Cooperative Group

University of Minnesota
Cooperative Group
Problem Solving
in Physics*
Patricia Heller
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Kenneth Heller
School of Physics and Astronomy
Supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the

Department of Education, Fund for Improving Post-Secondary
Education (FIPSE), and by the University of Minnesota.
Table of Contents
Page
1. The Minnesota Model of Large Introductory Courses
1
Flow Chart of Minnesota Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Description of Minnesota Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Teaching Problem Solving
A Logical Problem-solving Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Flow-charts of the Problem-solving Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blank Problem-solving Format Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Grading Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
17
19
26
32
34
3. Cooperative Group Problem Solving in Discussion Sections

Why Cooperative Group Problem Solving? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Cooperative Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
General Plan for Teaching a Discussion Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chart of Group Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Group Functioning Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Typical Objections to Cooperative Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
37
39
40
43
48
49
50
4. Context-rich Written Problems

What Are Context Rich Problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What Are the Characteristics of a Good Group Problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Twenty-one Characteristics That Can Make a Problem Difficult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How to Create Context-rich Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How to Judge If a Problem is a Good Group Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Context-rich Problems in This Booklet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
53
55
55
55
57
58
60
5. Problem-solving Laboratories
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about our Problem-solving Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Comparisons of Different Types of Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
General Plan for Teaching a Laboratory Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Table of Contents for Calculus-Based Introductory Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Laboratory Manual's Introduction to Problem-solving Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Example of Adapting a Textbook Problem:
Laboratory Manual's Introduction to Forces Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Enhanced Version of Problem #2: Forces in Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Instructor's Guide to Forces Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Example of Exploratory Problem: Magnets and Moving Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Example of Importance of Predictions: Gravitational Force on the Electron . . . . . . . .
117
119
125
126
132
137
6. References
Cooperative Group Problem Solving at the University of Minnesota
A Short Bibliography of Articles and Books About Cooperative Grouping
147
148
153
160
163
169
. . . . . . 171
. . . . . . 172
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the many people who have contributed to the development
of the problem-solving strategy, context-rich problems, the lab problems, and the
appendices, especially
Jennifer Blue
Dave Demuth
James Flatten
Andrew Ferstl
Tom Foster
Andrew Kuntz
Charles Henderson
Mark Hollabaugh
Ron Keith
Dan Lottis
Konrad Mauersberger
Laura McCullough
Bruce Palmquist
Julia Stephen
Jaena Streets
And the physics faculty and graduate students who helped write the laboratory and contextrich problems and helped refine these techniques.
Patricia Heller
Kenneth Heller
Also, Visit our WWW Page:

http://www.physics.umn.edu/groups/physed
University of Minnesota, 1999
University of Kansas
1. The Minnesota Model for Large

Introductory Courses
This chapter gives a general background for all the components of the model for teaching large
introductory physics courses at the University of Minnesota.
Flow Chart of the Minnesota Model
Page
The flow chart shows all the components of the Minnesota Model
3
4
Description of the Minnesoata Model for Teaching

This paper describes the instructional design model we used (shown in the diagram below),
how we adapted the cognitive apprenticeship instructional model to the conventional
lecture-recitation section-laboratory structure, some implementation results, and finally
some difficulties to expect in implementing the model.
Instructional Design Model
Paths
Initial
State
of Learner
Lectures
Recitation
Laboratory
Desired
Final
State
of Learner
Barriers
Transformation Process
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Minnesota Model for Large Introductory Courses

I.
INTRODUCTION
Recently there has been a movement recognizing the need for inventing and investigating innovative new
models for teaching introductory physics.1 These models seek to radically change the content of future
courses, the structure of the courses, or both. For the present, however, we have been developing a
conservative model that conforms with the usual structure and focus of the large introductory physics course
in the United States, and is based on educational principles which have been widely accepted in the literature
for some time. The application of these principles to the standard introductory physics course yields a result
which is far from traditional.
The Minnesota model is based on the familiar triad of lectures, laboratories, and recitation (discussion)
sections. The lectures are given by a professor with the laboratories and discussion sections conducted by
graduate student teaching assistants (TAs). As is also traditional, the focus of the course is learning classical
physics through solving problems. However, the specific content and instructional design are reorganized to
better target students' learning needs. The model recognizes the existence and power of student
preconceptions, the need for a "story line" to provide students with a conceptual framework for
restructuring their preconceptions, and the need to teach explicitly a problem-solving heuristic. The model
also recognizes that teaching encompasses several different actions which are most efficiently carried out in
different environments. These environments are closely integrated to form a complete and coherent course.
II. THE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

The goal of any instructional design is the transformation of students from an initial state to a final state of
improved intellectual performance.2 To achieve this goal, four basic problems must be analyzed: (1) What
do students know and how do they think about physics when in the initial state before instruction? (2) What
is the desired final state of intellectual performance after instruction, and what are the underlying knowledge
and thought processes needed for the desired performance? (3) What learning and teaching practices take
students from the initial to the final state? (4) What are the implementation methods by which we can achieve
this transformation process?
A. What is the Initial State of the Learner?
There is a rapidly expanding body of research that characterizes the knowledge and thought processes
beginning students bring to physics instruction.3 When students listen to a lecture, read the textbook, or see
a physical event, they interpret that sensory input in terms of their existing knowledge structure. Their
knowledge structures usually include intuitive conceptions or "misconceptions" that have proven to be highly
resistant to change.4 Students also have misconceptions about the techniques of physics such as problem
solving and experimentation. Indeed, most students have fundamental misconceptions about both the nature
of scientific knowledge and the process of learning science. Students view scientific knowledge as a fixed
and immutable collection of unrelated facts and formulas that have little connection to the real world. Their
role as students is to memorize the facts and formulas and reproduce them on exams.5 Thus, students tend
to be passive learners. Their strategies for learning overemphasize the lower-order thinking skills of recall
and comprehension, rather than the higher-order skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
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The traditional approach of using problem solving as a tool to teach physics is hampered because
beginning students typically do not really know how to solve problems. ("I understand the material, I just
can't solve the problems.") Students tend to get answers to problems by recognizing a memorized solution
pattern for a given situation (e.g., block sliding down an inclined plane). To solve a problem, they select the
"right" equation for the situation and plug in numbers. If necessary, they select the next equation and plug in
numbers, and so on until an answer is obtained.6 Students typically do not use their conceptual knowledge
of physics to qualitatively analyze the problem situation, nor do they plan a solution before they begin
numerical and algebraic manipulations of equations. Since they have little understanding of the logical
relationship of the parts of a solution, these students are usually not able to generalize that solution to similar
problems with different objects or events. ("I can follow the example problems in the text, but your test
problems are too different.") Furthermore, students apply the same type of situation-specific reasoning to the
laboratory and rarely view the laboratory as another aspect of problem solving. In this case, the students
search for the "right" measurements to prove the validity of some equation.
B. What is the desired final state of the learner?
To determine an appropriate final state of intellectual performance for students in our introductory
physics course, we surveyed the faculty in the departments that require the course. The survey revealed
that their most important goals were for students to: (1) learn the fundamental principles of physics (e.g.,
force laws, conservation of energy, conservation of momentum); (2) learn general qualitative and
quantitative problem-solving skills that they can apply to new situations.
To attain these goals, students must restructure their preexisting knowledge so the fundamental
concepts and principles of physics can be remembered and appropriately retrieved for problem solving.
They must also learn the thought processes required for problem solving: generating a description of the
problem that makes it easier to solve, making judicious decisions in reaching a solution, and testing and
evaluating the solution.
C. What instructional transformation processes take learners from the initial to the final state?
We found the cognitive apprenticeship model of learning and teaching to be a useful starting point for
designing instruction that would transform students from their initial state to the desired final state of
intellectual performance described above. Cognitive apprenticeship is an adaptation of traditional
apprenticeship methods for teaching people to become experts in carrying out a complex physical tasks.
Traditional apprentices are not segregated in special learning environments -- they are immersed in a
"culture of expert practice." For example, a new apprentice would learn tailoring in a busy tailor shop,
where he or she is surrounded both by master tailors and other apprentices, all engaged in the practice of
tailoring at varying levels of expertise.
Masters teach apprentices through a combination of activities called modeling, coaching and fading. In
this sequence of activities, the apprentice repeatedly observes the master executing (or modeling) the target
process, which usually involves many different but related subskills. This observation allows the apprentice
to build a conceptual model of the processes required to accomplish the task. The apprentice then
attempts to execute each process with guidance and help from the master (i.e., coaching). A key aspect of
coaching is the provision of "scaffolding," which is the support, in the form of reminders or help, that the
apprentice requires to approximate the execution of the entire complex sequence of skills. In addition, the
presence of other learners provides the apprentice with calibrations of his own progress, helping him to
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identify his own strengths and weaknesses and thus to focus his efforts for improvement. Once the
apprentice has a grasp of the entire process, the master reduces his participation (i.e., fading), providing
only limited hints, refinements, and feedback to the apprentice, who practices by successively
approximating smooth execution of the entire process. The interplay between observation, scaffolding,
peer interactions, and increasingly independent practice helps the apprentice to develop self-monitoring and
correction skills and integrate the skills needed to advance toward expertise.
Cognitive apprenticeship refers to the adaptation of the modeling-coaching-fading paradigm to the
teaching of cognitive or mental processes experts use to handle complex tasks such as reading
comprehension, writing, and problem solving.7 It involves drawing students into a "culture of expert
practice," where teachers and students actively communicate about and engage in solving problems. The
problems and tasks are chosen to illustrate the power of certain techniques or methods, to give students
practice in applying these methods in diverse settings, and to increase the complexity of the tasks slowly, so
component skills can be integrated. Since the cognitive apprenticeship model emphasizes expert-like
practice, conceptual knowledge is learned by using it in a wide variety of contexts. Using conceptual
knowledge in a variety of situations encourages a deeper understanding of the meaning and range of
applicability of the concepts, and fosters its transfer to novel problems and new domains.
In the cognitive domain, students do not usually have access to the thought processes of the instructor
as a basis for learning through observation and mimicry. Consequently, cognitive apprenticeship requires
the externalization of usually internal processes by both the teacher and the student. Cognitive
apprenticeship methods are designed to bring these tacit and hidden processes in the open, where students
can observe, enact, and practice them with the help of the teacher and other students. Cognitive
apprenticeship also requires techniques to encourage the development of self-correction and monitoring
skills for these thought processes.
III. IMPLEMENTING THE COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP M ODEL

A. Adapting the cognitive apprenticeship model for a large class
A variety of cognitive apprenticeship techniques (e.g., Socratic dialogues, reciprocal teaching,
collaborative problem solving) have been developed and used successfully in small classes to teach reading
comprehension, writing, and problem solving in mathematics.7 To adapt the model to large introductory
physics class taught by a faculty member and TAs, we structured our physics course so that the modeling is
done be the faculty member during lectures, and the majority of the coaching is done by the TAs in
discussion and laboratory sections. We used the technique of cooperative grouping in all phases of the
course as a primary tool to externalize the cognitive process of learning physics.
1. Modeling
Physicists are in the business of constructing new knowledge in response to specific issues and
problems in their fields. In a large introductory lecture course, it is difficult to immerse students in this
culture of expert practice. It is possible, however, to provide students with a consistent "story line" or
conceptual framework from which specific problems naturally arise. The story line can be used to model
some of the thinking processes that physicists use to construct new knowledge. This helps to make the
newly constructed concepts and principles initially intelligible and plausible to students, so they can compare
the new information with their conflicting misconceptions. In addition, a story line can serve as a
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springboard for the modeling of how the newly constructed concepts and principles are used to solve
problems.
Early in the course the lecturer introduces a problem solving strategy that is based on research
describing the nature of effective (or "expert") problem solving in physics.8 Every time a problem is solved
in class, the instructor models explicitly all of the problem-solving steps and decision processes required to
solve the problem. All problems are solved with this strategy, even when there are short cuts or more
efficient ways to solve the problem that an expert problem solver might employ.
2. Coaching and Scaffolding
Coaching in the problem-solving strategy is provided by the TAs in the discussion and laboratory
sections while students are engaged in solving problems in cooperative groups. Cooperative groups differ
from traditional groups in that they are carefully structured and managed to maximize the active and
appropriate participation of all group members.9,10 In the discussion sections, cooperative groups practice
using the strategy to solve physics word problems. In the laboratory sections, groups use the strategy to
solve concrete, experimental problems.
Cooperative-group problem solving is not only a powerful motivator, but it provides students with a
source of scaffolding in the form of the conceptual and procedural knowledge distributed throughout the
group. Because collaboration distributes the thinking load among the members in a group, the entire
problem-solving strategy can be applied successfully early in the course to problems on which most
beginning students would initially fail.8,11 The cooperative group process also gives students the collective
ability to check whether their approach to the problem makes sense and provides possible alternatives. It
is just this self-monitoring, now supplied by the others in the group, which is most lacking in beginning
problem solvers. By rotating specified managerial and monitoring roles in the group from one problem to
the next, individuals practice all parts of the self-monitoring process as well as experience the success of the
strategy as a whole.
An additional source of scaffolding to help students implement the problem-solving strategy is a
problem-solving booklet that describes and explains each step of the strategy and provides several worked
examples and practice problems. Testing and grading practices reflect the importance placed on both
cooperative-group problem solving and the use of a coherent organized problem solving strategy.
3. Fading.
Fading is accomplished in several ways. The practice and test problems progressively require students
to apply previously learned concepts and principles as well as the most recently taught concepts and
principles. The laboratory instructions become increasingly less detailed and structured over the course,
requiring students to make more decisions about how to solve the experimental problems.
B. Changes in content and structure
The adaptation of the cognitive apprenticeship model to the teaching of a large introductory physics
course required several changes in the content and structure of the course. The course in its fullest
implementation uses a story line to determine the specific content, models the construction of knowledge,
uses multiple contexts for each concept, focuses on the fundamental concepts and principles, uses an
explicit problem-solving strategy, uses context-rich problems, and implements testing and grading practices
to reinforce desired student behavior . Table 1 illustrates how each change was designed to facilitate the
learners' transformation from the initial
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Table 1: Reinforcing Desired Behaviors and Discoraging Initial Behaviors

Students' Initial Knowledge,
Thought Processes and Learning
Behaviors
Desired Knowledge, Thought

Processes and Learning
Behaviors
Reinforcement of Desired
Behaviors & Barriers to
Initial Behaviors
Students tend to learn physics as a

unrelated collection of memorized
facts and formulas.
Students will overcome their

misconceptions, construct a
coherent hierarchy of knowledge
based on the fundamental
concepts and principles of
physics, and be able to apply
these concepts and principles to
new, real-world situations in a
logically consistent manner.
A story line is provided that

concentrates on the fundamental
concepts and principles of physics
and situates students' learning in
a real-world problem-solving
framework. The lecturer explicitly
models the process of
constructing knowledge.
Consequently, many students

do not connect physics with the
real world,
do not change their intuitive
ideas (misconceptions) about
the
way the world works, and
cannot distinguish between
fundamental principles and
specific applications and
elaborations of these principles.
Within the story-line, multiple

situations and content topics are
used to illustrate the fundamental
concepts and principles.
The fundamental concepts and
principles are given on each exam - they do not need to be
memorized.
All problems must be solved using
only the fundamental concepts
and principles given on the test.
Students tend to solve problems

by memorizing sets of specific
formulas to use in specific
situations (novice strategy).
Students will learn a logical,

general problem-solving strategy
that they can use to solve realworld problems.
Students are taught a logical

