QUESTION ONE

1. The period T of a simple pendulum is measured in time units and given by:
𝑙
𝑟 = 2𝜋√𝑔

where l is the length of the pendulum and g is the acceleration due to gravity in units of
length divided by the square of time. Show that this question is dimensionally consistent.
[4]
2. The radius of a solid sphere is measured to be (6.50 ± 0.20)cm, and its mass is measured
to be [1.85 ± 0.02] 𝑘𝑔. Determine the density of the sphere in 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 and the uncertainty
in the density. [3]

3. Estimate how many people if they stood on top of each other would reach the moon. [3]
4. If the unit of force is 100 𝑁, unit of length is 10 m and unit of time is 100 s. What is the
unit of mass in this system of units?
5. Given that 𝑨 = 𝑖 + 2𝒋 + 3𝒌 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑩 = 3𝒊 + 4𝒋 + 5𝒌
a) determine a unit vector perpendicular to both A and B [2]
b) find the angle between A and B [2]
6. Find the vector whose length is 7 and which is perpendicular to each of the vectors
𝑩 = 2𝒊 − 3𝒋 + 5𝒌 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶 = 𝒊 + 𝒋 − 𝒌 [3]
7. The polar coordinates of a point are 𝑟 = 5.5𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜃 = 240°. What are the Cartesian
coordinates of this point? [3]

1
 QUESTION TWO

a) A toy boat that moves horizontally in a pond. The displacement-time graph of the
boat is shown in figure 2.1. For the entire trip, find the average speed and the
average velocity.

Figure 2.1

[8]

A parachutist balls out form helicopter that is stationary in air. After dropping through a
distance of 45 m, he opens the parachute and decelerate uniformly at 2m/s2. If he reaches the
ground with a speed of 2 m/s, how long was in air? [3]

b) A ball is thrown from the top of one building towards a very tall building 50 m
away. The initial velocity of the ball is 20 m/s, 40° above the horizontal.
i. How high above the point of projection will the ball go? [3]
ii. At what height, relative to the original level, will the ball strike the opposite
wall? [3]
iii. With what vertical velocity will the ball strike the opposite wall? [3]

2
 QUESTION THREE

a) State
i. Newton’s second law of motion [2]
ii. two conditions required for an object to be static equilibrium [2]
b) blocks of masses 𝑚1 = 4 𝑘𝑔 and 𝑚2 = 6 𝑘𝑔 are connected by a massless string that
passes over a massless frictionless pulley as shown in figure 3.1. Initially, block 𝑚1 lies on
a rough horizontal plane while block 𝑚2 is at a height ℎ = 0.75 𝑚 above the ground. When
the system starts from the rest, 𝑚2 hits the ground with speed 2.8 𝑚/𝑠. Find the
acceleration of the masses, the tension in the string and the coefficient of kinetic friction
between 𝑚1 and the table.

Figure 3.1

[10]

c) A block of weight 𝑊 = 200 𝑁 is supported by a uniform beam of weight 140 𝑁 as shown

in figure 3.2. If 𝐿1 = 1.1 𝑚 and 𝐿2 = 1.4 𝑚. Find the tension in the wire and the vertical
and horizontal components of the force exerted by the hinge on the beam.

Figure 3.2

[6]

3
 QUESTION FOUR

a) Prove the work-energy theorem. [2]

b) A 2 kg block slides across a horizontal tabletop with an initial velocity of 6 m/s and comes
to rest in a distance of 4 m. Use the work energy theorem to calculate the coefficient of
kinetic friction between the block and surface of the table. [4]
c) A cyclist and her cycle have a combined mass of 80 kg. The cyclist is cycling up a straight
road inclined at 5°, against a resistance to motion of 25 𝑁. She is accelerating uniformly at
0.2 𝑚/𝑠 2 . Calculate
i. the work done by the applied force and friction after she moves a distance of
15m. [2]
ii. the power of the cyclist at an instant when the cyclist has a speed of 36 km/h. [2]
d) Show that the impulse of a force is equal to change in momentum of the body [3]
e) A 70 kg man skating with a speed of 12 m/s collides with a 50 kg skater at rest and they
cling to each other after collision. Find the kinetic energy lost during the collision. [3]
f) A gas molecule having speed of 300 m/s horizontally collides elastically with another
molecule of the same mass which is initially at rest. After collision the first molecule moves
at an angle 30° to its initial direction. Find the speed of each molecule after collision and
the direction of the second molecule. [4]

