MBALE SECONDARY SCHOOL

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS -2023

“A LEVEL” REVISION QUESTIONS – MECHANICS
(Learning Mechanics Much Better through Daily Practical Illustrations)

SET ll – MOTION IN A STRAIGHT LINE (HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL MOTION)

Recall that:

Where v=u+at

1 2
u=initial velocity S=ut+ a t
2
1 2
V=velocity after time t (final velocity) S=vt+ a t
2
S=displacement from starting point (not simply distance!)
2 2
It can be positive or negative or even zero v =u +2as

1
a= uniform/ constant acceleration s= (u+v)t
2
NB: (i) For constant velocity (uniform/steady velocity/speed) the acceleration is zero

(ii) If the particle moves forward and then it returns to its starting point, s=0

(iii) If the particle moves forward and then it returns to its starting point going past it in the opposite direction, s will be negative
from the starting point O.

+S

-S

B O S=0
A

(IV) For vertical motion freely under gravity, at maximum point final velocity v=0, and the time taken to reach maximum point is
equal to time taken to return to its point of projection from maximum point i.e. time of flight T is twice time t taken to reach maximum
height, T=2t

1. A particle moving in a straight line accelerates uniformly from rest to a speed of 60ms-1 in 10 seconds. Find the distance
travelled in this time.
{300m}
2. A train travelling in a straight line is brought to rest in 1 minute with a uniform retardation of 0.5ms-2. Find the speed at
which the train was travelling in km/h. {108km/h}

Prepared by: Mwalimu Nambohe Fred

Dedicated to: Mathematics Club – Mbale SS 1|Page
 3. A particle moving in a straight line with constant acceleration travels 10m in 2 seconds, then a further 30m in the
following 2 seconds. Find the acceleration of the particle {5ms-2}

4. A train takes 10minutes to travel a distance of 12km between two stations. It starts from rest at the first station,
accelerating uniformly until it reaches a speed V km/h. It travels at this speed for 5minutes then decelerates uniformly,
coming to rest at the second station. Find the value of v. {v=96}.

5. A particle is projected vertically upwards with a speed 30ms-1. After 3seconds another particle is projected vertically
upwards from the same point with a speed of 25ms-1. Find the height at which the two particles collide. {Take g=10}
{28.8m}.

6. A boy standing at the edge of a cliff throws a stone vertically upwards with a velocity of 10ms-1. If the stone hits the sea
below with a velocity of 40ms-1, find the height of the cliff above sea- level and the maximum height above sea-level and
the stone. [take g=10]

-1
7. (a) A car accelerates uniformly from rest to 60kmh in 30 seconds. Find the distance it travels in this time.
(b) A cyclist travels 1.25km as he accelerates uniformly at a rate of k ms-2 from a speed of 15km/h to 30km/h. Find the
value of k. [ ].

-1
8. A particle is projected vertically upwards from a point O with a speed of 90kmh . Find the maximum height reached by
the particle and the time that elapses before it returns to O. [ ]

9. A boy on abridge throws a pebble vertically upwards at a speed of 6ms-1. After 2 seconds it hits the water below. Find the
speed at which the pebble hits the water and its initial height above the water. [ ].

10. The points O, A, B and C lie on a straight line such that AB=28m and BC=72m. A particle moving with constant
acceleration starts from rest at O and passes through A, B, and C, its velocities at B and C being 9ms-1 and 15ms-1
respectively. Find the velocity of the particle at A and the time it takes to travel from A to C. [ ].

11. A particle moving in a straight line with constant acceleration travels 10m in 2seconds, then a further 22m in in the next
2seconds. Find the further distance travelled in 2 more seconds and the speed of the particle at the end of this 6- second
interval of time. [ ].

12. A train, being brought to rest with uniform retardation, travels 30m in 2seconds, then a further 30m in 4seconds. Find
the retardation of the train and the additional time it takes to come to rest.
Prepared by: Mwalimu Nambohe Fred
Dedicated to: Mathematics Club – Mbale SS 2|Page
 13. *A particle is projected vertically upwards from a point A. Given that it rises 15m in the third second of it motion, Find its
initial speed and the maximum height above A that it reaches. [ ].

14. A particle travelling in a straight line with constant acceleration 4ms-2 passes a point O when its velocity is 12ms-1. It passes
another point P after a further 3s. Find the velocity of the particle at P and the distance OP. [24ms-1, 54m].

15. *A particle, moving in a straight line with constant acceleration, travels 10m in the first second, and 15m in the second
second. Find
(a) Its initial velocity.
(b) Its acceleration.
(c) The distance travelled in the third second. [(a) 7.5ms-1 (b) 5ms-2 (c) 20m].

16. A bus leaves a bus stop and accelerates uniformly for 10s over a distance of 100m. It then moves uniformly with the
speed it has attained for 30s and finally retards uniformly to rest at the next stop. If the two bus stops are1km a part,
Find.
(a) the maximum velocity,
(b) the acceleration,
(c) the total time taken between the two stops. [(a) 20ms-1 (b) 2ms-2 (c) 70s]. Hint: you can use graphical method by drawing a velocity – time graph.