problem-solving strategy. The
strategy is always modeled in its
entirety in the lectures.
Students are given context-rich
problems that are too complex to
solve with their situation-specific
novice strategy.
Students are provided with a
supportive cooperative-group
environment in which to practice
using the strategy to solve
context-rich word problems and
concrete experimental problems.
Students are provided with a
booklet that describes the
strategy, shows worked examples,
and gives practice context-rich
problems. They are also given
problem-solving format sheets
with procedural prompts.
On tests, students are graded on
the use of the strategy as well as
for correct physics and
mathematical procedures.
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Minnesota Model
state to the desired final state of intellectual performance. Two types of teaching practices were designed
-- those that support or reinforce the desired thought processes and learning behaviors, and those that
discourage or prevent the continuation of initial thought processes and learning behaviors.
C. Changes in the operation of the lectures, discussion sections, and laboratories
In our introductory physics course, there are three 50-minute lectures, one 50 minute discussion
section, and one 2-hour laboratory per week. To increase the effectiveness of the cooperative-group
problem solving, discussion sections are scheduled to allow the same groups of students to work together
with the same TA in both their discussion and laboratory sections. Each section typically has 18 students,
or six groups of three students. Coordination between the lectures, discussion sections, and laboratories is
maintained through a course team which consists of the lecturer and the TAs teaching those students. A
course team typically meets biweekly to brief the TAs on the direction of the lectures, give feedback to the
lecturer on the performance of the students, decide on the problem for the next discussion and the emphasis
of that class, decide on the problems to be assigned for laboratory and the laboratory emphasis, discuss
problems for the upcoming exam and the grading emphasis, and give feedback about student performance
on each exam. The TAs work together to write lesson plans for each discussion section and laboratory
class. These lesson plans are discussed and refined in the biweekly team meetings.
The operation of the lectures, discussion sections, and laboratories are described below. Table 2
summarizes how the operational changes in each component of the course were designed to either
counteract students' initial expectations or to reinforce the desired active learning behaviors.
1. Lecture
The purposes of the lecture are to: (1) model some of the reasoning processes by which physicists
construct new knowledge following the story-line; (2) introduce the fundamental concepts and principles
necessary to the story line; and (3) explicitly model all steps and decision processes in problem solving.
The majority of the lecture time is spent in the traditional manner with the lecturer talking, writing, giving
demonstrations, and solving problems before a large number of students. Some peer guided practice,
which involves students' active participation in the concept development, is accomplished using small adhoc cooperative groups of 2 or 3 students sitting near each other.
Informal cooperative group discussions are also used at other times during the lecture. When a new
concept is introduced, the lecturer periodically stops and asks students to answer a question involving the
new concept. This can be a planned question, or a spontaneous question inspired by the blank or puzzled
looks on their faces. This small-group activity can be followed by a short question-and-answer period,
which is now more focused because of the previous small group discussion. Occasionally, the predictions
or answers to questions are written down and collected for grading. By grading the group outputs, the
lecturer communicates that the students' active involvement in the construction of knowledge is an important
component of the class.
2. Discussion Sections
A typical discussion session has three parts: introduction, a cooperative problem-solving task, and
closure. First, the TA briefly describes the learning goals for the lesson. The TA then gives each student a
sheet with the context-rich problem. The TA assigns students the roles of Manager, Recorder/Checker,
and Skeptic to three students in each group. The students generally have about 30 minutes to complete the
problem in their cooperative groups. The TA observes the groups,
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Some students do not attend the lectures. They

expect to be able to read and memorize the
important facts and formulas in the textbook just
before an exam.
Some students attend the lectures to make sure they

don't miss any important announcements and hints
for the next test. They listen sporadically while
reading the paper or studying for another course.
They expect that everything they need to know is in
the textbook.
Some students attend lectures to clarify the reading

in the textbook. They expect to sit passively and
take notes on important facts and formulas that they
will process (memorize) later.
Lectures:
Students' Initial Expectations

of Learning Behavior
They will only take notes on issues they wish to

think more about later.
Students will actively process information,

continually comparing their own intuitive ideas
with those being developed by the lecturer.
Desired Learning Behavior
Reinforcement of Desired Behaviors

& Barriers to Initial Behaviors
The lecturer prepares overheads that are

photocopied and available for students to purchase.
Written predictions or answers to a question are

occasionally collected for grading.
Students participate in small ad hoc cooperative

groups to compare their predictions about the
outcome of a demonstration, their answers to a
qualitative question, or their problem-solving
procedure.
The lecturer occasionally stops talking and asks

students to individually write down a prediction of
the outcome of a demonstration, the answer of short
qualitative question, or results for a step of a
problem solution.
Students are encouraged to talk softly to their

neighbors during the lecture to check their
understanding of the new concepts or problemsolving procedure.
Table 2
Reinforcement of Desired Student Behaviors and Barriers to
Initial Behaviors in the Lecture, Recitation and Laboratories
Minnesota Model
Students expect lab instructions to contain all

necessary information so that they do need to
prepare for a lab.
During labs, students expect to passively follow a

clear step-by-step laboratory procedure to get a
predetermined result.
Laboratories:
After the first few sessions, most students stop

attending because their questions are not addressed
(there is insufficient time to answer 15 - 20 different
questions).
Students expect TAs to answer specific questions

about the solution of specific problems which they
find difficult.
Recitation:
Students' Initial Expectations

of Learning Behavior
Students will recognize when their intuitive

concepts disagree with the way the world works.
During the lab, students will be actively engaged

in using fundamental concepts and principles to
solve concrete, experimental problems.
Students will prepare for each lab by reviewing

the appropriate sections of the textbook and
connecting the concepts of the lab to the
appropriate lecture(s).
As they try to solve written problems, students

will recognize when their intuitive conceptions
are incorrect.
Students will be actively engaged in refining their

logical problem-solving techniques.
Desired Learning Behavior
Table 2 (continued)
Students are put in a supportive cooperative-group

environment so they can compare their individual
predictions and collectively make the required
decisions. TAs circulate among the groups to focus
students' attentions on the comparison of their results
with their predictions and provide coaching as
necessary.
The labs are designed so students must make many

decisions: predict results; qualitatively explore the
physical behavior of the system to check predictions
and the range of the apparatus; and plan precise
measurement and analysis procedures;
Students must make individual predictions of the

behavior of the system under investigation before
the lab. The TA checks predictions during the lab.
Students must pass a short lab preparation test before

they can participate in the lab.
If a student is absent from the previous recitation

session, he cannot take the group test problem and
he receives a grade of zero for that question.
About three times a quarter, one of the cooperative

group problems is turned in and counts as one test
question.
Students are provided a supportive cooperativegroup environment so they can solve context-rich
problems. TAs circulate among the groups to
provide coaching as needed.
Reinforcement of Desired Behaviors

& Barriers to Initial Behaviors
Minnesota Model
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diagnoses problems, and intervenes to coach a group only when he or she believes no progress is being
made by the group or when students have drifted from their roles.
For closure, the TA conducts a short, whole class discussion. This discussion usually begins by
randomly calling on one member from each group to draw or write something on the board. The similarities
and differences are then discussed. Finally, the students are given about five minutes in their groups to
discuss how well they worked together and what they could improve the next time they work together.
Students are given a complete written solution to the problem at the end of the class.
3. Laboratories
The laboratories are coordinated with both the lectures and the discussion sections, always dealing with
the same content at the same time as the other components of the course. The laboratory problems are
designed to allow students to apply the problem-solving strategy to concrete situations and thus to help them
confront their misconceptions. This emphasis on problem solving implies a laboratory with fewer specific
directions, and more decisions left to the groups about what data to collect, how the data should be
collected, and how the data should be analyzed to solve the experimental problem. To focus students'
discussions in their groups on the physics of the situation, rather than on the quick collection of data, students
are required to qualitatively analyze the situation and make group predictions about all measurements before
data collection and quantitative analysis.
A given laboratory topic consists of a series of related problem and lasts two or three weeks to allow
students to come back reexamine their apparatus and techniques if their measurements conflict with their
predictions. Since the purpose of the laboratory is to develop students' understanding of the content of the
course, different groups may, at the discretion of the TA, finish different numbers of problems in the time
allotted for that topic. Before students can begin a laboratory, they must pass a short preparation test
available on University computers. The tests consist of questions randomly selected from a large pool of
similar questions about basic physics knowledge necessary to understand the laboratory problems. Students
can take the test as many times as needed to answer successfully 75% of the questions.
The instructional structure of the laboratory is almost identical to that of the discussion section. The
major difference is that the groups work on a set of concrete problems and have more than twice as much
time per session. Again each session has a predetermined introduction, task, and closure with the function of
the TA concentrated on coaching individual groups with specific weaknesses which s/he has observed either
in the laboratory or discussion section.
IV. IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS
We believe that we have constructed one example of a conservative physics course that is effective in
teaching both concepts and problem-solving skills. It is also appreciated by the students. We base this
belief on the systematic collection of data over the past several years, including evaluations of students'
problem solving skills and conceptual understanding of physics, observations of students working in
cooperative groups, observations of TAs' interactions with students, evaluations of videotapes of students
and TAs in recitation and laboratory settings, interviews of students and TAs, and written anonymous
evaluations of the course by students and TAs. Some of this research has been reported elsewhere.8,10,12,13
We found that group problem solutions, particularly the qualitative analysis of problems, were better than
those produced by the best students in each group on matched individual problems. This result indicates that
the cooperative groups function effectively. We also found that the individual problem solving performance
of students improved over time at approximately the same rate for students of high, medium and low ability.
Page 12
Minnesota Model
A comparisons with students taking a traditional section of the course indicated that students in the
experimental section exhibited more expert-like problem solving. The course is equally effective for both
men and women.
In addition, the course has been successfully implemented at both the University of Minnesota and
Normandale Community College by faculty who were not involved in its development. Table 3 shows a
sample of student opinions of the course taught at the University of Minnesota by a faculty member who,
while skeptical of the content and structure, was willing to try it. The questionnaire was used during two
successive years and the results for each year were consistent. By his own report, these were the most
positive responses he had received from this class of students.
V.
SUMMARY
There are three points we would like to emphasize about the Minnesota model for a large introductory
physics course. First, the model is conservative because it retains the overall goals and structure of large
university courses -- teaching physics with an emphasis on problem solving through lectures conducted by a
professor and discussion sections and labs taught by graduate teaching assistants. Second, the model is
minimal. It was arrived at step-by-step, making small changes to the existing course and testing the
effectiveness of the changes by examining students' problem-solving performance. Consequently, we believe
our model describes the minimal changes necessary to substantially improve the problem-solving
performance of the majority of the students (not just the top 20%). We found that it was not effective to
change one part of the course without simultaneously modifying the other parts of the course. For example,
lectures which emphasized and modeled a logical and organized problem-solving strategy did not change
students' novice problem-solving strategies. Students needed guided and supportive practice with contextrich problems and a rigorous grading policy to change their strategies. Finally, since the instructional model is
minimal, there are many additional improvements that could be instituted as both the lecturer and graduate
teaching assistants become more experienced and comfortable with non-traditional methods of teaching.
There are two major difficulties to consider in implementing the model. First, the model takes time on the
part of the lecturer to manage and coordinate the TAs. Moreover, the TAs must be educated in (1) the
story line for the course, (2) common student misconceptions and the importance of their use of language, (3)
the problem-solving strategy, (4) cooperative grouping and their role as coaches, and (5) constructive
grading practices. We have found that the TAs need about 30 hours of instruction before they begin to feel
comfortable and be effective. During the course, the lecturer and TAs must operate as a team, meeting to
discuss problems students are having understanding the material, and planning the upcoming discussion and
laboratory sessions. We conducted two meetings per week, each lasting over one hour. The lecturer must
also find time to visit the labs and discussion sections to observe both the TAs and the students. Meetings
can then also serve to refine teachings skills as the TAs gain experience.
Second, the model requires a change in attitude and beliefs about teaching on the part of all the
instructors of the course. It is very difficult to break the teach-as-taught cycle. There is a tendency on the
part of the TAs to lecture students, since this is the only model of teaching they have from their past college
experiences. The lecturer also has to break from tradition. Modeling the construction of knowledge through
a story line requires changing not only the traditional sequence of content, but also how the content is
presented. Explicitly modeling all steps and decision processes for solving typical introductory textbook
problems is difficult because textbook problems are no longer real problems for an expert. The lecturer must
reconstruct many problem-solving steps that he typically combines or does automatically. In addition, the
lecturer must value the coaching function of the TAs as being of equal importance as the lectures. Another
problem is
Page 13
Minnesota Model
Table 3. Student Opinions of the Course Content and Structure

1
Mean
1. The instructor covered too little material in the course.
4*
2
13
5
20
24
45
52
18
17
3.6
3.8
2. The mixture of presenting new material and solving problems was

about right.
17
12
63
67
9
10
10
11
0
1
2.1
2.2
3. Pausing in lecture to allow students to discuss the concepts with

others was a good idea.
26
24
47
40
21
26
4
9
2
2
2.1
2.2
4. The recitation sessions were well coordinated with the lecture.
7
8
75
62
11
11
5
12
2
7
2.2
2.5
5. The discussions with my group helped me to understand the

course material.
13
8
53
47
13
9
17
28
4
8
2.5
2.8
6. My group worked well together to complete problem solving

activities.
14
4
59
53
18
17
7
21
2
5
2.2
2.7
7. The laboratory activities were well coordinated with the lecture.
4
3
71
64
14
17
11
12
0
3
2.3
2.4
8. The laboratory experiments helped me to understand the

concepts covered in class.
13
10
55
64
16
7
14
16
2
3
2.4
2.4
9. Working with the same group in laboratory and recitation

sessions was useful.
22
16
54
64
17
18
3
1
3
2
2.1
2.1
21
15
65
64
10
16
3
3
1
3
2.0
2.2
11. The problem solving procedure taught in class makes sense
41
23
46
65
7
7
4
2
2
2
1.8
2.0
12. The instructor provided adequate examples of how to use the

problem solving procedure.
53
31
40
58
3
4
3
6
1
1
1.6
1.9
13. Using the suggested problem solving format has helped me to

solve problems more effectively.
37
22
31
44
15
13
7
14
9
7
2.2
2.4
14. The solution sheet format was a useful guide for problem solving.
25
22
39
55
25
10
10
10
1
4
2.2
2.3
15. Problems can be solved more effectively in a group than

individually.
17
16
49
46
18
14
14
18
1
6
2.3
2.5
16. The tests concentrated on important subjects presented in

lectures.
21
26
72
65
5
5
2
3
0
2
1.9
1.9
17. Taking tests as a group helped me to understand the course

material.
4
9
62
48
21
21
10
18
2
4
2.4
2.6
Lecture
Recitation
Laboratory
10. Working with the same materials for at least two weeks helped me
to understand the material.
Problem Solving Procedure
Testing and Grading
The rating scale was: 1 = strongly agree, 2 = agree, 3 = no opinion, 4 = disagree, and 5 = strongly disagree.
First row percentages are for the 1991 class (n = 99); second row percentages are for the 1992 class (n = 135).
Page 14
Minnesota Model
that this type of instruction raises students' expectations for their own level of understanding of physics.
Students in this course become very frustrated and vocally intolerant if parts of the course revert to the
traditional style of fast-paced, superficial coverage of unmotivated topics.
At minimum, all the instructors of the course must develop an awareness of the content and form of the
knowledge and thought processes beginning students bring to physics instruction. The structure of the course
needs to present students with barriers to learning patterns and thought processes the instructor wants to
discourage as well as clear rewards for the learning patterns and thought processes to be encouraged.
REFERENCES
1
For example, see "Introductory University Physics Project (IUPP) Newsletter Number 4," AAPT
Announcer, 20, 62-64 (1990); A. B. Arons, "Guest Comment: Proposed revisions of the introductory
physics course," Am. J. Phys. 57, 681-682 (1989); E. Merzbacher, "Guest Comment: How shall we
teach physics in the 21st century?" Am. J. Phys. 58, 717-718 (1990); B. B. Schwartz, "Guest
Comment: Improving the teaching of physics," Am. J. Phys. 58, 1031-1032 (1990);
F. Reif, "Scientific approaches to science education," Phys. Today, 39, 48 - 54 (1986).
For reviews and discussions of students knowledge and thought processes, see L. C. McDermott, "A
view from physics," (pp 3-30) and F. Reif, "Transcending prevailing approaches to science education,"
(pp 91-109) in Toward a Scientific Practice of Science Education edited by M. Gardner, J. Greeno,
F. Reif, A. Schoenfeld, A. diSessa & E. Stage, (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, 1990).
For examples of student misconceptions, see D.E. Trowbridge & L. C. McDermott, "Investigation of
student understanding of the concept of acceleration in one dimension," Am. J. Phys., 49(3), 242-253
(1981); L. C. McDermott, "Research on conceptual understanding in mechanics," Phys. Today, 37, 24
- 32 (1984); J. Clement, "Students' preconceptions in introductory mechanics," Am. J. Phys., 50(1), 66
- 71 (1982); M. McClosky, A. Caramazza, & B. Green, "Curvilinear motion in the absence of external
forces: Naive beliefs about the motion of objects," Science, 210, 1129 - 1141; F. M. Goldberg & L.C.
McDermott, "An investigation of student understanding of the real image formed by a converging lens or
concave mirror," Am. J. Phys., 55(2), 108 -119 (1987); R. Cohen, B. Eylon & U. Ganiel, "Potential
difference and current in simple electric circuits," Am. J. Phys., 51, 407 - 412 (1983).
A. H. Schoenfeld, "Beyond the purely cognitive: Belief systems, social cognitions, and meta-cognitions
as driving forces in intellectual performance," Cog. Sci., 8, 173-190 (1983).
See, for example, K. Schultz & J. Lochhead, "A view from physics," in Toward a Unified Theory of
Problem Solving: Views From the Content Domains edited by M. U. Smith (Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, 1991), pp. 99 - 114.
A. Collins, J. S. Brown, & S. E. Newman, "Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading,
writing and mathematics," in Knowing, Learning, and Instruction: Essays in Honor of Robert
Glaser edited by L. B. Resnick, (Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1989), pp. 453 - 494.
P. Heller, R. Keith, and S. Anderson, "Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping. Part 1:
Group versus individual problem solving," Am. J. Phy., 60(7), 627-636 (1992).
D. Johnson, R. Johnson, and K. Smith, Active learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom,
(Interaction Book Company, Edina MN, 1991).
Page 15
Minnesota Model
10
P. Heller and M. Hollabaugh, "Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping. Part 2:
Designing problems and structuring groups," Am. J. Phys., 60(7), 637-644 (1992).
11
A. L. Brown and A. S. Palincsar, "Guided, cooperative learning and individual knowledge acquisition,"
in Knowing, Learning, and Instruction edited by Lauren B. Resnick, (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
Hillsdale, NJ, 1989), pp. 393-451.
12
P. Heller and H. Lin, "Teaching physics problem solving through cooperative grouping: Do men perform
better than women?" Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research
in Science Teaching, (Boston, MA, March 1992).
13
F. Lawrenz, R. Keith, P. Heller and K. Heller, "Training the TA," J. Coll. Sci. Teach., 22(2):106-109
(1992).
Page 16
2. Teaching Problem Solving