4
 QUESTION FIVE

a) Explain why a particle moving with constant speed in a circular path is considered to
be accelerating. [2]
b) A small object of mass m is suspended from a string. The object revolves with
constant speed v in a horizontal circle of radius r, as shown in figure 5.1. (Because the
string sweeps out the surface of a cone, the system is known as a conical pendulum)
i. Show that the speed of the object is given by 𝑣 = √𝑟𝑔 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃 [2]
where is r is the radius of its path, g is the correlation due to gravity and 𝜃 is
the angle that the string makes with the vertical.
ii. Calculate 𝜃 given that 𝑣 = 4 𝑚/𝑠 and 𝑟 = 1.5 𝑚.

Figure 5.1

[2]

c) A remote sensing satellite of the earth makes a complete revolution around the earth
in a circular orbit, in 90 minutes
i. At what height above the surface of the earth is the satellite orbiting the earth?
[1]
ii. Find the orbital speed of the satellite [1]
iii. If mass of the satellite is 800 kg, calculate its gravitational potential energy
relative to the earth. [1]

5
d) A spinning wheel accelerates uniformly from an angle speed 2 rev/s to an angular
speed of 4 rev/s in 2 seconds. Calculate the angular acceleration and the angular
displacement of the wheel during this time. [4]
e) A solid uniform frictionless cylindrical disc of mass M = 3 kg and radius R = 0.5 m is
used to draw water from a well as shown in figure 5.2 A bucket of mass m = 2 kg is
attached to a cord that is wrapped around the disc. Calculate the angular
acceleration of the wheel, the linear acceleration of the object and the tension in the
cord.

Figure 5.2
[4]

f) Consider a disk of radius r and mass m initially at rest on an inclined surface. Show
that if the disk rolls without slipping from a height h, it reaches the bottom of the
incline with speed given by:

3
𝑣 = √4 𝑔ℎ [3]

6
 QUESTION SIX

1. The springs shows in figure 6.1 are all unstretched in the beginning when a man starts
pulling the block. The man exerts a constant force F on the block. Show that
𝐹(𝑘2+𝑘3 )
a) the amplitude is 𝑘 [5]
1𝑘2 +𝑘1𝑘3 +𝑘2 𝑘3

𝑀(𝑘2 +𝑘3)
b) the time period of the motion of the block is 2𝜋 √𝑘 [3]
1𝑘2 +𝑘1𝑘3 +𝑘2𝑘3

1 𝑘1𝑘2 +𝑘1𝑘3 +𝑘2𝑘3

c) the frequency of the motion of the block is 2𝜋 √ [3]
𝑀(𝑘2 +𝑘3)

Fig 6.1
2. calculate the time period of a simple pendulum of length of one meter. The acceleration
due to gravity at the place is 𝜋 2 m𝑠 −2 [4]
3. A simple pendulum is taken at a place where its distance from the earth’s surface is equal
to the radius of the earth. Calculate the time period of small oscillations if the length of
the string is 1 m. Take 𝑔 = 𝜋 2 𝑚𝑠 −2 at the surface of the earth. [5]

7
 QUESTION SEVEN

1. Two tiny spheres each of mass m are hung in equilibrium from silk thread of
length L and carries q. They are separated by a distance such that each of them
makes an angle 𝜃 with the vertical. Show that:

𝑚𝑔 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃
𝑞 = 2𝐿 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 √
𝑘

where k is Coulomb’s constant. Hence, calculate the value of q given that L = 10

cm, 𝑚 = 2𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜃 = 10°.

Fig 7.1

2. Consider two charges as shown in the figure below. Compute the net electric field
at point p.

Figure 7.2

[12]

8
3. The following diagram [Figure 7.3] shows a battery of unknown emf 𝜀 and an
internal resistance of 1.0 Ω connected to three resistors. The voltmeter has a very
high resistance.

Fig 7.3
If the reading on the voltmeter is 3.0 V, calculate:
i. the current in the 9.0 Ω resistor; [2]
ii. the heat energy generated in the 60 Ω resistor in 2 minutes; [2]
iii. the total external resistance of the circuit; [2]
iv. the value of the emf 𝜀 [2]