SPH4U Sample Test – Dynamics 1of14
True/False
Indicate whether the sentence or statement is true or false.
____ 1. The normal force that acts on an object is always equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the grav–
itational force that is acting on it.
____ 2. Friction always acts against an object’s motion relative to the contact surface.
____ 3. When forces acting on an object are in equilibrium, the object can still be moving.
____ 4. For an object sliding along a ramp, the force of kinetic friction acting on the object increases as the angle of
inclination of the ramp increases.
____ 5. A car accelerates from rest when a traffic light turns green. A cup of coffee that was sitting on the dashboard
of the car falls into the driver’s lap. The driver could rightly argue that the cup’s apparent motion was due to
its inertia. It had a tendency to stay still and the car accelerated from beneath it.
____ 6. The sum of all the forces acting on a stationary object is the same as that acting on an object in uniform mo–
tion.
____ 7. For an object travelling with uniform circular motion, its acceleration is always directed tangent to the circle.
____ 8. When a curve in the road is banked, a component of the normal force contributes to the centripetal force.
Multiple Choice
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
____ 9. When analyzing dynamics problems, free-body diagrams
a. should always be used
b. are more useful when analyzing horizontal forces than when analyzing vertical forces
c. should include only the forces that are directly responsible for the acceleration
d. should be used only when objects are accelerating
e. only apply to objects in equilibrium
____ 10. The free-body diagram of a block being pushed up a rough ramp is best represented by
a. A d. D
b. B e. E
c. C
____ 11. A 24-kg traffic light is suspended from the midpoint of a cable suspended between two poles. The angle
between the cable and the pole is 80° at both poles. The net force acting on the traffic light has a value of
a. zero d. 2.4 × 102 N
b. 47 N e. 4.6 × 102 N
c. 82 N
SPH4U Sample Test – Dynamics 2of14
____ 12. An elevator accelerates downward. What is the relationship between the gravitational force acting on the
elevator and the tension in the cable that supports the elevator?
a. d.
b. e.
c.
____ 13. An object sits at rest on a ramp. As the angle of inclination of the ramp increases, the object suddenly begins
to slide. Which of the following explanations best accounts for the object’s movement?
a. The coefficient of static friction has decreased sufficiently.
b. The force of gravity acting on the object has increased sufficiently.
c. The component of gravity along the ramp has increased sufficiently.
d. The friction has decreased sufficiently while the normal force has remained unchanged.
e. The normal force has increased sufficiently.
____ 14. A passenger on a Ferris wheel of diameter 22 m makes one complete revolution every 45 s. What is the pas–
senger’s centripetal acceleration?
a. 19 m/s2d. 0.21 m/s2
b. 13 m/s2e. 0.068 m/s2
c. 0.43 m/s2
____ 15. The diagram below shows a rock on the end of a string being whirled around in a circle in the horizontal
plane. The motion is viewed from above and the stone is rotating clockwise. What are the directions associ–
ated with its instantaneous velocity and instantaneous acceleration, respectively?
a. south, east d. west, west
b. east, west e. south, west
c. south, south
____ 16. Imagine you are a passenger upside-down at the top of a vertical looping roller coaster. The centripetal force
acting on you at this position
a. is perhaps the least of anywhere in the loop
b. is supplied at least partly by gravity
c. is supplied partly by the seat of the roller coaster
d. is directed vertically downward
e. all of the above
SPH4U Sample Test – Dynamics 3of14
Short Answer
17. Newton’s third law talks about forces always acting in pairs with the two forces of any pair being equal in
strength and opposite in direction. Does this imply a “balanced” force situation and, if so, how is it possible to
ever accelerate anything?
18. Describe how “artificial” gravity can be produced on board an orbiting space station. Discuss the physics of
the situation.
19. An object with a mass of 15 kg rests on a frictionless horizontal plane and is acted upon by a horizontal force
of 30 N.
(a) What is its acceleration?
(b) How far will it move in 10 s?
(c) What will be its velocity after 10 s?
20. If the coefficient of friction is 0.30, how much horizontal force is needed to pull a mass of 15 kg across a level
board at a uniform velocity?
21. A 200 g ball on the end of a string is rotated in a horizontal circle of radius 10.0 m. The ball completes 10 ro–
tations in 5.0 s. What is the centripetal force of the string on the ball?
Problem
22. An electric winch is used to raise a 40-kg package and a 10-kg package vertically up the side of a building as
pictured in the diagram. There is a frictional force of 60 N acting between the wall and the 40-kg package.
The angle the cable makes to the vertical is 15°. Include an appropriate free-body diagram for each of the
following questions. (Assume two significant digits.)
(a) Calculate the force the winch must exert on the cable to slide the packages at a constant speed up the wall.
(b) If the packages are lowered with an acceleration 1.0 m/s
2, what is the tension in the cable connecting the
two packages?
(c) If the packages are raised with an acceleration of 1.0 m/s
2, what is the tension in the rope connecting the
two packages?
SPH4U Sample Test – Dynamics 4of14
23. A passenger in an elevator has a mass of 100 kg. Calculate the force, in newtons, exerted on the passenger by
the elevator, if the elevator is
(a) at rest
(b) moving with an upward acceleration of 30 cm/s2
(c) moving with a downward acceleration of 15 cm/s2
(d) moving upward with a uniform velocity of 15 cm/s
(e) falling freely (the cable breaks).
24. A boy on a toboggan is sliding down a snow-covered hillside. The boy and toboggan together have a mass of
50 kg, and the slope is at an angle of 30° to the horizontal. Find the boy’s acceleration considering the follow–