This chapter includes some of the materials we use to teach an organized, logical problem-solving strategy to
students in our calculus-based physics course.
Page
A Logical Problem-Solving Strategy
19
This is an excerpt from the first chapter of The Competent Problem Solver, a booklet
students read to help them learn how to solve physics problems. It contains an
explanation of the general strategy experts in all fields use to solve real problems, a
description of how this strategy can be used to solve physics problems, and an example
solution to a standard kinematics problem using the strategy.
Flow Charts of the Strategy
26
We use an overhead of the first flow chart to explain the problem solving strategy to
students. We emphasize that this is a general strategy used in all disciplines.
After the problem-solving strategy has been modeled several times in lecture (2 - 3
weeks), we use the following five flow-charts to help students learn the problem-solving
steps and the questions they should be asking at each step. A class set of these flow
charts can be made and used during the cooperative-group problem solving sessions.
Blank Format Sheet for Solving Problems
32
These format sheets are used in many different ways in our courses. Students can
photocopy the sheets for solving their homework problems (see also The Competent
Problem Solver). For the first three or four test, students solve all recitation and test
problems on these sheets. Thereafter, an outline of the steps is included with all recitation
and test problems, but students solve the problems on blank sheets of paper. All
distributed and posted problem solutions for recitation test problems are worked out on
these format sheets.
Page 17
Teaching Problem Solving
Grading Feedback
34
This chart of common student mistakes is intended to help instructors grade problems.
For our test, each problem, group or individual, is worth 25 points. The points assigned
to different portions of students' problem solutions change over the two-quarters of the
algebra-based course, as shown in the table on the next page. During the first quarter,
students have the most difficulty with the first two steps, so these steps are allocated more
points. (This encourages students to analyze the problem qualitatively before they plug
numbers in a formula.) As students become knowledgeable and comfortable with all the
problem-solving steps, the allocation of points is more evenly distributed among the five
steps.
Focus the Problem

Describe the Physics
Plan a Solution
Execute the Plan
Evaluate the Solution
Total
Page 18
First Quarter
7
8
5
3
2
25
Second Quarter
5
6
6
6
2
25
A Logical Problem Solving Strategy
Introduction
At one level, problem solving is just that,
solving problems. Presented with a problem you
try to solve it. If you have seen the problem before
and you already know its solution, you can solve
the problem by recall. Much of the time, however,
you have never experienced this situation before (if
you had, you would not call it a problem). Solving
real problems involves making a logical chain of
decisions which lead from an unclear situation to a
solution. Solving physics problems is not very
different from solving any kind of problem. In your
professional life, you will encounter new and
complex problems (after all, if your employers
knew how to solve these problems, why would
they pay you?). The skillful problem solver is able
to invent good solutions for these new problem
situations. But how does the skillful problem solver
create a solution to a new problem? And how do
you learn to be a more skillful problem solver?
A Logical Problem-Solving Strategy
The problem-solving strategy presented here is
based on research done in a variety of disciplines
such as physics, medical diagnosis, engineering,
project design and computer programming. There
are many similarities in the way experts in these
disciples solve problems. The most important
result is that experts follow a general strategy for
solving all complex problems. That is, experts
solve real problems in several steps. Getting
started is the most difficult step. In the first and
most important step, you must accurately visualize
the situation, identify the actual problem, and
identify information relevant to the problem. At
first you must deal primarily with the qualitative
aspects of the situation. You must interpret the
problem in light of your own knowledge and
experience. This enables you to decide what

information is important, what information can be
ignored, and what additional information may be
needed, even though it was not explicitly provided.
In this step drawing a useful picture of the problem
situation is crucial to getting started correctly. A
picture is worth a thousand words (if it is the right
picture).
In the second step, you must represent the
problem in terms of formal concepts and
principles, whether these are concepts of
engineering design, concepts of medicine, or
concepts of physics. These formal concepts and
principles use the accumulated knowledge of your
field and thus enable you to simplify a complex
problem to its essential parts. Frequently, your
field has developed a formalized way to diagram
the situation which helps show how the concepts
are usually applied to a problem. Third, you must
use your representation of the problem to plan a
solution. Planning results in an outline of the logical
steps required to obtain a solution. In many cases
the logical steps are conveniently expressed as
mathematics. Fourth, you must determine a
solution by actually executing the logical steps
outlined in your plan. Finally, you must evaluate
how well the solution resolves the original problem.
The general strategy can be summarized in
terms of five steps.:
(1) Comprehend the problem.
(2) Represent the problem in formal terms.
(3) Plan a solution.
(4) Execute the plan.
(5) Interpret and evaluate the solution.
The strategy begins with the qualitative aspects of a
problem and progresses toward the quantitative
aspects of a problem. Each step uses information
Page 19
gathered in the previous step to translate the

problem into more quantitative terms and to clarify
the decisions which you must make. These steps
should make sense to you. You have probably
used a similar strategy, without thinking about it,
when you have solved problems before.
The Importance of Writing
Solving a problem requires that you constantly
make decisions. This is very difficult to do if you
must also remember many pieces of information
and the relationships between those pieces of
information. Soon you overload your brain which
has only a small number of short term memory
locations. You could forget important parts of the
problem or the steps in a mathematical procedure.
The chain of decisions you construct may even
have logical flaws. Drawing pictures and diagrams
and writing your procedures using words, symbols,
and mathematics makes the paper a part of your
extended memory. Your brain is then free to deal
with the decision-making process. The single
biggest mistake of novice problem solvers is not
writing down enough in a form which is organized
to be a useful aid to their memory. If you have had
the experience of understanding how to solve a
problem when someone shows you how but
getting lost when you try to do a similar problem
yourself, the effective use of writing could be your
primary trouble.
using a sketch. Write down a simple statement

of what you want to find out. Write down the
physics ideas which might be useful in the
problem and describe the approach you will
use. When you finish this step, you should
never have to refer to the problem statement
again.
2. Describe the Physics: In this step you use
your qualitative understanding of the problem to
prepare for a quantitative solution. First,
simplify the problem situation by describing it
with a diagram in terms of simple physical
objects and essential physical quantities.
Restate what you want to find by naming
specific mathematical quantities. Using the
physics ideas assembled in step 1, write down
equations which specify how these physical
quantities are related according to the principles
of physics or mathematics. The results of this
step contains all of the relevant information so
you should not need to refer to step 1 again.
A Physics-Specific Strategy
Each profession has its own specialized
knowledge and patterns of thought.
The
knowledge and thought processes that you use in
each of the steps will depend on the discipline in
which you operate. Taking into account the
specific nature of physics, we choose to label and
interpret the five steps of the general problem
solving strategy as follows:
3. Plan the Solution: In this step you translate the

physics description into a set of equations
which represent the problem mathematically by
using the equations assembled in step 2. Each
equation should have a specific goal to find a
single unknown quantity in the problem. An
equation thus used may involve a new unknown
quantity which must be determined using
another equation. In other words, solving the
original problem usually involves creating and
solving sub-problems. As you do the
mathematical operations to isolate your
unknown quantities, you create an outline of
how to arrive at a solution. You will find that
most of your effort will go into deciding how to
construct this logical chain of equations with
less effort spent on mathematical operations.
1. Focus the Problem: In this step you develop a

qualitative description of the problem. First,
visualize the events described in the problem
4. Execute the Plan: In this step you actually

execute the solution you have planned. Plug in
all of the known quantities into the algebraic
Page 20
solution, which is the result of step 3, to

determine a numerical value for the desired
unknown quantity(ies).
5. Evaluate the Answer: Finally, check your
work to see that it is properly stated, not
unreasonable, and actually answers the
question asked.
Consider each step as a translation of the
previous step into a slightly different language. You
begin with the full complexity of real objects
interacting in the real world and through a series of
decisions arrive at a simple and precise
mathematical expression.
The solution to the following problem illustrates
each step. On the right side of the page is the
actual
solution,
as
you
might
construct it. On the left side of the page are brief

descriptions of each step of the solution. We have
used a familiar situation so that you can concentrate
on understanding how the strategy is applied.
Problem Solving Strategy
Problem Statement
Focus the Problem
Plan the Solution
Execute the Plan
Evaluate the Answer
Page 21
Example: Just as you turn onto the main avenue from a side street with a stop sign, a city bus going 30
mph passes you in the adjacent lane. You want to get ahead of the bus before the next stoplight
which is two blocks away. Each block is 200 ft long and the side streets are 25 ft wide, while
the main avenue is 60 ft wide. If you increase your speed at a rate of 5 mph each second, will
you make it?
(1) Focus the Problem: In this step of the problem solving strategy construct your initial qualitative
understanding of the problem situation. Write down what you know, what you want to know, the physics
you will use, and the assumptions you will make. This understanding can be usefully expressed as follows:
Picture & Given Information:
What's happening? Visualize the problem
situation and make a sketch of the important
objects and events.
Decide which given information may be useful and
write it down on the sketch.
vbus = 30 mph
bus
car
vcar
vcar = 0
a car
a car = 5 mph/ sec
200 ft
25 ft
a bus = 0
vbus
stop light
200 ft
Question(s):
What is(are) the question(s)? Express it as some
quantity to be found.
Find the distance the car travels to catch up

to the bus. See if it is less than 425 feet.
Approach:
What approach shall I take? Outline the concepts
which can relate the given information to the
question.
Use the definition of average velocity for the

bus since it travels at constant velocity.
Use the relationship between acceleration
and position for the car since it travels at
constant acceleration.
Initial time is when the bus and the car are
first together. Final time is when the bus
and the car are next together.
Page 22
(2) Describe the Physics: In this step use your physics ideas to translate your initial understanding of the
problem into a diagram of the actual problem. This diagram contains only idealized physical objects and
representations of important physical quantities. Identify which of these physical quantities you need to find
to answer the question. Write down the relationships between the quantities which will help you determine
the unknowns. This information can be summarized with the following items:
Diagram & Define Quantities:
For kinematics problems, use a motion diagram.

This diagram requires:
* Coordinate axes.
* Simplified representations (usually points) of
objects.
* Indication of position, velocity and acceleration
of objects at important times.
Identify known and unknown quantities.
vb
vb
bus
vcf
car vco = 0a
c
ac
x o , to
+x
xf , tf
xo = 0 x f =?
to= 0
t f =?
vco = 0 vcf =?
vb = 30 mph a c = 5 mph / sec
Target Quantity(ies):
Decide which of your unknowns you will need to
find in order answer the problem question.
x f =?
Quantitative Relationships :
Decide which physics principles or other
mathematical relationships are applicable for the
situation diagrammed above.
vb =
x f xo
t f to
xf
vb constant
tf
1
x f = a c t f to
2
) + vco (t f to )+ xo
2
( )
1
x f = ac t f
2
a c constan t
Page 23
(3) Plan the Solution: In this step translate your physics description of the problem into the particular
equations, which will help you solve the problem. Always begin with an equation from your quantitative
relationships containing the target quantity. If that equation contains additional unknowns, write down
another equation from your quantitative relationships containing one of those unknowns. Continue until you
have introduced a new equation for every unknown in your plan.
Construct Specific Equations :
Use your quantitative relationships to write
specific equations relating unknown quantities to
ones which are known.
unknowns
xf
Find xf
( )
1
x f = ac t f
2
Find tf
vb =
tf =
xf
tf
xf
vb
2
1 x f
x f = ac
2 vb
2vb2
=x f
ac
Check Units:
Make sure the units on both sides of your
equation are the same.
Page 24
mi
hr
mi = mi
hr 2
OK
tf
(4) Execute the Plan: In this step carry out the mathematics specified in your solution plan in order to
determine a numerical value for your target quantity(ies).
Calculate Target Quantity(ies):

Put numerical values of known quantities into the
equation for the target quantity. Convert units if
necessary and calculate a value for the target
quantity.
mi 2
30 hr
xf =2
5 mi
hr
s
mi
x f = 360 s
hr
mi hr 1
x f = 360 s
= mi
hr
3600s 10
Since 0.1 miles is 528 feet, which is more
than 425 feet, you do not make it.
(5) Evaluate the Answer: As a result of executing your plan, you have a numerical answer to the physics
problem. In this final step, check that your answer is properly stated, not unreasonable, and complete.
Is Answer Properly Stated?:

Check that your answer has the appropriate units
and sign.
Is Answer Unreasonable?:
Check that the magnitude of your answer is not
unexpectedly large or small.
Is Answer Complete?:
Check that you have answered the original
question.
Yes, miles are a correct unit for distance.
The answer is only about 100 ft longer than

the 2 block distance which is not
unreasonable.
The care does not make it answers the

question
Page 25
STEPS FOR SOLVING A PROBLEM

"What's going on?"
FOCUS on the PROBLEM
"What has this to

do with physics?"
DESCRIBE the PHYSICS
"Can we find a solution?"

PLAN the SOLUTION
"What's the answer?"

EXECUTE the PLAN
"Can this be true?"

EVALUATE the SOLUTION
Page 26
Problem Statement
construct a mental image
of the sequence of events
described in the problem
statement
sketch a picture which

represents this mental
image; include given
information
Focus the
Problem
What's going on?
What objects are involved?
What are they doing?
Are all the important objects shown?

Are the spatial relations between the
objects shown?
Are the important times represented?
Are the important motions represented?
Are the important interactions
represented?
determine the question
select a qualitative approach

which should lead to a
solution to the problem
Does the question ask about a specific

measurable characteristic(s) about a
particular object(s)? If not, reformulate
it so it does.
What is the system of interest?

Which physics principles could be used
to solve the problem?
What information is really needed?
Are there only certain time intervals
during which one approach is useful?
Should we make any approximations?
Page 27
Describe the
Physics
Focus the Problem
construct diagram(s) to
show important space and
time relationships of each
object
make sure all symbols

representing quantities
shown on diagram(s)
are defined
declare a target
quantity
What coordinate axes are useful? Which

direction should we call positive?
Relative to the coordinate axes, where is (are)
the object(s) for each important time?
Relative to the coordinate axes, what is (are)
the velocity and acceleration for each object
at each important time?
Are other diagrams necessary to represent the
interactions of each object or the time
evolution of its state?
What quantities are needed to define the
problem mathematically using the approach
chosen?
Which symbols represent known quantities?
Which symbols represent unknown
quantities?
Are all quantities having different values
labeled with unique symbols?
Does the diagram(s) have all of the essential
information from the sketch?
Which of the unknowns defined on the

diagram(s) answers the question?
state quantitative
relationships from
general principles and
specific constraints
Plan the
Solution
Page 28
What equations represent the general

principles(s) specified in our approach and
relate the physics quantities defined in the
diagram?
During what time intervals are those
relationships either true or useful?
Are there any equations that represent special
conditions that are true for some quantities in
this problem?

choose one of the
quantitative relationships
which involves the target
quantity
No
are there additional

unknowns
Yes
choose a new equation from

your quantitative
relationships which involves
the new unknown
solve the equation for

the desired unknown
and substitute into the
previous equation
solve for the target

quantity and check the
units of the result
Execute the Plan
Plan the
Solution
Which quantitative relationship includes the
target quantity?
For what object does that equation apply?
For what time interval does that equation
apply?
Are there any unknowns in the equation other

than the target quantity?
Are there any unknowns that cancel out in the
algebra?
Which quantitative relationship includes the

unknown quantity?
For what object does that equation apply?
For what time interval does that equation
apply?
Is this equation different from those already
used in this problem?
What unknown is the target of this specific

equation?
Which previous equations have that
unknown?
Are there any quantities that cancel out in the
algebra?
After all the substitution for unknowns, is the

only unknown left the target quantity?
Are the units the same on both sides of the
equation?
Page 29
Plan the Solution

put in the numerical value
and units for each quantity in
your equation for the target
quantity
Yes
Execute
the Plan
Which values (numbers with units) from the
physics description should be put into the
equation for the target quantity?
check that each additive

term of the solution has the
same type of units
Do you need to convert units?
No
change additive terms to
same units by multiplying
the term to be changed by
1 expressed as a ratio of
units
What ratio of units equals 1?
calculate the numerical value

of the target quantity by
combining the numbers with
arithmetic and the units with
algebra
convert units as necessary to
simplify the expression for the
target quantity in terms of an
understandable set of units
and answer the question
Evaluate the Solution
Page 30
Use a calculator for the numbers and algebra

for the units.
Do any units cancel?
Do we need to convert any units?

