UNIT 4: WORK, ENERGY AND POWER

CHAPTER 9: WORK, ENERGY AND POWER

NUMERICAL EXAMPLES

1. The relation between the displacement x and the time t of a particle moving under a
constan force is t = √ x + 3, where x is in metre and t in sec. Determine: (i) the
displacement of the particle at the instant when its velocity is zero, (ii) the work done by
the force in first 6 seconds.
2. A man weighing 70 kg carries a 30 kg box to the top of a building 20 m high. Calculate
the work done by the man. Take g = 9.8 m s-2.
3. A man pulls a box on a horizontal floor through a distance of 20 m with a force of 30 N
applied along a rope tied to the box and making an angle of 60° with the horizontal.
Calculate the work done.
4. A cyclist, after stopping paddling, comes to a stop in 10 m under the frictional force 200
N due to the road. What is the work done by the road (frictional force) on the cycle? How
much work does the cycle on the road?
5. A chain is placed on a frictionless table such that its 1/5 part is hanging down over the
edge of the table. If the length of the chain be l and the mass be m, then how much work
will be done in pulling up the hanging part of the chain back on the table.

6. A man pushes a trunk on a rough railway platform by applying a force of 100 N over a
distance of 10 m. Thereafter, the force applied by the man decreases linearly with
distance to 50 N over the next 10 m. Plot the force F applied by the man, and also the
frictional force f, which is 50 N against the distance moved by the trunk. Calculate the
work done by F and f over 20 m.
7. A body is acted upon by a force F along the x-direction. The force is variable in
magnitude being a function of x, as shown. Find the work done by the force in moving
the body from (a) x = 0 to x = 4, (b) x = 4 to x = 10, (c) x = 10 to x = 14, (d) x = 0 to x =
14. Force is expressed in newton and displacement in metre.

