
= Fx = T f

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One
Hint3.Usekinematics
Whichkinematicsequationismostappropriateforsolvingthisproblem?
ANSWER:

1 2
x 1 = x 0 + v0x t + ax (t)
2

v
2
1x
= v
2
0x
+ 2ax d

v 1x = v 0x + ax t

ANSWER:

2dm
t =
T f

AnswerRequested

Assess
Whenyouworkonaproblemonyourown,withoutthecomputerprovidedfeedback,onlyyoucanassesswhetheryouranswer
seemsright.Thefollowingquestionswillhelpyoupracticetheskillsnecessaryforsuchanassessment.

PartG
18dm
Whataretheunitsoftheexpression ?
T +3f

ANSWER:

2
s

1
s

s
2

2
m/s

m s

2
m s

AnswerRequested

PartH
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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One
Whichofthesemathematicalexpressionshavedimensionsoftime?

Checkallthatapply.
ANSWER:

dm

dm

f

8dm

f +mg

T +f dm

3md f

(T +f ) dm

3md f

AnswerRequested

PartI
Intuitively,whatcouldyoudotoincreasetheamountoftimeittakesSuetopullJackieintothepond?
Checkallthatapply.
ANSWER:

IncreasetheforceT .

DecreasetheforceT .

Increasetheforcef .

Decreasetheforcef .

Increasethemassm.

Decreasethemassm.

Increasethedistanced.

Decreasethedistanced.

AnswerRequested

Notethattheformulathatyouobtained,t = 2dm/(T f ) ,doesagreewithyour"commonsense"predictions.If
youincreaseaquantityinthenumerator,ordecreaseaquantityinthedenominator,thetimetwillgetbigger.

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