What is the most reasonable set of consistent
units for this problem?
Execute the Plan

check that answer
is properly stated
OK
check that answer

is not
unreasonable
unreasonable
Evaluate the
Answer
Do the units make sense?
Do vector quantities have both magnitude and
direction?
If someone else read just your answer, would
they know what it meant?
Does the answer fit with your mental picture

of the situation?
Is the answer the magnitude you would
expect in this situation?
Do you have any knowledge of a similar
situation that you can compare with to see if
the answer is reasonable?
Can you change the situation (and thus your
equation for the target quantity) to describe a
simpler problem to which you know the
answer?
review problem solution
determine if
answer is
complete
A Good Solution
Is your physics description complete?

Are the definitions of your physics quantities
unique?
Do the signs of your physics quantities agree
with your coordinate system?
Can you justify all of the mathematical steps in
your solution plan?
Did you use units in a consistent manner in
your execution?
Is there a calculation mistake in the execution?
Have you answered the question from the

Focus the Problem step?
Could someone else read and follow the
solution plan?
Are you sure you can justify each
mathematical step in the plan?
Page 31
Format Sheet for Problem Solving

FOCUS the PROBLEM
Picture and Given Information
Question(s)
Approach
DESCRIBE the PHYSICS

Diagram(s) and Define Quantities
Target Quantity(ies)
Quantitative Relationships
Page 32

PLAN the SOLUTION
Construct Specific Equations
EXECUTE the PLAN

Calculate Target Quantity(ies)
EVALUATE the ANSWER

Is Answer Properly Stated?
Is Answer Unreasonable?
Is Answer Complete?
(extra space if needed)
Check Units
Page 33
Grading Feedback for Students' Problem Solutions

Focus on the Problem and Describe the Physics
Picture or Diagram is misleading or inaccurate
missing important objects or interactions
includes spurious objects or interactions
other incorrect diagrammatic translations of problem information
Relevant variables not assigned and clearly labeled
many important variables not defined
defined variables not clearly distinguished from each other
Approach invalid, too vague, or missing
application of principles inappropriate
misunderstanding of fundamental principle
simplifying approximations not stated or inappropriate
Necessary fundamental principles missing
Incorrect or invalid statement of known values or assumptions
Incorrect assertion of general relationships between variables
application of principles to inappropriate parts of the problem
incorrectly assumed relationship between unknown variables, such as T1=T2.
overlooked important relationship between unknown variables, such as a1=a2.
misunderstanding of fundamental principle
Incorrect statement of target variable or no target stated
target variable doesn't correspond to question in Approach
does not explicitly state target variable
wrong target
Major misconception
Plan the Solution

Poor use of the physics description to generate a plan
physics description was not used to generate a plan
inappropriate equation(s) was introduced
undefined variables used in equations
Improper construction of specific equations
inappropriate substitution of variables into general equations
numerical values were substituted too soon
Page 34
Solution order is missing or unclear

there is no clear logical progression through the problem
solution order can't be understood from what is written
Plan can not be executed
there are not enough equations
a relationship was counted more than once
Execute the Plan and Evaluate the Solution

Execution is illogical
Incorrect physics was introduced to solve the problem
unacceptable mathematical assumption was used
Mistake in execution
algebra mistake
used incorrect values for known variables
Did not check units and/or sign of answer
Page 35
Notes:
Page 36
3. Cooperative Group Problem

Solving in Discussion Sections
This chapter contains some materials we use in teaching problem-solving and cooperative group skills to our
students. These materials are described briefly below.
Page
Why Cooperative Group Problem Solving?
39
This brief summary explains why we use cooperative-group problem solving in our
introductory physics courses, and what we see as the advantages and disadvantages of
cooperative group problem solving (see also Heller, Keith & Anderson and Heller &
Hollabaugh, 1992, American Journal of Physics, 60: 627-644).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Cooperative Groups
40
We use this handout in our TA Orientation. It gives a brief introduction to the structure
of our labs, and answers the following questions:
What is the optimal group size?
Should students be allowed to form their own groups? If not, what should be the
gender and performance mix of the groups?
How often should groups be changed?
How can problems of dominance by one student and conflict avoidance within a
group be addressed?
General Plan for Teaching a Discussion Section
43
This is a handout we use in TA Orientation. It gives detailed (and repetitious) teaching

tips for how to conduct cooperative-group problem solving discussion sessions. More
detailed descriptions of instructor actions can be found in Active Learning:
Cooperation in the College Classroom by Johnson, Johnson, and Smith (1991).
Chart of Group Roles
48
We pass out this chart to students the first day they work in cooperative groups. This
chart introduces students to their problem-solving roles. The roles were selected to
correspond to the planning and monitoring strategies individuals must perform
independently when solving problems -- the manager who designs plans of action; the
skeptic, who questions premises and plans; the recorder, who organizes and writes
what has been done so far; and the summarizer, who keeps track of decisions and
reasons for different actions (see also Heller & Hollabaugh [1992], American Journal
of Physics, 60: 637-644). We normally assign groups of three (Manager,
Recorder/Checker, and Skeptic): the fourth role of Summarizer is used when the size
of the class is not divisible by three, so some groups will have four members. In groups
of three, the Manager takes on the summarizer role.
Page 37
Cooperative group Problem Solving Discussion Sections
Page
Group Functioning Evaluation Form
49
This is one of the evaluation forms we use that helps students learn how to function well
in cooperative groups (see also Heller & Hollabaugh [1992], American Journal of
Physics, 60: 637-644).
Typical Objections to Cooperative Groups
This is also a handout we use in TA Orientation. With a new technique like cooperative
grouping, there is a tendency to focus on the few students in the class who may not like
the technique or may not be learning. We tend to forget that when we show or tell a
class something (traditional teaching), not everyone is listening, and of those who are
listening, not everyone is understanding. This handout helps instructors see that there
are usually analogous objections to both traditional recitations and cooperative group
problem solving.
Page 38
50
Cooperative group Problem Solving Discussion Sections
Why Cooperative Group Problem Solving?

Students in introductory physics courses typically begin to solve a problem by plunging into the algebraic and
numerical solution -- they search for and manipulate equations, plugging numbers into the equations until they
find a combination that yields an answer (e.g., the plug-and-chug strategy). They seldom use their
conceptual knowledge of physics to qualitatively analyze the problem situation, nor do they systematically
plan a solution before they begin numerical and algebraic manipulations of equations. When they arrive at an
answer, they are usually satisfied -- they rarely check to see if the answer makes sense.
To help students integrate the conceptual and procedural aspects of problem solving so they could become
better problem solvers, we introduced a structured, five-step problem solving strategy (see Part 2 of this
booklet). However, we immediately encountered the following dilemma:
If the problems are simple enough to be solved moderately well using their novice strategy, then
students see no reason to abandon this strategy -- even if the structured problem-solving strategy
works as well or better.
If the problems are complex enough so the novice strategy clearly fails, then students are initially
unsuccessful at using the structured problem-solving strategy, so they revert back to their novice
strategy.
To solve this dilemma, we (1) designed complex problems that discourage the use of plug-and-chug
strategies, and (2) introduced cooperative group problem solving. Cooperative group problem solving has
several advantages:
1. The structured problem-solving strategy seems too long and complex to most students.
Cooperative-group problem solving gives students a chance to practice the strategy until it becomes
more natural.
2. Groups can solve more complex problems than individuals, so students see the advantage of a logical
problem-solving strategy early in the course.
3. Each individual can practice the planning and monitoring skills they need to become good individual
problem solvers.
4. Students get practice developing and using the language of physics -- "talking physics."
5. In their discussion with each other, students must deal with and resolve their misconceptions.
6. In subsequent, whole-class discussions of the problems, students are less intimidated because they
are not answering as an individual, but as a group.
Of course, there are several disadvantages of cooperative-group problem solving. Initially, many students do
not like working in cooperative groups. They do not like exposing their "ignorance" to other students.
Moreover, they have been trained to be competitive and work individually, so they lack collaborative skills.
Page 39
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

About Cooperative-Group Problem Solving
For a more extended discussion of the following questions, see Heller and Hollabaugh (1992), Teaching
problem solving through cooperative grouping. Part 2: Designing problems and structuring groups, American
Journal of Physics, 60: 637-644.
What is the optimal group size?
We have found that groups of three work a little better than pairs or groups of four. With pairs, there is
often not enough physics knowledge to solve the problem. In groups of four, one member tends to be
left out of the process.
When the class size is not divisible by three, however, we end up with a few pairs or groups of four. In
general, we prefer groups of four over pairs.
Should students be allowed to form their own groups? If not, what should be the gender and
performance mix of the groups?
We found that mixed-ability groups (based on past performance on problem-solving tests) worked
better than homogeneous-ability groups. Therefore, we assign members to groups based on test
performance (one from the top third, one from the middle-third, and one from the bottom third of the
class).
We also found that groups of two men and one woman did not work well, particularly at the beginning of
the course. The men tend to ignore the woman, even if she is the highest ability student in the group.
Until instructors get to know their students well, we advise assigning groups of three men, three women,
or two women and one man.
How often should groups be changed?
Formal cooperative groups need to stay together long enough to be successful. On the other hand, they
should be changed often enough so students realize they can make any group successful -- that their
success is not due to being in a "magic" group.
Our students work in cooperative groups for three hours each week (1 hour in discussion section, 2
hours in lab). In the first quarter, we change groups every two to three weeks (i.e., 4 times in 10
weeks). In the second and third quarter, we change groups only twice.
In the beginning of the course, it is important to give students a rationale for assigning them to groups and
changing groups often. We tell our students that:
(1) We want them to get to know everyone in the class, so we will change groups often. By the end of
the quarter, they will should have worked with almost everyone in their class (section). This helps
build a sense of community -- we are all working together to help each other learn physics.
(2) No matter what career they enter, they will have to work cooperatively with many different kinds of
people (not just their friends). So they should begin to learn how to work in successfully in groups.
Page 40
FAQ Cooperative Grouping
How can problems of dominance by one student and conflict avoidance within a group be
addressed?
We use three key elements of cooperative learning groups to alleviate these difficulties:
(1) One Group Product: To promote interdependence in discussion sections, we specify that only one
problem solution can be turned in by the groups, and all members must sign the solution.
(2) Roles:
Students are taught specific roles (Manager, Checker/Recorder, Skeptic, and
Energizer/Summarizer). The roles were selected to correspond to the planning and monitoring
strategies individuals must perform independently when solving problems -- the manager who
designs plans of action; the skeptic, who questions premises and plans; the recorder, who organizes
and writes what has been done so far; and the summarizer, who keeps track of decisions and
reasons for different actions. In addition, each person has a responsibility to make sure the group
functions effectively. The Manager must ensure that everyone in the group participates and
contributes. The Checker/Recorder must ensure that all group members can explicitly explain how
the problem was solved. The Energizer/Summarizer must energize the group when motivation is
low.
We normally assign groups of three (Manager, Checker/Recorder, and Skeptic): the fourth role of
Energizer/Summarizer is used when the size of the class is not divisible by three, so some groups will
have four members. In groups of three, the Manager takes on the summarizer role, and all members
are asked to energize the group when motivation is low.
The first time students work together, each member is assigned one of these roles. Each
subsequent time the group works together, the roles must rotate. The groups stay together long
enough so each group member has each role at least once.
(3) Group Processing: Set aside time at the end of a class session to have students discuss how well
they worked together and what they could do to work together better next time.
At the beginning of the quarter, we do this every class session. After three to four weeks (i.e., after
students have worked in two different groups), we do group processing every two to three weeks, as it
seems necessary -- usually the first time new groups are working together.
How can individual accountability (hitch-hiking) be addressed?

We use four techniques to alleviate the "hitch-hiker" problem (one student relying on the other group
members to do all the work):
(1) Assign a role to each student, and allow time for group processing (see above).
(2) Make sure the seats are arranged so students are facing each other, "knee-to-knee." This makes it
much harder for a student to remain uninvolved with a group.
(3) In both discussion sections and lab, individual students are called on randomly to present their
group's results. This person is not usually the Checker/Recorder for the group.
Page 41
FAQ Cooperative Grouping
(4) In discussion section, occasionally a group problem counts as a test question. The group test
problem is given the day before the rest of the test. If a group member was absent the week before
the group test (i.e., did not get to practice with his/her group), then s/he cannot take the group test
question. (Note: Towards the end of the first quarter, we let the rest of the group members decide
if the absent group member can take the group test problem.)
In lab, each member of the group receives bonus points if all group members earn 80% or better on their
individual reports.
Page 42
Outline for Teaching a Discussion Section
What the Students Do
Opening
Moves:
2 min.
What the TA Does
Sit in groups.
0. Get to the classroom early.
Read problem.
1. Briefly introduce problem.
Checker/Recorder puts names on 2. Pass out group problem and

answer sheet.
answer sheet.
3. Tell class time they need to
stop and remind managers to
keep track of time.
Do the assigned problem:
Middle
Game
- participates in discussion,
- work cooperatively,
- check each others work.
Finish problem.
4. Take attendance.
5. Monitor groups and intervene
when necessary
6. A few minutes before you
want them to stop, remind the
students of the time and to
finish working on their
problem. Also pass out group
functioning forms at this time.
7.
Select one person from each

group to put their results on
the board.
8.
Lead a class discussion of

these results.
9.
If necessary, lead a class

discussion
of
group
functioning
End Game:
5-10 min.
Check answer.
Participate in class discussion.
10 Pass out the solution.
Page 43
Detailed Advice for TAs about

General Discussion Section Lesson Plan
0. Get to the classroom early.
When you get to the classroom, go in and close the door, leaving your early students outside. The best
time for informal talks with students is after the class
Prepare the classroom by checking to see that there is no garbage around the room and that the chairs
and desks are properly arranged. If you have changed groups, list the new groups on the board at this
time also. Let your students in when you are prepared to teach the discussion session.
1. Briefly introduce problem.

Spend a minute or two telling students about the problem - remind them what physical principles they
have been discussing in class, and tell them why this particular problem has been chosen. DO NOT
LECTURE YOUR CLASS ON PHYSICS!
2. Pass out group problem and answer sheet.

Give a copy of the problem to each student, but only one answer sheet to each group. This will help the
students work in groups since they can only turn in one answer sheet for the group.
3. Tell class when (at what time) they need to stop and remind managers to keep track of time.
If you are planning on doing the group functioning worksheet, be sure to leave time at the end of class.
Be sure to leave time for your end game!
4. Take attendance
Take attendance as soon as the groups are working. Doing this early will cut down on tardiness.
5. Monitor groups and intervene when necessary

When students work in cooperative groups, they make hidden thinking processes overt, so these
processes are subject to observation and commentary. You will be able to observe how students are
constructing their understanding of physics concepts and the problem-solving strategy.
While groups are working, a significant fraction of your time should be spent monitoring (observing and
listening to group members) in order to see
what they do and do not understand, and
what problems they have working together cooperatively.
Page 44
Plan for Teaching a Discussion Session
With this knowledge, your interventions can be more efficient. DO NOT get trapped into going from
group to group explaining the task/physics or answering questions. If you begin intervening too soon, it is
not fair to the last groups. By the time you recognize that all groups may have the same difficulty, the last
groups will have wasted considerable time.
a
Monitoring
Establish a circulation pattern around the room. Stop and observe each group to see how easily
they are solving the problem and how well they are working together. Don't spend a long time
with any one group. Keep well back from students' line of sight so they don't focus on you.
Make notes about student difficulties with the task and with group functioning so you know what
end-game moves to make.
If several groups are having the same difficulty, you may want to stop the whole class and clarify
the task or make additional comments that will help the students get back on track (e.g., I noticed
that you are all Remember to ) Another strategy is to stop the class and have one group (or
several groups) show the class how they decided to draw their diagrams or what steps they are
using. You can then spend a few minutes discussing how that drawing or plan could be done
most effectively.
b. Intervening
From your observations (circulation pattern), decide which group (if any) is obviously struggling
and needs attention most urgently. Return to that group, watch for a moment and then join the
group at eye level. One way to intervene is to point out the problem and ask the appropriate
group member what can be done about it. This establishes your role as one of coach rather than
answer-giver. Another way to intervene is to ask them (a) What are you doing? (b) Why are you
doing it? and (c) How will that help you? Try to give just enough help to get the group on track,
then leave.
One way to coach is to first diagnose the type of problem (e.g., managerial, came to decision too
quickly without considering all the options, can't agree on what procedure to use, etc.) Then ask:
"Who is the manager (or skeptic, or checker)? What should you be doing to help resolve this
problem?" If the student doesn't have any suggestions, then you could model several possibilities.
If you observe a group in which one student does not seem to be involved in the discussion and
decisions, ask that student to explain what the group is doing and why. This emphasizes the fact
that all group members need to be able to explain each step in solving the experimental problem.
If a group asks you a question, try to turn the question back to the group to solve. Again, try to
give just enough help to get the group started, then leave.
6. A few minutes before you want them to stop, remind the students of the time and to finish
working on their problem.
Also pass out group functioning forms at this time (if necessary, about every 2 - 3 weeks). (Note:
Another common teaching error is to provide too little time for students to process the quality of their
cooperation. Students do not learn from experiences that they do not reflect on. If the groups are to
function better next time, members must receive feedback, reflect on how their actions may be more
effective, and plan how to be even more skillful during the next lab or discussion session.)
Page 45
When you were an undergraduate, your instructor probably did not stop you to have a class discussion
at the end of the period. Doing this is one of the hardest things you will have to do as a TA. You may
be tempted to let students keep working so that they can get as much done as possible, or to let them go
home early so that they like you better. However, research has shown that students do not learn from
their experiences unless they have the chance to process their information. One good way to do this is by
comparing their results with the whole class.
Most students do not want to stop, and may try to keep working. If it is necessary, to make your
students stop working you can warn them that you will not accept their paper if they keep working. You
are in charge of the class, and if you make it clear that you want the students to stop, they will.
7. Select one person from each group to put their results on the board.
Typically, the checker/recorder in each group is not selected. In the beginning of the course, select
students who are obviously interested, enthusiastic, and articulate. Later in the course, it is sometimes
effective to occasionally select a student who has not participated in the discussion as much as you would
like. This reinforces the fact that all group members need to know and be able to explain what their
group did.
8. Lead a class discussion of these results.

