Mechanics – 1st Year

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Tute-01
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01. A particle moves along a line, with velocity varying with time according to
v  2  6t 2  12t 3 . If the particle is at the origin (x=0) at time t=0, find its position
as a function of time.

02. A particle moves along a straight line, with the distance from the origin given by
x  ASin t , where A &  are constants. (a) What is the maximum distance of
the point from the origin? (b) What is the particle’s velocity as a function of time?
(c) What is the particle’s acceleration as a function of time?
Show that at each instant [ a   2 x , that is ] that the acceleration is proportional
to the distance from the origin.

03. An elevator has a mass of 500kg. Find the tension in the supporting cable when
the elevator is: (a) At rest, (b) Accelerating upward at 2.0ms-2, (c) Accelerating
downward at 2.0ms-2.

04. A vaccine gun shoots 1.8g of vaccine into the skin. The vaccine emerges from
the gun with a speed of 10.0ms-1 and penetrates 0.52cm into the skin before
coming to rest. Assuming uniform acceleration, determine the average force on
the skin as the shot is given.

05. Show that the tension of a light stretched string is same throughout the string.

Tute-02
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01. Find the acceleration of m1 and the tension in the

string, using Lagrangian Dynamics. (Take m1 > m2 )

m1
m2

02.
Find the acceleration of A & B
using Lagrangian Dynamics (Take m A m
 <  ). Hence, find the tension in B
the string.
 

03. If a motor requires 3.0s to attain its full speed of 1800 round/min after being
turned on, what is its angular acceleration? How many revolutions does it make
during this interval?

04. A phonograph turntable starts from rest and accelerates uniformly to a final
angular velocity of 5 rad s-1 in 2.0s. (a) Find the polar components of the
acceleration of a point on the rim, 0.10m from the axis. (b) Find the magnitude
and direction of this acceleration. (c) If a bug is perched at this point, what
minimum coefficient of friction is necessary to prevent its slipping off?
 Tute-03
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01. An electrically charged small body of mass m and charge –e is moving in a circle
of radius r round a fixed heavy particle charring a charge +Ze. Assuming that the
1 q1 q 2
force F between two electric charges q1 and q2 obeys the law F  ,
4 o r 2
where  o is the permittivity of free space, show that the speed v with which the
1
 1 Ze 2  2
small body is moving is given by v    .
 4 o mr 

02. A person is flying a model air plane in a circular path on the end of a string 10.0m
long. The plane has a mass of 80.0g. If the string exert a force of 2.65N on the
hand of the person holding it, how fast is the plane flying?

03. A body of mass m1 slides on a frictionless horizontal table. A string attached to its
passes through a hole in the table, and body of mass m2 hangs vertically from the
other end of the string. If the first body moves in a circle of radius R, what must
its speed be?

04.

A ball of mass m is connected to two
strings attached to a rotating vertical rod as
shown in figure. Assuming that the
Angular velocity  of the rod is the same
a as that of the ball, which travels in a
circular path around the rod. And that  is
great enough for both strings to be taut.
a m Find the tension in each string in terms of
the reverent quantities.

05. A car rounds a curve whose radius of curvature is 50.0m. The coefficient of static
friction between the tires and the road is 0.65. (a) If the road is un banked, what is
the maximum speed with which the car skidding? (b) At what angle must be the
road be banked in order that the car can round the curve at the speed in part (a)
with no force of friction perpendicular to the direction of motion? [ Hint : The
centripetal force is supplied by a component of the normal force.]

Tute-04
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01. A uniform rod is 1.09m long and has a mass of 6.0kg. Determine the moment of
inertia of the rod about a perpendicular axis that passes through the rod 30.0cm
from the end of the rod.

02. A uniform ball rolls without slipping up a hill inclined 10o to the horizontal. The
ball has a forward speed of 10.5ms-1 at the bottom of the hill and rolls without
slipping. How far does the ball move along the hill before coming to rest.

03. A light rope is wrapped 6 times around the rim of a wheel of radius 0.75m. The
rope is then pulled off the rim of the wheel by a person exerting a constant force
of 20.0N on the rope tangent to the rim. (a) How much work is done in rotating
the wheel? (b) If there is no friction, and we neglect the kinetic energy of the rope,
what is the rotational kinetic energy of the wheel? (c) If the rotational inertia of

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 the wheel is 10.0 kg m2, what is the velocity of the wheel when it is no longer
being accelerated?

04. A disk of rotational inertia 2.5x10-2 kg m2 is rotating with an angular velocity of

10.0 rad s-1, when a second, non rotating disk of rotational inertia 1.3x10-2 kg m2
is suddenly dropped on the first disk. If the two stick together and rotate as one
disk, what is the final angular velocity of the two disks?