17. Two particles P and Q are moving on the same horizontal line towards each other. P passes a point A on the line
with speed 8ms-1 and constant acceleration 0.5ms-2 . Simultaneously, Q passes a point B on the line with speed 4ms-1
and constant acceleration 1.25ms-2 . Given that the distance AB is 64m, calculate
(a) the time taken for the particles to collide,
(b) the distance from A of the point of collision,
(c) if the particles are of equal mass and couple together on collision, determine the velocity with which they start
to move together. [(a) 4s (b) 38m (c) 1ms-1]

18. (a) A stone is dropped from the top of a building of height 20m. Find the time it takes to reach the ground and the
velocity with which it hits the ground. [2s, 20ms-1]
(b) A particle is projected vertically upwards with a velocity of 30ms-1 from a point O Find.
(i) the maximum height reached,
(ii) the time taken for it to return to O,
(iii) the time taken for it to be 35m below O. [(I) 45m (ii) 6s (iii) 7s].
Prepared by: Mwalimu Nambohe Fred
Dedicated to: Mathematics Club – Mbale SS 3|Page
 19. A particle P is projected vertically upwards from O with velocity 40ms-1 .One second later, another particle Q is
projected from O with the same vertical velocity. After what time and at what height will the two particles collide?
[4.5s, 78.75m]. (use g=10m-1)

20. A motor car moves along a straight level road, accelerating from rest at a constant rate for 9.6s over a distance s1 m
until it reaches a speed of v ms-1 . Express s1 in terms of v.

It then accelerates at a constant rate of 2.5ms-2 over a distance of s2 m until it reaches a speed of 25ms-1. Express s2 in
terms of v.

Given that the motor car has now travelled a total distance of 152m, calculate the possible values of v. Using the
smaller of these values, calculate the time taken to attain a speed of 25ms-1 from rest.
[v= 9, 15, t=16s].

21. A stone is projected vertically upwards from the top of a building 80m high with a velocity of 30ms-1. Calculate.
(a) the height it reaches above the top of the building.
(b) the time it takes to reach the ground
A second stone is dropped from the top of the building t seconds after the first one was projected. Both stones reach the ground at
the same time.
(b) Find the value of t. [(a) 45m (b) 8s (c) 4s].

22. A ball is projected vertically upwards with speed u ms-1 from ground level. Between 3 and 4 seconds after leaving the ground, it
rises 10m. Calculate
(a) the value of u,
(b) the maximum height reached by the ball. [(a) 45 (b) 101.25]

23. A rocket is fired vertically upwards from the ground. After 1 second it has reached a height of 15m. Calculate
(a) Its initial velocity
(b) the time taken to reach its greatest height
(c) the greatest height reached
(d) the length of time during which the rocket is higher than 15m. [(a) 20ms-1 (b) 2s (c) 20m (d) 2s].

24. Two particles P and Q are 45m apart on a smooth horizontal plane. P starts moving towards Q with speed 3ms-1 and constant
acceleration 0.5ms-2 . At the same instant, Q starts moving towards P in the same straight line with speed 6ms-1 and constant
retardation ams-2. If they meet when Q has just come to momentary rest, Calculate the time taken for the particle to meet. [6s].

25** A stone is dropped from a height h m and falls freely to the ground. It rebounds with 2 of the speed at impact. If it hits the
3
ground again after 2 seconds, calculate the value of h. [11.25].

26. A motorcyclist travelling along a straight road passes a fixed point O with a speed of 20ms-1 and continues at this speed for t1 seconds.
Over the next t2 seconds, he accelerates at a constant rate to a speed of 30ms-1. He then brings the motorcycle to rest in a further t3
seconds by retarding at a constant rate. His acceleration and retardation are of equal magnitude
(a) Sketch a velocity - time graph to illustrate the motion of the motorcyclist after passing O
(b) Obtain an equation connecting t2 and t3
(c) Given that the total distance and the total time represented by the graph are 748m and 40s respectively, calculate t1, t2
and t3. [(b) t3=3t2 (c) 19.2, 5.2,15.6]

Prepared by: Mwalimu Nambohe Fred

Dedicated to: Mathematics Club – Mbale SS 4|Page
27. A car starts from rest and accelerates at 1ms-2 to reach a speed of 90kmh-1. It maintains this speed for 5 minutes and then slows
down uniformly to a speed of 36kmh-1 while covering a distance of 350m.
It continues at this speed for 10 minutes and is brought to rest with uniform deceleration in a further 15 seconds.
Sketch a v-t graph at of the motion and hence or otherwise calculate
(a) the total time in minutes taken over the journey
(b) the total distance travelled in km correct to 3 significant figures. [(a) 16 (b) 14.2]

28. A stone dropped from a height of 40m and at the same time another stone is thrown vertically upwards with speed u ms-1 from a
point on the ground directly below the first stone. The stones collide at the moment when the second stone has reached its maximum
height. Calculate
(a) the value of u
(b) the height above the ground where the stones collide. [(a) 20 (b) 20m].

Prepared by: Mwalimu Nambohe Fred

Dedicated to: Mathematics Club – Mbale SS 5|Page