Physics

11.0 – 11.31 Solutions

 Physics Chapter 11: C.1 – C6
C.1 You get a flat tire. You are trying to remove one of the lug nuts from the hubcap with a wrench. No matter how hard you pull, the nut will not budge. You
examine the contents of your car to see if you have anything that will be useful. Which of the following objects can best help you remove the nut: a long, strong
piece of rope; a long, hollow pipe; road flares; a first aid kit; 2 wool blankets; an ice scraper; your pet toy poodle. Explain. The pipe will allow you to exert more
torque on the nut by extending the lever arm.

C.2 (a) Can an object have an angular velocity if there is no net torque acting on it? (b) Can an object have a net torque acting on it if it has zero angular
velocity?
(a) Yes No
(b) Yes No

C.3 On which of the following does the moment of inertia depend?

❑ Angular velocity
❑ Angular momentum
❑ Shape of the object
❑ Location of axis of rotation
❑ Mass
❑ Linear velocity

C.4 An object of fixed mass and rigid shape has one unique value for its moment of inertia. True or false? Explain your answer.
True False

C.5 Compared to a solid sphere, will a hollow spherical shell (like a basketball) of the same mass and radius have a greater or a lesser moment of inertia for
rotations about an axis passing through the center? Explain your answer.
Greater Lesser

C.6 Scoring in the sport of gymnastics has much to do with the difficulty of the skills performed, with higher scores awarded to more difficult tricks. The position
of a gymnast's body in a trick determines the difficulty. There are three positions to hold the body in a flip: the tuck, in which the legs are bent and tucked into
the body; the pike, in which the body is bent at the hips but the legs remain straight; and the layout, in which the whole body is straight. A layout receives a
higher score than a pike which receives a higher score than a tuck. Use the principles of rotational dynamics to describe why the position of the body affects the
difficulty of a flip.
 Physics Chapter 11: 1.1 – 1.3
1.1 The wheel on a car is held in place by four nuts. Each nut
should be tightened to 94.0 N·m of torque to be secure. If you
have a wrench with a handle that is 0.250 m long, what minimum
force do you need to exert perpendicular to the end of the
wrench to tighten a nut correctly?

1.2 A 1.1 kg birdfeeder hangs from a horizontal tree branch. The

birdfeeder is attached to the branch at a point that is 1.1 m from
the trunk. What is the amount of torque exerted by the
birdfeeder on the branch? The origin is at the pivot point, where
the branch attaches to the trunk.

1.3 Bob and Ray push on a door from opposite sides. They both
push perpendicular to the door. Bob pushes 0.63 m from the
door hinge with a force of 89 N. Ray pushes 0.57 m from the door
hinge with a force of 98 N, in a manner that tends to turn the
door in a clockwise direction. What is the net torque on the
door?
 Physics Chapter 11: 1.1 – 1.3
1.1 The wheel on a car is held in place by four nuts. Each nut
should be tightened to 94.0 N·m of torque to be secure. If you
have a wrench with a handle that is 0.250 m long, what minimum
force do you need to exert perpendicular to the end of the
wrench to tighten a nut correctly?

1.2 A 1.1 kg birdfeeder hangs from a horizontal tree branch. The

birdfeeder is attached to the branch at a point that is 1.1 m from
the trunk. What is the amount of torque exerted by the
birdfeeder on the branch? The origin is at the pivot point, where
the branch attaches to the trunk.