A whole-class discussion is commonly used to help students consolidate their ideas and make sense out
of what they have been doing. Discussions serve several purposes:
to summarize what students have learned;
to help students find out what other students learned from the same problem;
to produce discrepancies which stimulate further discussion, thinking, or investigations.
These discussions should always be based on the groups, with individuals only acting as representatives
of a group. This avoids putting one student "on the spot." The trick is to conduct a discussion about the
results without (a) telling the students the "right" answer or becoming the final "authority" for the right
answers, and (b) without focusing on the "wrong" results of one group and making them feel stupid or
resentful. To avoid these pitfalls, you could try starting with general, open-ended questions such as:
- How are these results the same?
- How are these results different?
Then you can become more specific:
- What could be some reasons for them to be different?
- Are the differences important?
Always encourage an individual to get help from other group members if he or she is "stuck."
Encourage groups to talk to each other by redirecting the discussion back to the groups. For example,
when a group reports their answer, ask the rest of the class to comment: "What do the rest of you think
about that?" This helps avoid the problem of you becoming the final "authority" for the right answer.
9.
If necessary, lead a class discussion about the group functioning.
Page 46
Discussing group functioning occasionally is essential. Students need to hear difficulties other groups are
having, discuss different ways to solve these difficulties, and receive feedback from you.
Randomly call on one member of from each group to report either
- one way they interacted well together, or
- one difficulty they encountered working together, or
- one way they could interact better next time.
Add your own feedback from observing your groups (e.g., "I noticed that many groups are
coming to an agreement too quickly, without considering all the possibilities. What might you do
in your groups to avoid this?")
10.
Pass out the solution.

Passing out the solution is important to the students. They need to see good examples of solutions to
improve their own problem solving skills. Again, it is important to pass them out as the last thing you do,
or the students will ignore anything that you say after you have passed them out. You cannot possibly be
more interesting than the solutions.
Page 47
Group Roles
In your discussion and laboratory sections for this course, you will be working in cooperative groups to
solve written and experimental problems. To help you learn the material and work together effectively, each
group member will be assigned a specific role. Your responsibilities for each role is defined on the chart
below.
ACTIONS
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE
MANAGER
DIRECT THE SEQUENCE OF STEPS.
KEEP YOUR GROUP "ON-TRACK."
MAKE SURE EVERYONE IN YOUR
GROUP PARTICIPATES.
WATCH THE TIME SPENT ON EACH
STEP.
"LET'S COME BACK TO THIS LATER IF WE

HAVE TIME."
"WE NEED TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT
STEP."
"CHRIS, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS
IDEA?"
RECORDER/CHECKER
ACT AS A SCRIBE FOR YOUR GROUP.
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING OF ALL
MEMBERS.
MAKE SURE ALL MEMBERS OF YOUR
GROUP AGREE ON PLANS AND
ACTIONS.
"DO WE ALL UNDERSTAND THIS

DIAGRAM?"
"EXPLAIN WHY YOU THINK THAT."
"ARE WE IN AGREEMENT ON THIS?"
MAKE SURE NAMES ARE ON GROUP

PRODUCTS.
SKEPTIC
HELP YOUR GROUP AVOID COMING
TO AGREEMENT TOO QUICKLY.
MAKE SURE ALL POSSIBILITIES ARE
EXPLORED.
SUGGEST ALTERNATIVE IDEAS.
"WHAT OTHER POSSIBILITIES ARE THERE?"

"LET'S TRY TO LOOK AT THIS ANOTHER
WAY."
"I'M NOT SURE WE'RE ON THE RIGHT
TRACK."
ENERGIZER/SUMMARIZER
ENERGIZE YOUR GROUP WHEN
MOTIVATION IS LOW
BY SUGGESTING A NEW IDEA;
THROUGH HUMOR; OR
BY BEING ENTHUSIASTIC.
SUMMARIZE (RESTATE) YOUR GROUP'S
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS.
Page 48
"WE CAN DO THIS!"

"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!"
"SO HERE'S WHAT WE'VE DECIDED . . ."
Course: ______
Section: ______
Manager:
Recorder/Checker:
Skeptic:
Energizer/Summarizer:
.
.
.
.
GROUP FUNCTIONING EVALUATION

In your group take a few minutes to discuss and answer these questions about this particular cooperative
learning experience. Focus your discussion on the process -- what you experienced, felt and thought while
doing the activity.
1. What are three ways you did well in functioning as a cooperative group?
2. What problems did you have interacting as a cooperative group?
3. What is a specific action that would help you function and interact even better next time?
Page 49
Page 50
Yes, so be prepared with something for

them to do -- either an extension to the
problem or have them go to the board
and start their solutions.
This is a sign of a dysfunctional group.
You need to intervene.
There are other times available for this:
office hours, review sessions, maybe
even in lab.
True. The intention is to better teach a
firm understanding of the fundamental
concepts upon which to build later
applications.
#3. Some students do not contribute -they "hitch hike" their way through the
problem.
#4. There is no time to answer

student's questions about the
homework or the lecture.
#5. It takes more time to teach with

cooperative groups, so less material
can be covered.
The instructor can usually observe the

evidence of alternative conceptions by
listening to the group discussion or
looking at their group solution as it is
being constructed.
There is actually less chance of

alternative conceptions being
maintained in groups because of the
interaction between students.
How Would You Reply?
#2. Some groups get done before

others, so there is a lot of wasted time.
#1. Instructor can not always be there

to stop alternative conceptions from
being reinforced in a group.
Typical "Objections" to Cooperative

Group Discussion Sections
The amount covered depends only on how

fast the instructor can speak or write. It
does not require real time intellectual
engagement of the students.
You are only answering one student's

question, so you don't address the concerns
of the other students in the class.
Some students do not ask questions, have

not prepared, or are not thinking about the
material.
Some students already know how to solve

the problem that is being done on the board.
So there is a lot of wasted time.
Instructors can not get inside students'

minds to see if they are forming alternative
conceptions.
Analogous Objections in
Traditional Recitations
Typical Objections To Cooperative Group Discussion Sections
#9. Cooperative group work is

authoritarian because it forces
everyone to work together even if they
don't like to.
#8. Cooperative grouping is not

teaching because anyone can do it.
You just stand around and watch.
#7. Often groups are dysfunctional.
#6. Cooperative groups hold back the

best students, and the weaker students
can "freeload."

Cooperative groups respect the different

ways that students think. They allow
students the opportunity of validating
their thought process or getting the
precise instruction they need.
Cooperative groups are egalitarian and

respectful (i.e., student-centered) by
nature
Observing cooperative groups working

allows you to diagnose how the students
are thinking and coach them to overcome
their conceptual difficulty (when the
others students in the group can not).
No instructional method will reach all

students.
Most groups function reasonably well

from the outset, although careful
intervention and group processing will
make them function better. For the
approx. 20% of groups that are
dysfunctional, you should intervene.
(1992) and Johnson and Johnson (1989)in the

reading packet.
The research indicates that cooperative

groups seem to help all students
because the best students get to "teach"
and the weaker students get peer
coaching. See Heller, Keith and Anderson
Traditional recitations are authoritarian

because everyone must interact only with
the instructor and must think like them to
follow their solutions.
Recitations are egotistical and authoritarian

(i.e., teacher-centered) by nature.
Lecturing is not teaching because you are

concentrating on what you say and do
instead of concentrating on what your
students think.
J.H., Mintzes, J.J., & Novak, J.D. (1994). Research on

alternative conceptions in science. In D.L. Gabel
(Ed.), Handbook of Research in Science Teaching and
Learning, New York: Macmillan)
The research indicates that traditional

instruction tends to only teach to about the
top 20% - 25% of the class. (see Wandersee,
Traditionally the weaker students get left

behind and the best students are bored.
Page 51
Page 52
#11. Students do not want to work in

groups because they believe that they
learn better on their own.
#10. Students hate to play group roles.

Empathize with those that are

uncomfortable, but keep them working
in groups. Teamwork is a powerful
learning tool and a necessary
component for succeeding in the
modern world.
Learning is a complicated process. To

learn something correctly, it is usually
necessary for most people to "bounce"
their ideas off someone else. For most
students, learning is a combination of
individual reflection and group
interaction. After they get used to it,
most students prefer to work in groups.
Unfortunately, many students have not
developed the simple skills necessary
for really effective group work. Practice,
especially with roles, will hone these
skills.
Be patient. The roles do work, but for

some students, it takes time for them to
sink in.
Students do not want to go to a recitation
section that rarely addresses their problem in
understanding the concepts. Questions of
other students are either so "advanced" that
they can't follow or so "simple" that they
are bored.
Students are bored by being forced to play

In effective groups, the roles occur
naturally and shift among the students. the role of listener
Role playing is a technique to get
dysfunctional groups working together.
Roles help students who have not
learned to work together in teams
develop that capability.
4. Context-rich Problems
Page
1.
2.
Introduction
What Are Context Rich Problems?
What Are the Characteristics of a Good Group Problem?
Twenty-one Characteristics That Can Make a Problem Difficult
How to Create Context-rich Problems
How to Judge If a Problem is a Good Group Problem
Problems in This Booklet
55
55
55
57
58
60
Linear Kinematics Problems

One-dimensional Motion at a Constant Velocity
One-dimensional Motion at a Constant Acceleration
One-dimensional Motion, Both Constant Velocity and
Constant Acceleration
Two-dimensional Motion, Constant Acceleration (Projectile)
Two-dimensional Motion, Both Constant Velocity and
Constant Acceleration
63
63
65
66
3.
Force Problems
Linear Acceleration, No Force Components
Linear Acceleration, Force Components
No Acceleration (a = 0), No Force Components
No Acceleration (a = 0), Force Components
73
73
75
77
78
4.
Force and Linear Kinematics Problems
80
5.
Force and Circular Motion at a Constant Speed

No Radial Force Components
Radial Force Components
83
83
85
6.
Conservation of Energy and Conservation of Momentum

Conservation of Energy (Mechanical, Gravitational)
Conservation of Energy (Mechanical) and Force
Conservation of Momentum
Conservation of Energy (Mechanical) and Momentum
87
87
89
90
91
7.
Rotational Kinematics and Dynamics Problems

Center of Mass, Moment of Inertia, and Rotational Kinematics
Rotational Energy
Torques
Angular Momentum
68
71
94
94
96
97
100
Page 53
8.
Conservation of Energy and Heat Problems
102
9.
Oscillations and Waves Problems
104
10. Electricity and Magnetism Problems

Electric Force and Field
Electric Potential Energy
Electric Power
Circuits
Magnetic Force and Field
Page 54
107
107
109
111
112
114
Context-rich Problems
What Are Context Rich Problems?

Context-rich problems are designed to encourage students to use an organized, logical problem-solving
strategy instead of their novice, formula-driven, "plug-and-chug" strategy. Specifically, context rich problems
are designed to encourage students to (a) consider physics concepts in the context of real objects in the real
world; (b) view problem-solving as a series of decisions; and (c) use the fundamental concepts of physics to
qualitatively analyze a problem before the mathematical manipulation of formulas.
Consequently, all context-rich problems have the following characteristics:
Each problem is a short story in which the major character is the student. That is, each problem
statement uses the personal pronoun "you."
The problem statement includes a plausible motivation or reason for "you" to calculate something.
The objects in the problems are real (or can be imagined) -- the idealization process occurs explicitly.
No pictures or diagrams are given with the problems. Students must visualize the situation by using
their own experiences.
The problem cannot be solved in one step by plugging numbers into a formula.
These characteristics emphasize the need for students to make decisions by using their physics knowledge.
They encourage students to view physics problem-solving as something that they can do successfully and
imagine doing in their future careers. They discourage the view that problem solving in physics is a purely
mathematical exercise with no real-world applications for the average person.
What Are The Characteristics of a Good Group Problem?

Group problems should be more difficult to solve than easy problems typically given on an individual test.
But the increased difficulty should be primarily conceptual, not mathematical. Difficult mathematics is best
accomplished by individuals, not by groups. So problems that involve long, tedious mathematics but little
physics, or problems that require the use of a shortcut or "trick" that only experts would be likely to know do
not make good group problems. In fact, the best group problems involve the straight-forward application of
the fundamental principles (e.g., the definition of velocity and acceleration, the independence of motion in the
vertical and horizontal directions) rather than the repeated use of derived formulas (e.g., vf2 - vo2 = 2ad).
Twenty-one Characteristics That Can Make a Problem More Difficult

There are twenty-one characteristics of a problem that can make it more difficult to solve than a standard
textbook exercise:
Approach
1 Cues Lacking
A. No explicit target variable. The unknown variable of the problem is not explicitly stated.
B. Unfamiliar context. The context of the problem is very unfamiliar to the students (e.g., cosmology,
molecules).
2 Agility with Principles
A. Choice of useful principles. The problem has more than one possible set of useful concepts that
could be applied for a correct solution.
Page 55
B. Two general principles. The correct solution requires students to use two major principles (e.g.,
torque and linear kinematics).
C. Very abstract principles. The central concept in the problem is an abstraction of another abstract
concept. (e.g., potential, magnetic flux).
3 Non-standard Application
A. Atypical situation. The setting, constraints, or complexity is unusual compared with textbook
problems.
B. Unusual target variable. The problem involves an atypical target variable when compared with
homework problems.
Analysis of Problem
4 Excess or Missing Information
A. Excess numerical data. The problem statement includes more data than is needed to solve the
problem.
B. Numbers must be supplied. The problem requires students to either remember or estimate a
number for an unknown variable.
C. Simplifying assumptions. The problem requires students to generate a simplifying assumption to
eliminate an unknown variable.
5 Seemingly Missing Information
A. Vague statement. The problem statement introduces a vague, new mathematical statement.
B. Special conditions or constraints. The problem requires students to generate information from their
analysis of the conditions or constraints.
C. Diagrams. The problem requires students to extract information from a spatial diagram.
6 Additional Complexity
A. More than two subparts. The problem solution requires students decompose the problem into
more than two subparts.
B. Five or more terms per equation. The problem involves five or more terms in a principle equation
(e.g., three or more forces acting along one axes on a single object).
C. Two directions (vector components). The problem requires students to treat principles (e.g.,
forces, momentum) as vectors.
Mathematical Solution
7 Algebra Required
A. No numbers. The problem statement does not use any numbers.
B. Unknown(s) cancel. Problems in which an unknown variable, such as a mass, ultimately factors
out of the final solution.
C. Simultaneous equations. A problem that requires simultaneous equations for a solution.
8 Targets Math Difficulties
A. Calculus or vector algebra. The solution requires the students to sophisticated vector algebra, such
as cross products, or calculus.
B. Lengthy or Detailed Algebra. A successful solution to the problem is not possible without working
through lengthy or detailed algebra (e.g., a messy quadratic equation).
Page 56
BEWARE! Good group problems are difficult to construct because they can easily be made too complex
and difficult to solve. A good group problem does not have all of the above difficulty characteristics, but
usually only 2- 5 of these characteristics.
How to Create Context-rich Group Problems

One way to invent context-rich problems is to start with a textbook exercise or problem, then modify the
problem. You may find the following steps helpful:
1.
If necessary, determine a context (real objects with real motions or interactions) for the textbook
exercise or problem. You may want to use an unfamiliar context for a very difficult group problem.
2.
Decide on a motivation -- Why would anyone want to calculate something in this context?
3.
Determine if you need to change the target variable to