05. A girl of mass 50.0kg jumps on a moving carousel which is rotating at a speed of
0.2 round per second. The carousel turntable has a rotational inertia of 200 kg m2.
The girl jumps toward the center of the carousel and lands at a distance 2.0m from
the center. (a) find the angular velocity of the carousel after the girl jumps a
aboard. (b) Find the kinetic energy of the system both before and after the girl
jumps on. (c) If kinetic energy is lost, where does it go?

06. Show that the kinetic energy of a rotating rigid body is proportional to (a). square
of its angular velocity, (b) its moment of inertia about the axis of rotation.
Two cylinders of radius 5.0cm and mass 50.0g each are rotating about their
central axis with the same angular velocity of 12.0 rad s-1. However, the
observed kinetic energies of the two cylinders are different and are 9.0x10-3 J and
4.5x10-3 J respectively. Explain this difference.

07. Show that the radius of gyration K of a uniform solid cylinder of diameter D
2
about its axis can be expressed as, K  D.
4
Obtain a new expression for K if a coaxial cavity of diameter d (d >D) is made in
the above cylinder.

08. Two identical long cylinders have the same mass and the same moment of inertia.
One cylinder is rotating while the other is rolling with the same angular velocity.
Show that the kinetic energy of the rolling cylinder becomes exactly twice that of
the rotating cylinder if both cylinders are completely empty hollow one.

09. A homogeneous solid cylinder of diameter 360mm and mass 48kg is rolling along
a horizontal floor without slipping at a speed of 5ms-1. How much work is needed
to stop the cylinder? What would be the result if the cylinder is a hollow one?

10. A pulley consists of two disks rigidly attached

to each other, and it is free to rotate about a
 fixed horizontal axis through the center O. A
Weight W is suspended from a string wound
O the smaller disk as shown in figure. Using
Lagrangian Dynamics, show that, (a) angular
acceleration of the pulley is
Wag
W ,
(Wa 2  K 2 )
WK 2
(b) tension in the string is .
(Wa 2  K 2 )
Where a is the radius of inner disk, K is the radius of gyration and  is the
weight of the pulley system.

11. A cylinder of radius a and radius of gyration K rolls without slipping down and
inclined plane of angle  and length l, starting from rest at the top of the incline.
Using Lagrangian Dynamics, show that the angular acceleration of a cylinder is
ag
Sin . Prove that when it reaches the bottom of the Incline its speed
(a  K 2 )
2

1
 2a 2  2
will be  2 glSin  .
 (a  K )
2


III
12. A uniform solid cylindrical drum of mass M and radius a is free to rotate about its
axis, which is horizontal. A cable of length l is wound on the drum, and carries
on its free and a mass m. Assuming no slipping or stretching of the cable and it is
initially fully wound up. Using Lagrangian Dynamics, show that the angular
2mg
acceleration is, .
( M  2 m)

Tute-05
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01. Two planets A and B are separated by a distance 380 million meters. It is
observed that the resultant acceleration due to gravity of two planets vanishes at a
distance 38 000 km from the planet B on the line joining two planets. Evaluate the
mass ratio of the two planets. Calculate the mass of the planet B, if the mass of
the planet A is 5.67x10-22 kg.

02. The mass and the diameter of the planet Jupiter are 2.0x10-27 kg and 1.4x105 km
respectively. Determine the value of acceleration due to gravity at the surface of
Jupiter. Determine the distance at which the acceleration due to gravity of Jupiter
drops down to 9.8 ms-2. [ Gravitational constant G = 6.67 x 10 –11 N m2 kg-2 ]

03. Using the principle of conservation of angular momentum, show that the line
joining a planet and a satellite sweeps equal areas at equal times when the satellite
moves in an elliptical orbit around the planet. The maximum and the minimum
velocities of a satellite which is going in an elliptical orbit around a planet are
13.2 kms-1 and 8.2 kms-1 respectively. Determine the ratio between the greatest
and the least distance between the satellite and the planet. Determine the least
distance between the satellite and the planet, if the greatest distance is 53 900 km.

04. The earth as well as Saturn travel around the sun along approximately circular
orbits. The distance between the Earth and the Sun is 150 million km. Determine
the period of revolution of Saturn around the Sun, if the distance between the
Saturn and the Sun is 1350 million km.

05. The maximum and the minimum velocities of a planet in the orbit are 30.4 kms-1
and 29.4 kms-1 respectively. The greatest distance between the Sun and the planet
is 152 million km. Estimate the least distance between them. Find the mean
distance to the Sun from the planet.

06. A satellite is in a circular orbit 600km above the earth surface. The acceleration of
gravity 8.21ms-1 at this altitude. The radius of the Earth is 6380km. Determine, (a)
the speed of the satellite, and (b) the time for one revolution around the Earth (this
time is known as the period of the orbit).