8. A policeman fires a bullet of mass 50 gram with a speed of 200 m/s, in a wooden piece of
thickness 2.0 cm. The bullet leaves the wooden piece with only 10% of its initial kinetic
energy. By how much percentage has the speed of the bullet been reduced?
9. A toy rocket of mass 0.1 kg has a small quantity of fuel of mass 0.02 kg which it burns
out in 3 s. Starting from rest on a horizontal smooth track, it gets a speed of 20 m/s after
the fuel is burnt out. Find the approximate thrust on the rocket and the energy content per
unit mass of the fuel? (Ignore the small mass variation of the rocket during fuel burning)
10. A body of mass 5 kg initially at rest is subjected to a force of 20 N. What is the kinetic
energy acquired by the body at the end of 10 s?
11. A body falls on the ground from a height of 10 m and rebounds to a height of 2.5 m.
Calculate (a) the percentage loss of kinetic energy of the body during its collision with
the ground, (b) the ratio of the velocities of the body just before and just after the
collision.
12. A body of mass 2.0 kg initially at rest is moved by a horizontal force of 0.50 N on a
smooth table. Find the work done by the force in 8.0 s and show that this equals the
change in the kinetic energy of the body.
13. A 10 g bullet is fired at a plank of wood with a speed of 200 m/s. After passing through
the plank which is 1 m thick the speed of the bullet reduces to 100 m/s. Find the average
resistance offered by the plank.
14. A bullet moving at a speed of 400 m/s just pierces a wooden block 4 cm thick. What
speed will be required to just pierce a block 9 cm thick?
15. A raindrop of mass 1.00 g is falling from a height of 1 km. It hits the ground with a speed
of 50 m/s. Find the work done (i) by the gravitational force, (ii) by the unknown resistive
force. (g = 10 ms-2)
16. A car of mass 2000 kg is lifted up a distance of 30 m by a crane in 1 minute. A second
crane does the same job in 2 minutes. Do the cranes consume the same or different
amounts of fuel? What is the power supplied by each crane? Neglect power dissipation
against friction (g = 9.8 ms-2).
17. A tube well pumps out 2400 kg of water per minute. The water is coming out with a
velocity of 3 m/s. Find the power of the pump. How much work is done if the pump runs
for 10 hours?
18. A particle of mass m is moving in a circular path of constant radius r such that its
centripetal acceleration ac is varying with time t as a c = k2 r2 t2, where k is constant. Prove
that the power delivered to the particle by the forces acting on it is m k2 r2 t2.
19. An elevator which can carry a maximum load of 1800 kg is moving up with a constant
speed of 2 m/s. Its motion is opposed by a frictional force of 4000 N. Find the minimum
power delivered by the motor to the elevator. Express your answer in watts and also in
horsepower. Take g = 10 ms-2.
20. A man cycling up an inclined plane maintains a constant speed of 18 km/h. The total
mass of the man and the cycle is 120 kg and the inclination of the plane with the
horizontal is 15°. What is the minimum horsepower expended by the man? Take g = 9.8
ms-2 (or N/kg) and sin 15° = 0.2588.
21. A ball is thrown vertically downwards from a height of 10 metres with an initial velocity
vo. It collides with the ground, loses 50 per cent of its energy in collision and rebounds to
the same height. Find: (a) the initial velocity v o, (b) the height to which the ball would
rise after the collision if the initial velocity vo were directed upwards.
22. A pendulum bob of mass 10-2 kg is raised to a height 5 x 10-2 m and then released. At the
bottom of its swing, it picks up a mass 10 -2 kg. To what height will the combined mass
rise? (g = 10 ms-2)
23. A body of mass 10 kg moving with a speed of 2 m/s on a frictionless table strikes a
mounted spring and comes to rest. If the force constant of the spring be 4 × 10 5 N/m, then
how much is the spring compressed?
24. A 1000 kg car moving at 18 km/h on a smooth road collides with the horizontal mounted
spring of spring constant 6.25 × 103 N/m. What is the maximum compression of the
spring?
25. Two ball bearings each of mass m moving in opposite directions with equal speed v
collide head on with each other. Predict the outcome of the collision, assuming it
perfectly elastic.
26. A spherical ball A of mass 0.5 kg moving with a speed of 0.5 m/s on a smooth horizontal
track collides head on with another identical ball B at rest. Find the speeds of A and B
after collision.
27. A moving ball of mass 0.1 kg undergoes an elastic head on collision with another ball at
rest. After collision, the first ball rebounds at one-third of its original speed while the
second ball starts moving forward. Find the mass of the second ball.
28. A railway carriage of mass 10000 kg moving with a speed of 54 km/h strikes a stationary
carriage of the same mass. The two carriages get coupled and move together. What is
their common speed? If the collision elastic?
29. A body of mass m1 strikes elastically head on another body of mass m 2 which is initially
at rest. Show that the fraction of the kinetic energy of the moving body transferred to the
truck body is 4m1m2/(m1+m2)2.
30. What percentage of kinetic energy of a moving particle is transferred to the stationary
particle it strikes when the stationary particle has a mass (a) 19 time, (b) equal to, (c) 1/19
times the mass of the moving particle?
31. A body of mass 5 kg moves along the x-axis with a velocity of 2 m/s. A second body of
mass 10 kg moves along the y-axis with the velocity of √ 3 m/s. The collide at the origin
and stick together. Calculate (a) final velocity of the combined mass after collision and
(b) the amount of heat liberated in the collision.
32. Consider a one dimensional elastic collision between a given incoming body A and a
body B initially at rest. How would you choose the mass of B in comparison of the mass
of A in order that B should recoil with (a) greatest speed, (b) greatest momentum, (c)
greatest kinetic energy?
33. A particle of mass mo moves with a speed of c/2. Calculate its mass, momentum, total
energy and kinetic energy.