(a) make the problem more than a one-step exercise, or
(b) make the target variable fit your motivation.
5.
Determine if you need to change the given information (or target variable) to make the problem an
application of fundamental principles (e.g., the definition of velocity or acceleration) rather than a
problem needing the application of many derived formulas.
4.
Write the problem like a short story.
5.
Decide how many "difficulty" characteristics (characteristics that make the problem more difficult)
you want to include, then do some of the following:
(a) think of an unfamiliar context; or use an atypical setting or target variable;
(b) think of different information that could be given, so two approaches (e.g., kinematics and
forces) would be needed to solve the problem instead of one approach (e.g., forces), or so
that more than one approach could be taken
(c) write the problem so the target variable is not explicitly stated;
(d) determine extra information that someone in the situation would be likely to have; or leave out
common-knowledge information (e.g., the boiling temperature of water);
(e) depending on the context, leave out the explicit statement of some of the problem idealizations
(e.g., change "massless rope" to "very light rope"); or remove some information that students
could extract from an analysis of the situation;
(f) take the numbers out of the problem and use variable names only;
(g) think of different information that could be given, so the problem solution requires the use of
vector components, geometry/trigonometry to eliminate an unknown, or calculus.
6.
Check the problem to make sure it is solvable, the physics is straight-forward, and the mathematics
is reasonable. After you have written the problem, solve it yourself and use the judging strategy
(next section) to determine its difficulty.
Page 57
Some common contexts include:

physical work (pushing, pulling, lifting objects vertically, horizontally, or up ramps)
suspending objects, falling objects
sports situations (falling, jumping, running, throwing, etc. while diving, bowling, playing golf, tennis,
football, baseball, etc.)
situations involving the motion of bicycles, cars, boats, trucks, planes, etc.
astronomical situations (motion of satellites, planets)
heating and cooling of objects (cooking, freezing, burning, etc.)
Sometimes it is difficult to think of a motivation. We have used the following motivations:

You are . . . . (in some everyday situation) and need to figure out . . . .
You are watching . . . . (an everyday situation) and wonder . . . .
You are on vacation and observe/notice . . . . and wonder . . . .
You are watching TV or reading an article about . . . . and wonder . . .
Because of your knowledge of physics, your friend asks you to help him/her . . . .
You are writing a science-fiction or adventure story for your English class about . . . . and need to
figure out . . . .
Because of your interest in the environment and your knowledge of physics, you are a member of a
Citizen's Committee (or Concern Group) investigating . . . .
You have a summer job with a company that . . . . Because of your knowledge of physics, your
boss asks you to . . . .
You have been hired by a College research group that is investigating . . . . Your job is to determine
....
You have been hired as a technical advisor for a TV (or movie) production to make sure the science
is correct. In the script . . . ., but is this correct?
When really desperate, you can use the motivation of an artist friend designing a kinetic sculpture!
Decision Strategy for Judging Problems

Outlined below is a decision strategy to help you decide whether a context-rich problem is a good individual
test problem, group practice problem, or group test problem.
1. Read the problem statement. Draw the diagrams and determine the equations needed to solve the
problem (through plan-a-solution step).
2. Reject if:
the problem can be solved in one step,
the problem involves long, tedious mathematics, but little physics; or
Page 58
the problem can only be solved easily using a "trick" or shortcut that only experts would be likely to
know. (In other words, the problem should be a straight-forward application of fundamental
concepts and principles.)
3. Check for the twenty-one characteristics that make a problem more difficult:
___ unfamiliar context
___ numbers must be supplied
___ very abstract principles
___ assumptions needed
___ two general principles
___ vector components
___ more than two subparts
___ lengthy algebra
___ no explicit target variable
___ simultaneous eqs.
___ excess information
___ choice of useful principles
___ atypical situation
___ unusual target variable
___ vague statement
___ special conditions
___ diagrams
___ five or more terms
___ no numbers
___ unknowns cancel
___ calculus or vector algebra

4. Decide if the problem would be a good group practice problem (20 - 25 minutes), a good group test
problem (45 - 50 minutes), or a good (easy, medium, difficult) individual test problem, depending on
three factors: (a) the complexity of mathematics, (b) the timing (when problem is to be given to students),
and (c) the number of difficulty characteristics of the problem:
Type of Problem
Timing
Diff. Ch.
Group Practice Problems should be

shorter and mathematically easier than
group test problems.
just introduced to concept(s)
2-3
just finished study of concept(s)
3-4
Group Test Problems can be more

complex mathematically.
3-4
4-5
0 -1
1-2
1-2
2-3
2-3
3-4
Individual Problems can be easy,

medium-difficult, or difficult:
Easy
Medium-difficult
Difficult
There is considerable overlap in the criteria, so most problems can be judged to be both a good group
practice or test problem and a good easy, medium-difficult, or difficult individual problem.
Page 59
Problems in This Booklet

Most of the context-rich problems in this booklet were group and individual test problems given in the
algebra-based introductory physics courses and the calculus-based courses at the University of Minnesota.
The problems vary greatly in length and difficulty. The more difficult problems were usually given as
cooperative group problems. The problems also vary in quality. Feel free to edit, revise, and improve them!
To discourage memorization and focus students' attention on the fundamental concepts necessary to solve
the problems, the tests include all equations and constants necessary to solve the problems. No other
equations are allowed to appear in the students solutions unless explicitly derived from the given equations.
These equations represent the fundamental concepts taught in the courses. A few new equations are added
for each successive test, so the information available is the accumulation from the beginning of the course.
The next two pages contain the mathematical and physics accumulated at the end of the algebra-based
course and the calculus based course. All of the problems in this section can be solved with the equations on
these sheets.
The context-rich problems in this booklet are grouped according to the fundamental concepts and
principle(s) required for a solution (instead of the typical textbook chapter or topic organization): linear
kinematics problems, force problems, force with linear kinematics, force and circular motion, conservation
problems.
Page 60
Equations: One-Semester Algebra-based Course

This is a closed book, closed notes exam. Calculators are permitted. The only formulas and constants
which may be used in this exam are those given below. You may, of course, derive any expressions you
need from those that are given. If in doubt, ask. Define all symbols and justify all mathematical expressions
used. Make sure to state all of the assumptions used to solve a problem. Each problem is worth 25 points.
Useful Mathematical Relationships:
a
b
a
, cos = , tan = ,
c
c
b
2
2
2
,
2
2
a + b = c sin + cos = 1
For a circle: C = 2R , A = R2
4
For a sphere: A = 4pR2 , V = pR3
3
For a right triangle:
If Ax2 + Bx + C = 0, then x =
-B
sin =
B2 - 4AC
2A
Fundamental Concepts:
Fr = mar
?r
?t
? vr
r =
?t
r
vr = lim(? t0)
?r
?t
? vr
ar = lim(? t0)
?t
Esystem = Etransfer
Et ransfer = Fr ? r
1
KE = 2 mv2
P =
p r system = p r transfer
pr = mvr
pr transfer = Fr ? t
I =
?q
?t
Etransfer
?t
Under Certain Conditions:

r =
a=
F=
F=
F=
F=
(vir + vfr)
2
v2
r
kFN
s FN
k? r
Gm1m2
r2
keq1q2
r2
PE = mgy
F=
PE = 2 kx2
Gm1m2
PE = r
keq1q2
PE =
r
Einternal = c m
Einternal = m L
PE
q
V = IR
P = IV
L
R=
A
VE =
Useful constants: 1 mile = 5280 ft, 1 ft = 0.305 m, g = 9.8 m/s2 = 32 ft/s2, 1 lb = 4.45 N,
G = 6.7 x 10-11 N m2/kg2, ke = 9.0 x 109 N m2 / C2, e = 1.6 x 10-19 C
Page 61
Equations: Two-Semester Calculus-based Course

Useful Mathematical Relationships:
Fundamental Concepts and Principles:
Under Certain Conditions:
Useful constants: 1 mile = 5280 ft, 1km = 5/8 mile, g = 9.8 m/s2 = 32 ft/s2 , 1 cal = 4.2 J,
RE = 4x103 miles, G = 6.7x10-11 Nm2/kg2, ke = 9.0 x 109 Nm2/C2, e = 1.6 x 10-19 C,
o = 4p x 10-7 T m/A
Page 62

The problems in this section can be solved with the application of the kinematics relationships. The problems
are divided into five groups according to the type of motion of the object(s) in the problem: (1) onedimensional motion at a constant velocity; (2) one-dimensional motion at a constant acceleration; (3) onedimensional motion, both constant velocity and constant acceleration, (4) two-dimensional (projectile)
motion, and (5) two-dimensional motion, both constant velocity and constant acceleration.
One-dimensional, Constant Velocity

1.
You are writing a short adventure story for your English class. In your story, two submarines on a
secret mission need to arrive at a place in the middle of the Atlantic ocean at the same time. They start
out at the same time from positions equally distant from the rendezvous point. They travel at different
velocities but both go in a straight line. The first submarine travels at an average velocity of 20 km/hr
for the first 500 km, 40 km/hr for the next 500 km, 30 km/hr for the next 500 km and 50 km/hr for the
final 500 km. In the plot, the second submarine is required to travel at a constant velocity, so the
captain needs to determine the magnitude of that velocity.
2.
It is a beautiful weekend day and, since winter will soon be here, you and four of your friends decide
to spend it outdoors. Two of your friends just want to relax while the other two want some exercise.
You need some quiet time to study. To satisfy everyone, the group decides to spend the day on the
river. Two people will put a canoe in the river and just drift downstream with the 1.5 mile per hour
current. The second pair will begin at the same time as the first from 10 miles downstream. They will
paddle upstream until the two canoes meet. Since you have been canoeing with these people before,
you know that they will have an average velocity of 2.5 miles per hour relative to the shore when they
go against this river current. When the two canoes meet, they will come to shore and you should be
there to meet them with your van. You decide to go to that spot ahead of time so you can study while
you wait for your friends. Where will you wait?
3.
It's a sunny Sunday afternoon, about 65 F, and you are walking around Lake Calhoun enjoying the
last of the autumn color. The sidewalk is crowded with runners and walkers. You notice a runner
approaching you wearing a tee-shirt with writing on it. You read the first two lines, but are unable to
read the third and final line before he passes. You wonder, "Hmm, if he continues around the lake, I
bet I'll see him again, but I should anticipate the time when we'll pass again." You look at your watch
and it is 3:07 p.m. You recall the lake is 3.4 miles in circumference. You estimate your walking speed
at 3 miles per hour and the runner's speed to be about 7 miles per hour.
4.
You have joined the University team racing a solar powered car. The optimal average speed for the
car depends on the amount of sun hitting its solar panels. Your job is to determine strategy by
programming a computer to calculate the cars average speed for a day consisting of different race
conditions. To do this you need to determine the equation for the days average speed based on the
cars average speed for each part of the trip. As practice you imagine that the days race consists of
some distance under bright sun, the same distance with partly cloudy conditions, and twice that
distance under cloudy conditions. 5.
5.
Because of your technical background, you have been given a job as a student assistant in a University
research laboratory that has been investigating possible accident avoidance systems for oil tankers.
Your group is concerned about oil spills in the North Atlantic caused by a super tanker running into an
Page 63
iceberg. The group has been developing a new type of down-looking radar which can detect large
icebergs. They are concerned about its rather
short range of 2 miles. Your research director has told you that the radar signal travels at the speed of
light which is 186,000 miles per second but once the signal arrives back at the ship it takes the
computer 5 minutes to process the signal. Unfortunately, the super tankers are such huge ships that it
takes a long time to turn them. Your job is to determine how much time would be available to turn the
tanker to avoid a collision once the tanker detects an iceberg. A typical sailing speed for super tankers
during the winter on the North Atlantic is about 15 miles per hour. Assume that the tanker is heading
directly at an iceberg that is drifting at 5 miles per hour in the same direction that the tanker is going.
The following three problems are mathematically equivalent, with different contexts.
6.
You and your friend run outdoors at least 10 miles every day no matter what the weather (well
almost). Today the temperature is at a brisk 0 o F with a -20 o F wind chill. Your friend, a real running
fanatic, insists that it is OK to run. You agree to this madness as long as you both begin at your house
and end the run at her nice warm house in a way that neither of you has to wait in the cold. You know
that she runs at a very consistent pace with an average speed of 3.0 m/s, while your average speed is a
consistent 4.0 m/s. Your friend finishes warming up first so she can get a head start. The plan is that
she will arrive at her house first so that she can unlock the door before you arrive. Five minutes later,
you notice that she dropped her keys. If she finishes her run first she will have to stand around in the
cold and will not be happy. How far from your house will you be when you catch up to her if you
leave immediately, run at your usual pace, and don't forget to take her keys?
7.
Because of your technical background, you have been given a job as a student assistant in a University
research laboratory that has been investigating possible accident avoidance systems for automobiles.
You have just begun a study of how bats avoid obstacles. In your study, a bat is fitted with a
transceiver that broadcasts the bats velocity to your instruments. Your research director has told you
that the signal travels at the speed of light which is 1.0 ft/nanosecond (1 nanosecond is 10-9 seconds).
You know that the bat detects obstacles by emitting a forward going sound pulse (sonar) which travels
at 1100 ft/s through the air. The bat detects the obstacle when the sound pulse reflect from the
obstacle and that reflected pulse is heard by the bat. You are told to determine the maximum amount
of time that a bat has after it detects the existence of an obstacle to change its flight path to avoid the
obstacle. In the experiment your instruments tell you that a bat is flying straight toward a wall at a
constant velocity of 20.0 ft/s and emits a sound pulse when it is 10.0 ft from the wall.
8.
You have been hired to work in a University research laboratory assisting in experiments to determine
the mechanism by which chemicals such as aspirin relieve pain. Your task is to calibrate your detection
equipment using the properties of a radioactive isotope (an atom with an unstable nucleus) which will
later be used to track the chemical through the body. You have been told that your isotope decays by
first emitting an electron and then, some time later, it emits a photon which you know is a particle of
light. You set up your equipment to determine the time between the electron emission and the photon
emission. Your apparatus detects both electrons and photons. You determine that the electron and
photon from a decay arrive at your detector at the same time when it is 2.0 feet from your radioactive
sample. A previous experiment has shown that the electron from this decay travels at one half the
speed of light. You know that the photon travels at the speed of light which is 1.0 foot per
nanosecond. A nanosecond is 10-9 seconds.
Page 64
One Dimensional, Constant Acceleration

9.
You are part of a citizen's group evaluating the safety of a high school athletic program. To help judge
the diving program you would like to know how fast a diver hits the water in the most complicated
dive. The coach has his best diver perform for your group. The diver, after jumping from the high
board, moves through the air with a constant acceleration of 9.8 m/s2. Later in the dive, she passes
near a lower diving board which is 3.0 m above the water. With your trusty stop watch, you
determine that it took 0.20 seconds to enter the water from the time the diver passed the lower board.
How fast was she going when she hit the water?
10.
As you are driving to school one day, you pass a construction site for a new building and stop to watch
for a few minutes. A crane is lifting a batch of bricks on a pallet to an upper floor of the building.
Suddenly a brick falls off the rising pallet. You clock the time it takes for the brick to hit the ground at
2.5 seconds. The crane, fortunately, has height markings and you see the brick fell off the pallet at a
height of 22 meters above the ground. A falling brick can be dangerous, and you wonder how fast the
brick was going when it hit the ground. Since you are taking physics, you quickly calculate the answer.
11.
Because of your knowledge of physics, and because your best friend is the third cousin of the director,
you have been hired as the assistant technical advisor for the associate stunt coordinator on a new
action movie being shot on location in Minnesota. In this exciting scene, the hero pursues the villain up
to the top of a bungee jumping apparatus. The villain appears trapped but to create a diversion she
drops a bottle filled with a deadly nerve gas on the crowd below. The script calls for the hero to
quickly strap the bungee cord to his leg and dive straight down to grab the bottle while it is still in the
air. Your job is to determine the length of the unstretched bungee cord needed to make the stunt
work. The hero is supposed to grab the bottle before the bungee cord begins to stretch so that the
stretching of the bungee cord will stop him gently. You estimate that the hero can jump off the bungee
tower with a maximum velocity of 10 ft/sec. straight down by pushing off with his feet and can react to
the villain's dropping the bottle by strapping on the bungee cord and jumping in 2 seconds.
12.
You are helping a friend devise some challenging tricks for the upcoming Twin Cities Freestyle
Skateboard Competition. To plan a series of moves, he needs to know the rate that the skateboard,
with him on board, slows down as it coasts up the competition ramp which is at 30 to the horizontal.
Assuming that this rate is constant, you decide to have him conduct an experiment. When he is
traveling as fast as possible on his competition skateboard, he stops pushing and coasts up the
competition ramp. You measure that he typically goes about 95 feet in 6 seconds. Your friend weighs
170 lbs. wearing all of his safety gear and the skateboard weighs 6 lbs.
13.
You have a summer job working for a University research group investigating the causes of the ozone
depletion in the atmosphere. The plan is to collect data on the chemical composition of the atmosphere
as a function of the distance from the ground using a mass spectrometer located in the nose cone of a
rocket fired vertically. To make sure the delicate instruments survive the launch, your task is to
determine the acceleration of the rocket before it uses up its fuel. The rocket is launched straight up
with a constant acceleration until the fuel is gone 30 seconds later. To collect enough data, the total
flight time must be 5.0 minutes before the rocket crashes into the ground.
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One Dimensional, Constant Velocity and Constant Acceleration