07. The Earth is 1.50x1011 m from the

Moon Sun. It makes one revolution
around the Sun per year. The
Sun
Moon is 3.84x108 m from the
Earth and makes one revolution
Earth around the Earth each 27.3 days.
Determine the velocity of the
Moon relative to the Sun the instant the moon is heading directly toward the Sun,
as shown in figure.

08. Derive an expression for the gravitational potential at a point outside a planet and
obtain the relation between the escape velocity of a rocket from the surface at the
planet. Determine the magnitude of the escape velocity of a planet for which g
(acceleration due to gravity) 9.8ms-2 and R(radius of the planet) = 6050km. Is
there an initial speed sufficient to escape from a planet if its g field is uniform?

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 Tute-06
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01. Briefly describe a method of measuring velocity of a liquid moving through a

tube, using Bernoulli’s equation. Water enters a house through a pipe of 2.0cm
inside diameter at a pressure of 4.0x105 Nm-2. The pipe leading to the second
floor, 5.0m above the inlet is 1.0cm in diameter. If the velocity at the inlet is
4.0ms-1, find the velocity of water and pressure in the second floor.

02. A water cooler which is open to the atmosphere

at the top water to a height h above the exit hole
for the water at the bottom, as shown in figure. h
With what speed will the water flow out through
the hole

03. Water flows down hill through a closed vertical funnel. The flow speed at the top
is 12.0 cms-1. The flow speed at the bottom is twice the speed at the top. If the
funnel is 40.0cm long and the pressure at the top is 4.0x105 Pa (Nm-2). What is the
pressure at the bottom?

04. A garden hose has an inner radius of 1.0 cm. The hose has nozzle with an inside
radius of 1.5 mm. Water flows through the hose with an average speed of 25.0
cms-1. (a) What is the speed of water as it emerges from the nozzle? (b) How long
does it take to spray 4.0 x 10-3m3 of water from the hose?

05. At a certain point along a pipeline the speed of water flow is 1.2ms-1 and the
gauge pressure is 3.0x105 Pa. What is the gauge pressure in the line at a point
10m lower than the first point, where the cross-sectional area of the pipe is one-
half that at the first point.

06. A Venturi meter of the kind shown in

P1 figure can be used to measure the
P2 flow velocity of a liquid of density d
in a pipe. A constriction is introduced
v1 v in the pipe, and the pressure P1 & P2
A1 2 A2
are measured in terms of the height of
the liquid in two small glass tubes
attached to the top of the pipe, one
over the constriction, the other at some point nearby. Prove that the velocity of the
 2P1  P2   2
1

fluid in the unconstricted pipe is, v1  A2   .

 d A1  A2  
2 2 

07. Air flows past the upper surface of a horizontal airplane wing in streamline flow
at 200 ms-1 and past the lower surface of the wing at 150 ms-1. If the density of
the air is 0.9 kgm-3 at the altitude of the plane and the wing area is 25.0 m2 [
Assuming the thickness of the wing is 1.0 m ]. (a) What is the pressure difference
between the top and the bottom surface of the wing? (b) What is the lifting force
on the plane?

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(a) The diagram below shows a general case of a person performing gymnastics. PQ
bar is hung from the horizontal AB level using two ropes. Motion of the
performer comprises two main components,
(i) circular motion of the performer around PQ,
(ii) oscillations of the performer and the bar PQ around AB.
The distance between the bar PQ and the centre of the gravity of the person is s
which will be a constant throughout the motion. In this motion, l is the constant
distance between PQ and AB,  is the angle between each rope and the
downwards vertical and  is the angle between the performer and the downwards
vertical.
B

A
 l


Q
s
P

Write down expressions for the Kinetic Energy (T) and the Potential Energy (V)
of the motion of the system, considering AB as the "zero potential level". Hence
show that Lagrangian function L, for this system is,

L  m l    m s 2     mg l cos  s cos .
2 2
1   1 
2   2  

(b) The following diagram shows, a planet of mass m moving in an elliptical orbit
around the Sun of mass M. The planet is in a general point on an elliptical orbit so
that the distance between the planet and the Sun is r. Angle that makes the line
joining the Sun and the planet with the positive direction of the x-axis is  and
the planet rotates with an angular velocity w with its own axis.
z

y
w
v
r

P x

Write down expressions for components of velocity of the planet along the
direction in which r is increasing, ( vr ) and along the direction in which  is
increasing, ( v ) [normal to r] in terms of r and  .

Hence, write down expressions for the kinetic energy (T) and the potential energy
(V) of the motion of the planet.
Write down an expression for the Lagrangian function.

Briefly describe the motion of the planet using Lagrangian Dynamics.

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