OBJECTIVE TYPE

1. When mass and speed of a body is doubled, the kinetic energy increases:
(a) 2 times
(b) 4 times
(c) 8 times
(d) 16 times
2. When the kinetic energy of a body is increased by three times, its momentum is increased
by:
(a) 9 times
(b) 3 times
(c) √ 2׿
(d) √ 3׿
3. If a force F is applied on a body and it moves with velocity v, the power will be:
(a) F/v
(b) F × v
(c) F/v2
(d) F × v2
4. A long spiral spring is stretched by 2 cm, its potential energy is U. The spring is stretched
by 10 cm, then the potential energy of the spring is:
(a) U/25
(b) U/5
(c) 5U
(d) 25U
5. The kinetic energy of a mass connected to a spring will be maximum in:
(a) Stretched position
(b) Mean position
(c) Compressed position
(d) Motionless position
6. The energy equivalent to 1 kg of matter is:
(a) 9 × 1016 J
(b) 9 × 1016 erg
(c) 1 J
(d) 100 J

VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE

1. Under what conditions the work done by a force is maximum and minimum?
2. A person having a load on his head is walking with uniform velocity on a horizontal road.
Does he do any work?
3. If the above person accelerates on the road then?
4. A satellite revolves around Earth under the gravitational force exerted upon it by the
earth. Does it perform any work?
5. Give one example each of conservative and non-conservative force.
6. Friction is a non-conservative force. Why?
7. Can kinetic energy of a body be negative? Potential energy?
8. Out of joule, calorie, kilowatt and electron volt which one is not the unit of energy?
9. In which motion momentum changes but kinetic energy does not?
10. In which collision, elastic or inelastic, is the momentum conserved? What about kinetic
energy?
11. Is whole of the kinetic energy lost in a perfectly inelastic collision?

SHORT ANSWER TYPE

1. When is the work done by a force positive and when it is negative?

2. Mountain roads rarely go straight up the slope but wind up gradually; why?
3. “Chemical, gravitational and nuclear energies are potential energies for different types of
forces in nature.” Explain this statement with examples.
4. By convention, for forces which fall off to zero at large distances, the potential energy at
infinity is taken to be zero. With this choice, write the sign (positive or negative) of
potential energy of (a) electron-positron bound state, (b) planet-satellite system, (c)
electron-electron system.
5. Two protons are brought towards each other. Will the potential energy of the system
decrease or increase If a proton and an electron be brought nearer, then?
6. State whether the potential energy in the following cases increases or decreases: (a) a
spring is compressed, (b) a spring is stretched,(c) dissimilar charges are brought near
each other, (d) a body is taken away against the gravitational force, (e) air bubble rises up
in water.
7. A small piece of wet cement thrown on a wall is glued to the wall. What happens to its
initial energy?
8. In a thermal station, coal is consumed to generate electricity. Mention the chain of
energy-changes.
9. Can a body have energy without momentum? Momentum without energy?
10. Alight body and a heavy body have the same momentum (p). Which one has more kinetic
energy (K)?
11. A light body and a heavy body have the same kinetic energy. Which one has a greater
momentum?
12. A shot fired from a cannon explodes in air. What will be the changes in the momentum
and the kinetic energy?
13. The velocity of an aeroplane is doubled. (a) What will happen to the momentum? Will
the momentum remain conserved? (b) What will happen to the kinetic energy? Will the
energy remain conserved?
14. Nuclear fission and fusion are examples of conversion of mass into energy. Is, strictly
speaking, mass converted into energy even in an exothermic chemical reaction?
15. Slow neutrons have a much greater chance of inducing nuclear fission than fast neutrons.
Therefore, in a nuclear reactor, fast neutrons are slowed down by colliding them with the
atoms of some moderator. Which material would you select out of water, lead and zinc to
be used as a moderator?
16. Answer, with reason:
(i) In an elastic collision of two billiard balls, is the total kinetic energy
conserved during the short time of collision of the balls (that is, when balls are
in contact)?
(ii) Is the total linear momentum conserved during the short time of an elastic
collision of two balls?
(iii) What are the answers to (a) and (b) for an inelastic collision?
(iv) If the potential energy (corresponding to the force during collision) of two
billiard balls depends only on the distance between their centres, is the
collision elastic or inelastic?