14.
You have landed a summer job as the technical assistant to the director of an adventure movie shot
here in Minnesota. The script calls for a large package to be dropped onto the bed of a fast moving
pick-up truck from a helicopter that is hovering above the road, out of view of the camera. The
helicopter is 235 feet above the road, and the bed of the truck is 3 feet above the road. The truck is
traveling down the road at 40 miles/hour. You must determine when to cue the assistant in the
helicopter to drop the package so it lands in the truck. The director is paying $20,000 per hour for the
chopper, so he wants you to do this successfully in one take.
15.
Just for the fun of it, you and a friend decide to enter the famous Tour de Minnesota bicycle race from
Rochester to Duluth and then to St. Paul. You are riding along at a comfortable speed of 20 mph
when you see in your mirror that your friend is going to pass you at what you estimate to be a constant
30 mph. You will, of course, take up the challenge and accelerate just as she passes you until you
pass her. If you accelerate at a constant 0.25 miles per hour each second until you pass her, how long
will she be ahead of you?
16.
In your new job, you are the technical advisor for the writers of a gangster movie about Bonnie and
Clyde. In one scene Bonnie and Clyde try to flee from one state to another. (If they got across the
state line, they could evade capture, at least for a while until they became Federal fugitives.) In the
script, Bonnie is driving down the highway at 108 km/hour, and passes a concealed police car that is 1
kilometer from the state line. The instant Bonnie and Clyde pass the patrol car, the cop pulls onto the
highway and accelerates at a constant rate of 2 m/s2. The writers want to know if they make it across
the state line before the pursuing cop catches up with them.
17.
The University Skydiving Club has asked you to plan a stunt for an air show. In this stunt, two
skydivers will step out of opposite sides of a stationary hot air balloon 5,000 feet above the ground.
The second skydiver will leave the balloon 20 seconds after the first skydiver but you want them both
to land on the ground at the same time. The show is planned for a day with no wind so assume that all
motion is vertical. To get a rough idea of the situation, assume that a skydiver will fall with a constant
acceleration of 32 ft/sec2 before the parachute opens. As soon as the parachute is opened, the
skydiver falls with a constant velocity of 10 ft/sec. If the first skydiver waits 3 seconds after stepping
out of the balloon before opening her parachute, how long must the second skydiver wait after leaving
the balloon before opening his parachute?
18.
Because parents are concerned that children are learning "wrong" science from TV, you have been
asked to be a technical advisor for a science fiction cartoon show on Saturday morning. In the plot, a
vicious criminal (Natasha Nogood) escapes from a space station prison. The prison is located
between galaxies far away from any stars. Natasha steals a small space ship and blasts off to meet her
partners somewhere in deep space. The stolen ship accelerates in a straight line at its maximum
possible acceleration of 30 m/sec2. After 10 minutes all of the fuel is burned up and the ship coasts at
a constant velocity. Meanwhile, the hero (Captain Starr) learns of the escape while dining in the prison
with the warden's daughter (Virginia Lovely). Of course he immediately (as soon as he finishes
dessert) rushes off the recapture Natasha. He gives chase in an identical ship, which has an identical
maximum acceleration, going in an identical direction. Unfortunately, Natasha has a 30 minute head
start. Luckily, Natasha's ship did not start with a full load of fuel. With his full load of fuel, Captain
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Starr can maintain maximum acceleration for 15 minutes. How long will it take Captain Starr's ship to
catch up to Natasha's?
19.
Because parents are concerned that children are learning "wrong" science from TV, you have been
asked to be a technical advisor for a new science fiction show. The show takes place on a space
station at rest in deep space far away from any stars. In the plot, a vicious criminal (Alicia Badax)
escapes from the space station prison. Alicia steals a small space ship and blasts off to meet her
partners somewhere in deep space. If she is to just barely escape, how long do her partners have to
transport her off her ship before she is destroyed by a photon torpedo from the space station? In the
story, the stolen ship accelerates in a straight line at its maximum possible acceleration of 30 m/sec2.
After 10 minutes (600 seconds) all of the fuel is burned and the ship coasts at a constant velocity.
Meanwhile, the hero of this episode (Major Starr) learns of the escape while dining with the station's
commander. Of course she immediately rushes off to fire photon torpedoes at Alicia. Once fired, a
photon torpedo travels at a constant velocity of 20,000 m/s. By that time Alicia has a 30 minute
(1800 seconds) head start on the photon torpedo.
20.
You want to visit your friend in Seattle over Winter-quarter break. To save money, you decide to
travel there by train. But you are late finishing your physics final, so you are late in arriving at the train
station. You run as fast as you can, but just as you reach one end of the platform your train departs,
30 meters ahead of you down the platform. You can run at a maximum speed of 8 m/s and the train is
accelerating at 1 m/s. You can run along the platform for 50 meters before you reach a barrier. Will
you catch your train?
21.
Because of your knowledge of physics, you have been assigned to investigate a train wreck between a
fast moving passenger train and a slower moving freight train both going in the same direction. You
have statements from the engineer of each train and the stationmaster as well as some measurements
which you make. To check the consistency of each person's description of the events leading up to the
collision, you decide to calculate the distance from the station that the collision should have occurred if
everyone were telling what really happened and compare that with the actual position of the wreck
which is 0.5 miles from the station. In this calculation you decide that you can ignore all reaction times.
Here is what you know:
The stationmaster claims that she noted that the freight train was behind schedule. As regulations
require, she switched on a warning light just as the last car of the freight train passed her.
The freight train engineer says he was going at a constant speed of 10 miles per hour.
The passenger train engineer says she was going at the speed limit of 40 miles per hour when she
approached the warning light. Just as she reached the warning light she saw it go on and
immediately hit the brakes.
The warning light is located so that a train gets to it 2.0 miles before it gets to the station.
The passenger train slows down at a constant rate of 1.0 mile per hour for each minute as soon as
you hit the brakes.
DO ONLY THE PROBLEM SOLVING STEPS NECESSARY TO FOCUS THE PROBLEM
AND DESCRIBE THE PHYSICS OF THE PROBLEM. DO NOT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
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Two Dimensional, Constant Acceleration (Projectile Motion)

22.
While on a vacation to Kenya, you visit the port city of Mombassa on the Indian Ocean. On the coast
you find an old Portuguese fort probably built in the 16th century. Large stone walls rise vertically
from the shore to protect the fort from cannon fire from pirate ships. Walking around on the ramparts,
you find the fort's cannons mounted such that they fire horizontally out of holes near the top of the walls
facing the ocean. Leaning out of one of these gun holes, you drop a rock which hits the ocean 3.0
seconds later. You wonder how close a pirate ship would have to sail to the fort to be in range of the
fort's cannon? Of course you realize that the range depends on the velocity that the cannonball leaves
the cannon. That muzzle velocity depends, in turn, on how much gunpowder was loaded into the
cannon.
(a) Calculate the muzzle velocity necessary to hit a pirate ship 300 meters from the base of the fort.
(b) To determine how the muzzle velocity must change to hit ships at different positions, make a graph
of horizontal distance traveled by the cannonball (range) before it hits the ocean as a function of
muzzle velocity of the cannonball for this fort.
23.
Because of your knowledge of physics, you have been hired as a consultant for a new James Bond
movie, "Oldfinger". In one scene, Bond jumps horizontally off the top of a cliff to escape a villain. To
make the stunt more dramatic, the cliff has a horizontal ledge a distance h beneath the top of the cliff
which extends a distance L from the vertical face of the cliff. The stunt coordinator wants you to
determine the minimum horizontal speed, in terms of L and h, with which Bond must jump so that he
misses the ledge.
24.
You are on the target range preparing to shoot a new rifle when it occurs to you that you would like to
know how fast the bullet leaves the gun (the muzzle velocity). You bring the rifle up to shoulder level
and aim it horizontally at the target center. Carefully you squeeze off the shot at the target which is 300
feet away. When you collect the target you find that your bullet hit 9.0 inches below where you aimed.
25.
You have a great summer job working on the special effects team for a Minnesota movie, the sequel to
Fargo. A body is discovered in a field during the fall hunting season and the sheriff begins her
investigation. One suspect is a hunter who was seen that morning shooting his rifle horizontally in the
same field. He claims he was shooting at a deer and missed. You are to design the flashback scene
which shows his version of firing the rifle and the bullet kicking up dirt where it hits the ground. The
sheriff later finds a bullet in the ground. She tests the hunters rifle and finds the velocity that it shoots a
bullet (muzzle velocity). In order to satisfy the nitpickers who demand that movies be realistic, the
director has assigned you to calculate the distance from the hunter that this bullet should hit the ground
as a function of the bullets muzzle velocity and the rifles height above the ground.
26.
The Minneapolis Police Department has hired you as a consultant in a robbery investigation. A thief
allegedly robbed a bank in the IDS Crystal Court. To escape the pursing security guards, the thief
took the express elevator to the roof of the IDS tower. Then, in order to not be caught with the
evidence, she allegedly threw the money bag to a waiting accomplice on the roof of Dayton's, which is
just to the west of the IDS tower (they are separated by the Nicollet Mall). The defense attorney
contends that in order to reach the roof of Dayton's, the defendant would have had to throw the money
bag with a minimum horizontal velocity of 10 meters/second. But in a test, she could throw the bag
with a maximum velocity of no more than 5 meters/second. How will you advise the prosecuting
attorney? You determine that he IDS tower is 250 meters high, Dayton's is 100 meters high and the
Mall is 20 meters wide.
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27.
You are watching people practicing archery when you wonder how fast an arrow is shot from a bow.
With a flash of insight you remember your physics and see how you can easily determine what you
want to know by a simple measurement. You ask one of the archers to pull back her bow string as far
as possible and shoot an arrow horizontally. The arrow strikes the ground at an angle of 86 degrees
from the vertical at 100 feet from the archer.
28.
You read in the newspaper that rocks from Mars have been found on Earth. Your friend says that the
rocks were shot off Mars by the large volcanoes there. You are skeptical so you decide to calculate
the magnitude of the velocity that volcanoes eject rocks from the geological evidence. You know the
gravitational acceleration of objects falling near the surface of Mars is only 40% that on the Earth. You
assume that you can look up the height of Martian volcanoes and find some evidence of the distance
rocks from the volcano hit the ground from pictures of the Martian surface. If you assume the rocks
farthest from a volcano were ejected at an angle of 45 degrees, what is the magnitude of the rocks
velocity as a function of its distance from the volcano and the height of the volcano for the rock furthest
from the volcano?
29.
Watching the world series (only as an example of physics in action), you wonder about the ability of
the catcher to throw out a base runner trying to steal second. Suppose a catcher is crouched down
behind the plate when he observes the runner breaking for second. After he gets the ball from the
pitcher, he throws as hard as necessary to second base without standing up. If the catcher throws the
ball at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal so that it is caught at second base at about the same
height as that catcher threw it, how much time does it take for the ball to travel the 120 feet from the
catcher to second base?
30.
Because of your physics background, you have been hired as a consultant for a new movie about
Galileo. In one scene, he climbs up to the top of a tower and, in frustration over the people who
ridicule his theories, throws a rock at a group of them standing on the ground. The rock leaves his
hand at 30 from the horizontal. The script calls for the rock to land 15 m from the base of the tower
near a group of his detractors. It is important for the script that the rock take precisely 3.0 seconds to
hit the ground so that there is time for a good expressive close-up. The set coordinator is concerned
that the rock will hit the ground with too much speed causing cement chips from the plaza to injure one
of the high priced actors. You are told to calculate that speed.
31.
Tramping through the snow this morning, you were wishing that you were not here taking this test.
Instead, you imagined yourself sitting in the Florida sun watching winter league softball. You have had
baseball on the brain ever since the Twins actually won the World Series. One of the fielders seems
very impressive. As you watch, the batter hits a low outside ball when it is barely off the ground. It
looks like a home run over the left center field wall which is 200 ft from home plate. As soon as the
left fielder sees the ball being hit, she runs to the wall, leaps high, and catches the ball just as it barely
clears the top of 10 ft high wall. You estimate that the ball left the bat at an angle of 30o. How much
time did the fielder have to react to the hit, run to the fence, and leap up to make the catch ?
32.
You are still a member of a citizen's committee investigating safety in the high school sports program.
Now you are interested in knee damage to athletes participating in the long jump (sometimes called the
broad jump). The coach has her best long jumper demonstrate the event for you. He runs down the
track and, at the take-off point, jumps into the air at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal. He
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comes down in a sand pit at the same level as the track 26 feet away from his take-off point. With
what velocity (both magnitude and direction) did he hit the ground?
33.
In your new job, you are helping to design stunts for a new movie. In one scene the writers want a car
to jump across a chasm between two cliffs. The car is driving along a horizontal road when it goes
over one cliff. Across the chasm, which is 1000 feet deep, is another road at a lower height. They
want to know the minimum value of the speed of the car so that it does not fall into the chasm. They
have not yet selected the car so they want an expression for the speed of the car, v, in terms of the
car's mass, m, the width of the chasm, w, and the height of the upper road, h, above the lower road.
The stunt director will plug in the actual numbers after a car is purchased.
34.
Your friend has decided to make some money during the next State Fair by inventing a game of skill
that can be installed in the Midway. In the game as she has developed it so far, the customer shoots a
rifle at a 5.0 cm diameter target falling straight down. Anyone who hits the target in the center wins a
stuffed animal. Each shot would cost 50 cents. The rifle would be mounted on a pivot 1.0 meter
above the ground so that it can point in any direction at any angle. When shooting, the customer
stands 100 meters from where the target would hit the ground if the bullet misses. At the instant that
the bullet leaves the rifle (with a muzzle velocity of 1200 ft/sec according to the manual), the target is
released from its holder 7.0 meters above the ground. Your friend asks you to try out the game which
she has set up on a farm outside of town. Before you fire the gun you calculate where you should aim.
35.
You have a summer job with an insurance company and have been asked to help with the investigation
of a tragic "accident." When you visit the scene, you see a road running straight down a hill which has
a slope of 10 degrees to the horizontal. At the bottom of the hill, the road goes horizontally for a very
short distance becoming a parking lot overlooking a cliff. The cliff has a vertical drop of 400 feet to
the horizontal ground below where a car is wrecked 30 feet from the base of the cliff. Was it possible
that the driver fell asleep at the wheel and simply drove over the cliff? After looking pensive, your boss
tells you to calculate the speed of the car as it left the top of the cliff. She reminds you to be careful to
write down all of your assumptions so she can evaluate the applicability of the calculation to this
situation. Obviously, she suspects foul play.
36.
You have a summer job with an insurance company and have been asked to help with the investigation
of a tragic "accident." When you visit the scene, you see a road running straight down a hill which has
a slope of 10 degrees to the horizontal. At the bottom of the hill, the road goes horizontally for a very
short distance becoming a parking lot overlooking a cliff. The cliff has a vertical drop of 400 feet to
the horizontal ground below where a car is wrecked 30 feet from the base of the cliff. The only
witness claims that the car was parked on the hill, he can't exactly remember where, and the car just
began coasting down the road. He did not hear an engine so he thinks that the driver was drunk and
passed out knocking off his emergency brake. He remembers that the car took about 3 seconds to get
down the hill. Your boss drops a stone from the edge of the cliff and, from the sound of it hitting the
ground below, determines that it takes 5.0 seconds to fall to the bottom. After looking pensive, she
tells you to calculate the car's average acceleration coming down the hill based on the statement of the
witness and the other facts in the case. She reminds you to be careful to write down all of your
assumptions so she can evaluate the applicability of the calculation to this situation. Obviously, she
suspects foul play.
37.
Your group has been selected to serve on a citizen's panel to evaluate a new proposal to search for life
on Mars. On this unmanned mission, the lander will leave orbit around Mars falling through the
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atmosphere until it reaches 10,000 meters above the surface of the planet. At that time a parachute
opens and takes the lander down to 500 meters. Because of the possibility of very strong winds near
the surface, the parachute detaches from the lander at 500 meters and the lander falls freely through the
thin Martian atmosphere with a constant acceleration of 0.40g for 1.0 second. Retrorockets then fire
to bring the lander to a softly to the surface of Mars. A team of biologists has suggested that Martian
life might be very fragile and decompose quickly in the heat from the lander. They suggest that any
search for life should begin at least 9 meters from the base of the lander. This biology team has
designed a probe which is shot from the lander by a spring mechanism in the lander 2.0 meters above
the surface of Mars. To return the data, the probe cannot be more than 11 meters from the bottom of
the lander. Combining the data acquisition requirements with the biological requirements the team
designed the probe to enter the surface of Mars 10 meters from the base of the lander. For the probe
to function properly it must impact the surface with a velocity of 8.0 m/s at an angle of 30 degrees from
the vertical. Can this probe work as designed?
38.
You have been hired as a technical consultant for a new action movie. The director wants a scene in
which a car goes up one side of an open drawbridge, leaps over the gap between the two sides of the
bridge, and comes down safely on the other side of the bridge. This drawbridge opens in the middle
by increasing the angle that each side makes with the horizontal by an equal amount. The director
wants the car to be stopped at the bottom of one side of the bridge and then accelerate up that side in
an amount of time which will allow for all the necessary dramatic camera shots. He wants you to
determine the necessary constant acceleration as a function of that time, the gap between the two sides
of the open bridge, the angle that the side of the open bridge makes with the horizontal, and the mass
of the car.
Two Dimensional, Constant Velocity and Constant Acceleration

