Force, 1st and 2nd Laws of Newton

1. Sprinting drills include running 40.0 m [North], walking 20.0 m [North], and then
sprinting 100.0 m [North]. Using vector diagrams, determine the sprinter's displacement
from his initial position.

2. To perform a give and go, a basketball player fakes out the defense by moving 0.75 m
[right] and then 3.50 m [left]. Using vector diagrams, determine the player's displacement
from the starting position.

3. While building a wall, a bricklayer sweeps the cement back and forth.
If she swings her hand back and forth, a distance of 1.70 m, four times, use vector diagrams
to calculate the distance and displacement her hand travels during that time.

4. a. What equation links resultant force, mass, and acceleration?

b. Use this equation to calculate the resultant force on each of the stones shown below.

5. a. What is the resultant force on the car below?

b. What is the car's acceleration?

c. If the total frictional force rises to 1500 N, what happens to the car?

1
6. A car has a mass of 900 kg. It accelerates from rest at a rate of 1.2 m/𝑠 ! .

a. Calculate the time taken to reach a velocity of 30 m/s.

b. Calculate the force required to accelerate the car at a rate of 1.2 m/𝑠 ! .

c. Even with the engine working at full power, the car's acceleration decreases as the
car goes faster; Why is this?

7. The diagram below shows some of the forces acting on a car of mass 800 kg.

a. State the size of the total drag force when the car is travelling at constant speed.

b. The driving force is increased to 3200 N. i Find the resultant force on the car at this
instant.

c. Write down, in words, the equation connecting mass, force and acceleration.

d. Calculate the initial acceleration of the car.

e. Explain why the car will eventually reach a new higher constant speed.

8. The driver of a car moving at 20 m/s along a straight level road applies the brakes. The car
decelerates at a steady rate of 5 m/𝑠 ! .

a. How long does it take the car to stop?

b. What kind of force slows the car down?

c. Where is this force applied?

d. The mass of the car is 600 kg. What is the size of the force slowing the car down?

9. When a force of 6.4 N was applied to a mass of 2.1 kg on a horizontal surface, it accelerated
by 1.9 m/𝑠 ! . Determine the average frictional force acting on the mass.

2
10. A small aircraft of mass 520 kg needs to take off with a speed of 30 m/s from a runway in
a distance of 200 m.

a. Show that the aircraft needs to have an average acceleration of 2.3 m/𝑠 ! .

b. What average resultant force is needed during the take off?

11. a. What resultant force is needed to accelerate a train of total mass 2.78 × 10" kg from rest
to 20 m/s in 60 s?

b. If the same train was on a sloping track which had an angle of 5° to the horizontal, what
is the component of its weight parallel to the track?

c. Suggest why railway designers try to avoid hills.

12. Calculate the average force needed to bring a 2160 kg car travelling at 21 m/s to rest in 68
meters.

13. Use Newton's second law to explain why it will hurt you more if you are struck by a hard
ball than by a soft ball of the same mass and speed.

14. A trolley containing sand is pulled across a frictionless horizontal surface with a small but
constant resultant force. Describe and explain the motion of the trolley if sand can fall
through a hole in the bottom of the trolley.

15. A man of mass 82.5 kg is standing still in an elevator that is accelerating upwards at 1.50
m/𝑠 ! .

a. What is the resultant force acting on the man?

b. What is the normal contact force acting upwards on him from the floor?

16. Figure below shows two masses connected by a light string passing over a pulley.

a. Assuming there is no friction, calculate the acceleration of the two blocks.

b. What resultant force is needed to accelerate the 2.0 kg mass by this amount?

c. Draw a fully labelled free-body diagram for the 2 kg mass, showing the size and
direction of all forces.

3
17. Calculate the resultant force that produces an acceleration of 4m/s? in a mass of 15 kg.

18. A mass of 50 kg experiences a force 𝐹# , to the right and a force 𝐹! , to the left.

a. If 𝐹# = 100 N and 𝐹! = 80 N, calculate:

i. the resultant force on the mass.

ii. the acceleration of the mass.

b. If 𝐹# = 𝐹! = 80 N, calculate:

i. the resultant force on the mass.

ii. the acceleration of the mass.