LONG ANSWER TYPE A

1. Explain, how we can find the work done by a variable force?

2. What are conservative and non-conservative forces? Explain with examples. Mention
some of their properties.
3. What do we mean by power and energy? Give their units.
4. Explain the meaning of kinetic energy, with examples. Obtain an expression for the
kinetic energy of a body moving with a uniform velocity.
5. State and explain work-energy theorem.
6. What do you mean by potential energy? Give two examples of potential energy other
than the gravitational potential energy.
7. Define potential energy. Derive an expression for the potential energy stored in a system
of a block attached to a massless spring, when the block is pulled from its equilibrium
position.
8. Give a brief account of mass-energy equivalence. What is its significance in Physics?
9. Define mechanical energy of a body. Show that the mechanical energy of a body is
conserved, when it falls freely under gravity.
10. Discuss the transformation of energy from one form into another when a body is made to
oscillate by connecting it to an ideal spring. Give the appropriate graphs.
11. What is meant by collision? Give a brief account of elastic and inelastic collisions.
12. Prove that in an elastic collision in one dimension, the relative velocity of approach
before impact is equal to the relative velocity of separation after impact.
13. Discuss elastic collision in two-dimensional motion.

LONG ANSWER TYPE B

1. Explain what is meant by work. Obtain an expression for the work done by a constant
force. What should be the angles between the force and the displacement for maximum
and for minimum work?
2. Define work. What is SI unit of work? What is meant by positive work, negative work
and zero work? Illustrate your answer with two examples of each type.
3. What do you understand by work done? Write its SI unit. Obtain the relation between
joule, erg and kg-metre, gm-cm.
4. Define work and show diagrammatically work done in area enclosed by the graph drawn
between force and displacement either force is constant or variable.
5. Explain conservative and non-conservative forces. Show by using a diagram, work is
independent of path through which body is taken but depends on initial and final states.
6. Explain mechanical energy. Write its different forms and show that gain or loss in kinetic
energy of a body is equal to amount of work on the body or by the body.
1 2
7. What is elastic potential energy of a spring? Obtain relation for elastic P.E. U = k x .
2
8. Define energy, principle of conservation of energy and show that kinetic energy of a
1 2
body of mass m thrown with velocity u in upward direction remains mu at all points.
2
9. What do you understand by collisions in one dimension? Show that velocity of approach
is equal to velocity of separation for elastic collision.
10. What are the elastic and inelastic collisions. Obtain relations for velocities of two
spherical bodies after an elastic collision and discuss for m 1 = m2, m1 >> m2 and m2 >>
m1.
11. Two bodies of masses my and m, moving with velocities u 1 and u2 respectively in the
same direction collide with each other elastically; calculate their velocities after the
collision. Discuss what happens, when
(a) Both the colliding bodies have the same mass,
(b) One of the bodies is initially at rest,
(c) A light body collides with a heavy body at rest,
(d) A heavy body collides with a light body at rest.