1.3 Bob and Ray push on a door from opposite sides. They both
push perpendicular to the door. Bob pushes 0.63 m from the
door hinge with a force of 89 N. Ray pushes 0.57 m from the door
hinge with a force of 98 N, in a manner that tends to turn the
door in a clockwise direction. What is the net torque on the
door?
 Physics Chapter 11: 2.1
2.1 A 3.30 kg birdfeeder hangs from the tip of a 1.10
m pole that sticks up from the ground at a 65.0°
angle. What is the magnitude of the torque exerted
on the pole by the birdfeeder? Treat the bottom end
of the pole as the pivot point.
 Physics Chapter 11: 2.2
2.2 You want to exert a torque of at least 35.0 N·m on
a wrench whose handle is 0.150 m long. If you can
provide a force of 355 N to the end of the wrench,
what is the minimum angle at which you can apply
the force in order to achieve the desired torque?
 Physics Chapter 11: 4.1
4.1 The pulley shown in the illustration has a radius of 2.70 m
and a moment of inertia of 39.0 kg·m2. The hanging mass is 4.20
kg and it exerts a force tangent to the edge of the pulley. What is
the angular acceleration of the pulley?
 Physics Chapter 11: 4.1
4.1 The pulley shown in the illustration has a radius of 2.70 m
and a moment of inertia of 39.0 kg·m2. The hanging mass is 4.20
kg and it exerts a force tangent to the edge of the pulley. What is
the angular acceleration of the pulley?
 Physics Chapter 11: 5.1
5.1 Four small balls are arranged at the corners of a rigid metal
square with sides of length 3.0 m. An axis of rotation in the plane
of the square passes through the center of the square, and is
parallel to two sides of the square. On one side of the axis, the
two balls have masses 1.8 kg and 2.3 kg; on the other side, 1.5 kg
and 2.7 kg. The mass of the square is negligible compared to the
mass of the balls. What is the moment of inertia of the system
for this axis?
 Physics Chapter 11: 5.1
5.1 Four small balls are arranged at the corners of a rigid metal
square with sides of length 3.0 m. An axis of rotation in the plane
of the square passes through the center of the square, and is
parallel to two sides of the square. On one side of the axis, the
two balls have masses 1.8 kg and 2.3 kg; on the other side, 1.5 kg
and 2.7 kg. The mass of the square is negligible compared to the
mass of the balls. What is the moment of inertia of the system
for this axis?
 Physics Chapter 11: 5.2
5.2 For the same arrangement as in the previous problem, what
is the moment of inertia of the system of balls for the axis that is
perpendicular to the plane of the square, and passes through its
center point?
 Physics Chapter 11: 5.2
5.2 For the same arrangement as in the previous problem, what
is the moment of inertia of the system of balls for the axis that is
perpendicular to the plane of the square, and passes through its
center point?
 Physics Chapter 11: 5.3
5.3 Four balls are connected by a straight rod. One end of the rod
is painted blue. The first ball has mass 1.0 kg and is 1.0 m from
the blue end of the rod, the second ball has mass 2.0 kg and is
2.0 m from the blue end, and so on for the other two balls. The
mass of the rod is negligible compared to the mass of the balls.
What is the moment of inertia of this system for an axis of
rotation perpendicular to the rod and touching the blue end?
 Physics Chapter 11: 5.3
5.3 Four balls are connected by a straight rod. One end of the rod
is painted blue. The first ball has mass 1.0 kg and is 1.0 m from
the blue end of the rod, the second ball has mass 2.0 kg and is
2.0 m from the blue end, and so on for the other two balls. The
mass of the rod is negligible compared to the mass of the balls.
What is the moment of inertia of this system for an axis of
rotation perpendicular to the rod and touching the blue end?
 Physics Chapter 11: 6.1
6.1 A tire of mass 1.3 kg and radius 0.34 m experiences a constant net torque of 2.1 N·m. Treat
the tire as though all of its mass is concentrated at its rim. How long does it take for the tire to
reach an angular speed of 18 rad/s from a standing stop?
 Physics Chapter 11: 6.2
6.2 A hollow glass holiday ornament in the shape of a sphere is suspended on a string that forms
an axis of rotation through the ornament's center. If the ornament has mass 0.0074 kg and radius
0.036 m, what is its moment of inertia for an axis that passes through its center?
 Physics Chapter 11: 6.4
6.4 A solid cylinder 0.230 m long and with a radius of 0.0730 m is rotated around an axis through
its middle and parallel to its ends, as shown. A constant net torque of 1.20 N·m is applied to the
cylinder, resulting in an angular acceleration of 23.0 rad/s2. What is the mass of the cylinder?
 Physics Chapter 11: 6.6
6.6 Bob and Ray push an ordinary door from opposite sides. Both of them push perpendicular to
the door. Bob pushes 0.670 m from the hinge with a force of 121 N. Ray pushes 0.582 m from the
hinge with force of 132 N. Consider the door as a slab, with height 2.03 m, width 0.813 m, and
mass 13.6 kg. What is the magnitude of the angular acceleration of the door?
 Physics Chapter 11: 10.1
10.1 Use the simulation in the interactive problem in this section
to answer the following question. What is the force required to
close the bridge with the desired angular acceleration? Test your
answer using the simulation.
 Physics Chapter 11: 11.2
11.2 A thin rectangular slab, with dimensions 0.580 m by 0.830
m and mass 0.150 kg, is rotated about an axis passing through 0.580 m
the slab parallel to the short edge. If the axis is 0.230 m from the
short edge, what is the moment of inertia of the slab?
0.230 m