NUMERICALS

1. A 55 kg man holds a weight of 20 kg on his head. What is the work done by him against
gravity if he moves a distance of 20 m (i) on a horizontal road, (ii) on an incline of 1 in 5?
Take g = 10 m s-2.
2. Find the work done when a 25 kg weight is (i) lifted to a vertical height of 2.0 m from the
ground, (ii) carried to the same place by pushing it up an inclined plane making an angle
of 30° With the ground. Take g = 9.8 ms-2.
3. A 10 kg weight is raised to a height of 2.0 m with an acceleration of 1.5 ms -2. Compute
the work done, if g = 10 ms-2.
4. A 25 kg box is pulled at a constant speed by a horizontal force on a horizontal floor. The
coefficient of sliding friction between the box and the floor is 0.20. How much work is
done in pulling the box through 20 m? (g = 9.8 ms-2)
5. Find the power of a 60 kg man who can climb up a height of 10 m in half a minute. g =
9.8 m s-2
6. The power of a pump-motor is 2 kW. How much water per minute can it raise to a height
of 10 metre? (g = 10 m/s2)
7. A man pulls a roller by a force of 20 kg-f applied at 60? With the ground. If he pulls it a
distanceof10m in 1 minute, calculate the power dissipated. (g = 10 m/s2)
8. An engine can pull 500 metric ton load up an inclined plane rising 1 in 100 with a speed
of 10 m/s. The frictional force offered by the plane is 2000 N. What is the power of the
engine?
Given: 1 metric ton = 105 kg and g = 9.8 ms-2.
9. An engine pulls a 1500 kg car on a level road at a constant speed of 5.0 m/s against a
frictional force of 500 N. Calculate the power expended by the engine. What extra power
has the engine to expend in order to maintain the same speed of the car up an inclined
plane having a gradient of 1 in 10?
10. The human heart forces 4 x 10 -3 m3 of blood per minute through the arteries under a
pressure of 0.13 m. Calculate the horsepower of the heart. The density of blood is 1.03 x
103 kg m-3.
Take g = 9.8 ms-2 and 1 H.P. = 746 W.
11. A force of 30 N acts on a body of mass 2.0 kg starting from rest up to a distance of 3.0 m.
Then, the force reduces to 15 N and acts in the same direction up to 2.0 m. Calculate the
final kinetic energy of the body.
12. A 0.2 kg ball is suspended by a thread of length 1 m. It is pulled aside until the thread
makes an angle of 30° with the vertical. How much work is done against gravity? The
ball is now released. Find its velocity at the lowest point. Ignore air resistance and take g
= 10 ms-2.
13. A bullet of mass 20 g moving with a speed of 150 m/s strikes a block and comes to rest
after piercing 10 cm into it. Find the average force of resistance offered by the block.
14. Two identical 5 kg blocks are moving with same speed of 2 metres per second towards
each other along a frictionless horizontal surface. The blocks collide, stick together and
come to rest. Considering the two blocks as a system, calculate the work done by (i)
external forces and (ii) internal forces.
15. A ball is dropped from rest at a height of 60 m. On striking the ground, it loses 25% of its
energy. To what height does it rebound?
16. A 10 kg body is dropped from a height of 20 m. What is its potential energy before
dropping? What is its kinetic energy when it is 8.0 m high above the ground? What when
it hits the ground? (8 = 9.8 ms-2)
17. A spring requires 4 J of work to be stretched through10 cm. Find the spring-constant.
18. A block of mass 2 kg is dropped from a height of 40 cm on a spring whose force constant
is 1960 N/m (figure). What will be the maximum distance x of the compression of the
spring? (g = 9.8 ms-2).
19. A solid of mass 2 kg moving with velocity 10 m/s strikes an ideal weightless spring and
produces a compression of 25 cm in it. Calculate the force constant of the spring.
20. A bullet of mass 20 g strikes a block of mass 980 g with a velocity u and is embedded in
it. The block is in contact of a spring whose force-constant is 100 N/m. After the collision
the spring is compressed up to 10 cm. Find (a) the velocity of the block after the
collision, (b) magnitude of the velocity u of the bullet, (c) loss in the kinetic energy due
to the collision.

21. A smooth sphere (mass 10 kg) rolls on a smooth curved surface from the point A with a
speed of 10 m/s. The sphere reaches the point D passing through point B. Find : (a) the
total energy of the sphere at the point A (b) the kinetic energy and the potential energy at
the point B, (c) the kinetic energy at C, (d) the kinetic energy at D, (e) will the sphere go
beyond D? (g = 10 m/s2).

22. A ball is rolling to and fro in a smooth circular cup as shown in the Fig. It goes up on
either side of the lowest point A to points 10 cm high above A. What is the speed of the
ball at A? (g = 9.8 m/s2)
23. A smooth body is released from rest A at a point A at the top of a smooth curved track of
vertical height 40 cm. What is the speed of the body at the bottom of the curved track?
How far along the adjoining smooth inclined plane will the body go?