0.830 m
 Physics Chapter 11: 11.3
11.3 A solid ball of mass 0.68 kg and radius 0.17 m is attached by
a small loop on its surface to a string of length 0.29 m. You are
whirling the ball around in a circle by holding the end of the
string. What is the moment of inertia of the ball? You can assume
that the mass of the string and loop are negligible, but the
sphere is large enough compared to the string length that it
should not be considered as a particle.
 Physics Chapter 11: 12.1
12.1 A child pushes a merry-go-round with a force of 45.0 N at
an angle tangent to the circle (that is, perpendicular to a radius).
If the child pushes it through exactly one full circle, and the
merry-go-round has a radius of 1.15 m, how much work does she
do?
 Physics Chapter 11: 12.2
12.2 In an automobile, the crankshaft transfers energy from the
engine to the transmission, which in turn rotates the wheel axle.
A particular car is rated at 126 hp ( = 9.40×104 W), which you can
take as the rate of energy transfer by the crankshaft when
rotating at its maximum of 6050 revolutions per minute. What
torque does the crankshaft supply?
 Physics Chapter 11: 13.1
13.1 A hollow closed cylinder of radius R is rolling without
slipping. (Think of an empty tin can.) Each of the two endcaps has
a mass of M, and the rest (the hollow tube) has a mass of 3M, for
a total object mass of 5M. What is the ratio of linear kinetic
energy to rotational kinetic energy? Enter your answer as a
decimal number.
 Physics Chapter 11: 15.1
15.1 A 5.75 kg solid ball with a radius of 0.185 m rolls without
slipping at 3.55 m/s. What is its total kinetic energy?
 Physics Chapter 11: 19.1
19.1 A strange yo-yo is made up of two identical solid spheres
connected by a short spindle. The radius of the spheres is 0.0340
m and each of them has mass 0.00750 kg. The spindle has radius
0.00550 m and mass 0.00350 kg, and the string is wrapped
around the spindle. What is the magnitude of the acceleration of
the yo-yo as it unreels and rolls down the string?
 Physics Chapter 11: 21.1
21.1 What is the magnitude of angular momentum of a 1070 kg
car going around a circular curve with a 15.0 m radius at 12.0 m/
s? Assume the origin is at the center of the curve's arc.
 Physics Chapter 11: 22.1
22.1 A thin rod 2.60 m long with mass 3.80 kg is rotated
counterclockwise about an axis through its midpoint. It
completes 3.70 revolutions every second. What is the magnitude
of its angular momentum?
 Physics Chapter 11: 24.1
24.1 Two particles move along parallel straight-line paths, but in
opposite directions. Particle A has mass 0.220 kg and constant
velocity 1.40 m/s. Particle B has mass 0.120 kg and constant
velocity of magnitude 1.80 m/s. Their paths are 1.30 m apart.
What is the magnitude of the angular momentum of the system
with respect to a point midway between the two parallel lines
and in the same plane?
 Physics Chapter 11: 26.1
26.1 An electric drill delivers a net torque of 15.0 N·m to a
buffing wheel used to polish a car. The buffing wheel has a
moment of inertia of 2.30×10−3 kg·m2. At 0.0220 s after the drill is
turned on, what is the angular velocity of the buffing wheel?
 Physics Chapter 11: 26.1
26.1 An electric drill delivers a net torque of 15.0 N·m to a
buffing wheel used to polish a car. The buffing wheel has a
moment of inertia of 2.30×10−3 kg·m2. At 0.0220 s after the drill is
turned on, what is the angular velocity of the buffing wheel?
Physics Chapter 11: 26.2
A merry-go-round is 18.0 m in diameter and
has a mass, unloaded, of 48,100 kg. It is fairly
uniform in structure and can be considered to
be a solid cylindrical disk. The merry-go-round
carries 28 passengers, who have an average
mass of 68.5 kg and all sit at a distance of
8.75 m from the center. The fully-loaded
merry-go-round takes 48.0 s to reach an
angular velocity of 0.650 rad/s. (a) What is the
moment of inertia of the loaded merry-go-
round? (b) What constant net torque is applied
to the merry-go-round to reach this working
speed?
 Physics Chapter 11: 27.1
27.1 A 1.6 kg disk with radius 0.63 m is rotating freely at 55 rad/s
around an axis perpendicular to its center. A second disk that is
not rotating is dropped onto the first disk so that their centers
align, and they stick together. The mass of the second disk is 0.45
kg and its radius is 0.38 m. What is the angular velocity of the
two disks combined?
 Physics Chapter 11: 27.2
27.2 Two astronauts in deep space are connected by a 22 m rope,
and rotate at an angular velocity of 0.48 rad/s around their
center of mass. The mass of each astronaut, including spacesuit,
is 97 kg, and the rope has negligible mass. One astronaut pulls on
the rope, shortening it to 14 m. What is the resulting angular
velocity of the astronauts?