24. An automobile moving at a speed of 72 km/h reaches the foot of a smooth incline when
the engine is switched off. How much distance does the automobile go up the incline
before stopping? The incline makes an angle of 30° with the horizontal. Take = 9.8 m s-2
25. The length of a simple pendulum is 1 m and the mass of the bob is 0.1 kg. The bob is
taken towards one side until the thread becomes horizontal and then released. Calculate
the kinetic energy of the bob when the thread makes an angle of (i) 0°, (ii) 30° with the
vertical.
26. A block of wood of mass 5 kg is suspended by a thread. A gun is fired in the horizontal
direction and the bullet strikes the block and is embedded in it. As a result the block is
raised to 15 cm. If the mass of the bullet be 20 g, find the initial velocity of the bullet. (g
= 9.8 m s-2)
27. A bullet of mass 0.02 kg moving with a speed of 200 m/s strikes a 2 kg wooden block
suspended by a 1 m long thread and is embedded in the block. What is the maximum
inclination of the thread with the vertical? (g = 9.8 m s-2)
28. A 1 kg body falls freely under gravity. Find its momentum and kinetic energy 5 seconds
after it starts falling. Take g = 10 ms-2.
29. If the momentum of a body is increased by 50%, what will be the percentage increase in
the kinetic energy of the body?
30. Find the ratio of kinetic energies of two bodies of masses 1 kg and 4 kg having equal
linear momenta.
31. Find the ratio of linear momenta of two bodies of masses 1 kg and 4 kg having equal
kinetic energies.
32. A stationary bomb explodes into two fragments of masses 0.4 kg and 4 kg. If the bigger
fragment has a kinetic energy of 100 J, find the kinetic energy of the smaller fragment.
33. A neutron (mass 1.67 x 10-27 kg) moving at a speed of 1.0 x 10 8 m/s collides with a
deutron (mass 3.34 x 10-27 kg) at rest and sticks to it. Find the speed of the composite
particle triton.
34. A 20 kg mass which is moving with a speed of 10 m/s strikes a stationary mass of 5 kg.
After collision the masses stick together. (a) With what speed does the combined mass
move? (b) What was the kinetic energy of the whole system beforethe collision? (c) What
is the kinetic energy after the collision? (d) Where has the remaining energy gone?
collision the masses stick together. (a) With what speed does the combined mass move?
 (b) What was the kinetic energy of the whole system beforethe collision? (c) What is the
kinetic energy after the collision? (d) Where has the remaining energy gone?
35. A body of mass 2 kg moving with a velocity of 3 m/s collides head-on with a second
body of mass 1 kg coming from the opposite direction with a velocity of 4 m/s. After
collision, the two bodies stick together. Find the velocity of the sticked bodies.
36. A proton of mass 1.67 x 10-27 kg collides elastically head-on with an α-particle of mass
6.68 x 10-27 kg, initially at rest. After the collision, the a-particle moves with a speed of 8
x 105 m/s. Find the speed of the proton before and after the collision.
37. A particle of mass 1.8 x 10 -27 kg moving with a speed of 10 6 m/s collides with another
particle of mass 3.6 x 10-27 kg which is initially at rest. The collision is elastic and head-
on.Find the speed of each particle after collision
38. A ball A of mass 2.4 kg suffers anelastic head-on collision with another ball B at
rest.Aftercollision, the ball A continues moving in the same direction with a speed 1/5 of
its original speed while theball B starts moving forward. Find the mass of the ball B.
39. A 30 kg mass moving at 18.0 m/s. collides with a 90 kg mass moving at 14.4 m/s in the
opposite direction. The collision is elastic and head-on. Find the velocity of each mass
after the collision.
40. A 0.1 kg ball moving at a speed of 10 m/s collides with an identical ball at rest. After
collision, the two balls move symmetrically each making an angle of 30° with the
original direction of motion of the moving ball. Find the new speed of each ball. Is the
collision elastic?
41. A 10 kg ball A moving at a speed of 8.0 m/s collides with a 20 kg ball B initially at
rest.Aftercollision,the balls A and B move along directions making angles of 30° and 45°
respectively with the initial direction of of A. Find the final speeds of the balls A and B.