The following three problems have a very unfamiliar contexts.
39.
You are sitting in front of your TV waiting for the World Series to begin when your mind wanders.
You know that the image on the screen is created when electrons strike the screen which then gives off
light from that point. In the first TV sets, the electron beam was moved around the screen to make a
picture by passing the electrons between two parallel sheets of metal called electrodes. Before the
electrons entered the gap between the electrodes, which deflect the beam vertically, the electrons had
a velocity of 1.0 x 106 m/s directly toward the center of the gap and toward the center of the screen.
Each electrode was 5.0 cm long (direction the electron was going), 2.0 cm wide and the two were
separated by 0.5 cm. A voltage was applied to the electrodes which caused the electrons passing
between them to have a constant acceleration directly toward one of the electrodes and away from the
other. After the electrons left the gap between the electrodes they were not accelerated and they
continued until they hit the screen. The screen was 15 cm from the end of the electrodes. What
vertical electron acceleration between the electrodes would be necessary to deflect the electron beam
20 cm from the center of the screen?
DO ONLY THE PROBLEM SOLVING STEPS NECESSARY TO FOCUS THE PROBLEM
AND DESCRIBE THE PHYSICS OF THE PROBLEM. DO NOT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
40.
You have a summer job in the cancer therapy division of a hospital. This hospital treats cancer by
hitting the cancerous region with high energy protons using a machine called a cyclotron. When the
beam of protons leaves the cyclotron it is going at a constant velocity of 0.50 the speed of light. You
Page 71
are in charge of deflecting the beam so it hits the patient. This deflection is accomplished by passing
the proton beam between two parallel, flat, high voltage (HV) electrodes which have a length of 10
feet in the entering beam direction. Initially the beam enters the HV region going parallel to the surface
of the electrodes. Each electrode is 1 foot wide and the two electrodes are separated by 1.5 inches of
very good vacuum. A high voltage is applied to the electrodes so that the protons passing between
have a constant acceleration directly toward one of the electrodes and away from the other electrode.
After the protons leave the HV region between the plates, they are no longer accelerated during the
200 feet to the patient. You need to deflect the incident beam 1.0 degrees in order to hit the patient.
What magnitude of acceleration between the plates is necessary to achieve this deflection angle of 1.0
degree between the incident beam and the beam leaving the HV region? The speed of light is 1.0 foot
per nanosecond
(1 ft /(10-9 sec)).
DO ONLY THE PROBLEM SOLVING STEPS NECESSARY TO FOCUS THE PROBLEM,
DESCRIBE THE PHYSICS OF THE PROBLEM, AND PLAN A SOLUTION. DO NOT
SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
41.
You have a summer job as an assistant in a University research group that is designing a devise to
sample atmospheric pollution. In this devise, it is useful to separate fast moving ions from slow moving
ones. To do this the ions are brought into the device in a narrow beam so that all of the ions are going
in the same direction. The ion beam then passes between two parallel metal plates. Each plate is 5.0
cm long, 4.0 cm wide and the two plates are separated by 3.0 cm. A high voltage is applied to the
plates causing the ions passing between them to have a constant acceleration directly toward one of the
plates and away from the other plate. Before the ions enter the gap between the plates , they are going
directly toward the center of the gap parallel to the surface of the plates. After the ions leave the gap
between the plates, they are no longer accelerated during the 50 cm journey to the ion detector. Your
boss asks you to calculate the magnitude of acceleration between the plates necessary to separate ions
with a velocity of 100 m/s from those in the beam going 1000 m/s by 2.0 cm?
Page 72
Force Problems
The problems in this section can be solved with the application of Newton's Laws of Motion. The problems
are divided into four groups: (1) linear acceleration, no force components required for solution; (2) linear
acceleration, force components required for solution; (3) no acceleration (a = 0), no force components
required for solution; and (4) no acceleration (a = 0), force components required for solution. The specific
types of forces involved in a problem (e.g., human push or pull, tension, normal, weight, friction, gravitational,
electric) are indicated in bold type at the beginning of each problem.
Linear Acceleration, No Force Components

1.
Tension, Weight: PLAN THE SOLUTION FOR THE FOLLOWING PROBLEM. An artist
friend of yours wants your opinion of his idea for a new kinetic sculpture. The basic concept is to
balance a heavy object with two lighter objects using two very light pulleys, which are essentially
frictionless, and lots of string. The sculpture has one pulley hanging from the ceiling by a string attached
to its center. Another string passes over this pulley. One end of this string is attached to a 25 lb object
while the other supports another pulley at its center. This second pulley also has a string passing over it
with one end attached to a 10 lb object and the other to a 15 lb object. Your friend hasn't quite
figured out the rest of the sculpture but wants to know if, ignoring the mass of the pulley and string, the
25 lb object will remain stationary during the time that the 10 and 15 lb objects are accelerating. DO
NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
2.
Weight, Normal: You have always been impressed by the speed of the elevators in the IDS building
in Minneapolis (especially compared to the one in the Physics building). You wonder about the
maximum acceleration for these elevators during normal operation, so you decide to measure it by
using your bathroom scale. While the elevator is at rest on the ground floor, you get in, put down your
scale, and stand on it. The scale reads 130 lbs. You continue standing on the scale when the elevator
goes up, carefully watching the reading. During the trip to the 50th floor, the greatest scale reading
was 180 lbs.
3.
Tension, Weight: You have been hired to design the interior of a special executive express elevator
for a new office building. This elevator has all the latest safety features and will stop with an
acceleration of g/3 in case of any emergency. The management would like a decorative lamp hanging
from the unusually high ceiling of the elevator. You design a lamp which has three sections which hang
one directly below the other. Each section is attached to the previous one by a single thin wire which
also carries the electric current. The lamp is also attached to the ceiling by a single wire. Each section
of the lamp weighs 7.0 N. Because the idea is to make each section appear that it is floating on air
without support, you want to use the thinnest wire possible. Unfortunately the thinner the wire, the
weaker it is. To determine the thinnest wire that can be used for each stage of the lamp, calculate the
force on each wire in case of an emergency stop.
4.
You are investigating an elevator accident which happened in a tall building. An elevator in this building
is attached to a strong cable which runs over a pulley attached to a steel support in the roof. The other
end of the cable is attached to a block of metal called a counterweight which hangs freely. An electric
motor on the side of the elevator drives the elevator up or down by exerting a force on the side of the
elevator shaft. You suspect that when the elevator was fully loaded, there was too large a force on the
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Force Problems
motor . A fully loaded elevator at maximum capacity weighs 2400 lbs. The counterweight weighs
1000 lbs. The elevator always starts from rest at its maximum acceleration of g/4 whether it is going
up or down.
(a) What force does the wall of the elevator shaft exert on the motor if the elevator starts from rest
and goes up?
(b) What force does the wall of the elevator shaft exert on the motor if the elevator starts from rest
and goes down?
5.
Tension, Weight: An artist friend of yours wants your opinion of his idea for a new kinetic sculpture.
The basic concept is to balance a heavy object with two lighter objects using two very light pulleys,
which are essentially frictionless, and lots of string. The sculpture has one pulley hanging from the
ceiling by a string attached to its center. Another string passes over this pulley. One end of this string
is attached to a 25-lb object while the other supports another pulley at its center. This second pulley
also has a string passing over it with one end attached to a 10-lb object and the other to a 15-lb
object. Your friend hasn't quite figured out the rest of the sculpture but wants to know if, ignoring the
mass of the pulley and string, the 25-lb object will remain stationary during the time that the 10-lb and
15-lb objects are accelerating.
SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
6.
Weight, Normal, Friction: Because of your physics background, you have been able to get a job
with a company devising stunts for an upcoming adventure movie being shot in Minnesota. In the
script, the hero has been fighting the villain on the top of the locomotive of a train going down a straight
horizontal track at 20 mph. He has just snuck on the train as it passed over a lake so he is wearing his
rubber wet suit. During the fight, the hero slips and hangs by his fingers on the top edge of the front of
the locomotive. The locomotive has a smooth steel vertical front face. Now the villain stomps on the
hero's fingers so he will be forced to let go and slip down the front of the locomotive and be crushed
under its wheels. Meanwhile, the hero's partner is at the controls of the locomotive trying to stop the
train. To add to the suspense, the brakes have been locked by the villain. It will take her 10 seconds
to open the lock. To her horror, she sees the hero's fingers give way before she can get the lock off.
Since she is the brains of the outfit, she immediately opens the throttle causing the train to accelerate
forward. This causes the hero to stay on the front face of the locomotive without slipping down giving
her time to save the hero's life. The movie company wants to know what minimum acceleration is
necessary to perform this stunt. The hero weighs 180 lbs. in his wet suit. The locomotive weighs 100
tons. You look in a book giving the properties of materials and find that the coefficient of kinetic
friction for rubber on steel is 0.50 and its coefficient of static friction is 0.60.
7.
Weight, Normal, Friction: While working in a mechanical structures laboratory, your boss assigns
you to test the strength of ropes under different conditions. Your test set-up consists of two ropes
attached to a 30 kg block which slides on a 5.0 m long horizontal table top. Two low friction, light
weight pulleys are mounted at opposite ends of the table. One rope is attached to each end of the 30
kg block. Each of these ropes runs horizontally over a different pulley. The other end of one of the
ropes is attached to a 12 kg block which hangs straight down. The other end of the second rope is
attached to a 20 kg block also hanging straight down. The coefficient of kinetic friction between the
block on the table and the table's surface is 0.08. The 30 kg block is initially held in place by a
mechanism that is released when the test begins so, that the block is accelerating during the test.
During this test, what is the force exerted on the rope supporting the 12 kg block?
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Force Problems
Linear Acceleration, Force Components

8.
Human, Weight, Normal: You are taking care of two small children, Sarah and Rachel, who are
twins. On a nice cold, clear day you decide to take them ice skating on Lake of the Isles. To travel
across the frozen lake you have Sarah hold your hand and Rachel's hand. The three of you form a
straight line as you skate, and the two children just glide. Sarah must reach up at an angle of 60
degrees to grasp your hand, but she grabs Rachel's hand horizontally. Since the children are twins,
they are the same height and the same weight, 50 lbs. To get started you accelerate at 2.0 m/s2. You
are concerned about the force on the children's arms which might cause shoulder damage. So you
calculate the force Sarah exerts on Rachel's arm, and the force you exert on Sarah's other arm. You
assume that the frictional forces of the ice surface on the skates are negligible.
9.
Tension, Weight, Normal, and Friction: You are planning to build a log cabin in northern
Minnesota. You will pull the logs up a long, smooth hill to the building site by means of a rope
attached to a winch. You need to buy a rope for this purpose, so you need to know how strong the
rope must be. Stronger ropes cost more. You know that the logs weigh a maximum of 200 kg. You
measure that the hill is at an angle of 30o with respect to the horizontal, and the coefficient of kinetic
friction between a log and the hill is 0.90. When pulling a log up the hill, you will make sure that the
rope stays parallel to the surface of the hill and the acceleration of the log is never more than 0.80 m/s2.
How strong a rope should you buy?
10.
Tension, Weight, Normal, Friction: You have taken a summer job at a warehouse and have
designed a method to help get heavy packages up a 15 ramp. In your system a package is attached
to a rope which runs parallel to the ramp and over a pulley at the top of the ramp. After passing over
the pulley the other end of the rope is attached to a counterweight which hangs straight down. In your
design the mass of the counterweight is always adjusted to be twice the mass of the package. Your
boss is worried about this pulley system. In particular, she is concerned that the package will be too
difficult to handle at the top of the ramp and tells you to calculate its acceleration. To determine the
influence of friction between the ramp and the package you run some tests. You find that you can push
a 50 kg package with a horizontal force of 250 Newtons at a constant speed along a level floor made
of the same material as the ramp.
11.
Tension, Weight, Normal, Friction: After graduating you get a job in Northern California. To
move there, you rent a truck for all of your possessions. You also decide to take your car with you by
towing it behind the truck. The instructions you get with the truck tells you that the maximum truck
weight when fully loaded is 20,000 lbs. and that the towing hitch that you rented has a maximum
strength of 1000 lbs. Just before you leave, you weigh the fully loaded truck and find it to be 15,000
lbs. At the same time you weigh your car and find it to weigh 3000 lbs. You begin to worry if the
hitch is strong enough. Then you remember that you can push your car and can easily keep it moving
at a constant velocity. You know that air resistance will increase as the car goes faster but from your
experience you estimate that the sum of the forces due to air resistance and friction on the car is not
more than 300 lbs. If the largest hill you have to go up is sloped at 10o from the horizontal, what is the
maximum acceleration you can safely have on that hill?
SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
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Force Problems
12.
Weight, Normal, Friction: Because of your physics background, you have been able to get a job
with a company devising stunts for an upcoming adventure movie being shot in Minnesota. In the
script, the hero has been fighting the villain on the top of the locomotive of a train going down a straight
horizontal track at 20 mph. He has just snuck on the train as it passed over a lake so he is wearing his
rubber wet suit. During the fight, the hero slips and hangs by his fingers on the top edge of the front of
the locomotive. The locomotive has a smooth steel front face sloped at 20o from the vertical so that
the bottom of the front is more forward that the top. Now the villain stomps on the hero's fingers so he
will be forced to let go and slip down the front of the locomotive and be crushed under its wheels.
Meanwhile, the hero's partner is at the controls of the locomotive trying to stop the train. To add to
the suspense, the brakes have been locked by the villain. It will take her 10 seconds to open the lock.
To her horror, she sees the hero's fingers give way before she can get the lock off. Since she is the
brains of the outfit, she immediately opens the throttle causing the train to accelerate forward. This
causes the hero to stay on the front face of the locomotive without slipping down giving her time to
save the hero's life. The movie company wants to know what minimum acceleration is necessary to
perform this stunt. The hero weighs 180 lbs. in his wet suit. The locomotive weighs 100 tons. You
look in a book giving the properties of materials and find that the coefficient of kinetic friction for
rubber on steel is 0.50 and its coefficient of static friction is 0.60.
13.
Gravitational: You have been hired as a consultant for the new Star Trek TV series to make sure
that any science on the show is correct. In this episode, the crew of the Enterprise discovers an
abandoned space station in deep space far from any stars. This station is obviously the work of an
advanced race and consists of four identical 3 x 1020 kg asteroids configured so that each is at the
corner of a square with 200 km sides. According to the tricorder, the station has been abandoned for
at least two centuries. You know that such a configuration is unstable and worry whether there would
be observable motion of the asteroids after two hundred years so you calculate the acceleration of one
of the asteroids in the proposed configuration. Make sure you give both the magnitude and the
direction of the acceleration.
14.
Gravitational: Because the movie industry is trying to make the technical details of movies as correct
as possible, you have been made a member of a panel reviewing the details of a new science fiction
script. Although neither astronomy nor navigation is your field, you are disturbed by one scene in which
a space ship which is low on fuel is attempting to land on the Earth. As the ship approaches, it is
heading straight for the center of the Earth. The commander cuts off the ship's engines so that it will be
pulled in by the Earth's gravitational force. As the commander looks in the viewer, she sees the Earth
straight ahead and the Moon off to the left at an angle of 30o. The line between the centers of the
Moon and Earth is at right angles to the initial path of the space ship. Under these conditions you don't
think the ship will continue heading toward the Earth, so you calculate the component of its acceleration
which is perpendicular to the initial path of the ship. First you look up the distance between the Earth
and the Moon (3.8 x 105 km), the mass of the Earth (6.0 x 1024 kg), the mass of the Moon (7.3 x 1022
kg), the radius of the Earth (6.4 x 103 km), the radius of the Moon (1.7 x 103 km), and the universal
gravitational constant (6.7 x 10-11 N m2/kg2). As a first approximation, you decide to neglect the effect
of the Sun and the other planets in the solar system. You guess that a space ship such as described in
the script might have a mass of about 100,000 kg.
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Force Problems
No Acceleration (a = 0), No Force Components

15.
Weight - Buoyancy, Normal, Friction, Electric: The quarter is almost over so you decide to have
a party. To add atmosphere to your otherwise drab apartment, you decide to decorate with balloons.
You buy about fifty and blow them up so that they are all sitting on your carpet. After putting most of
them up, you decide to play with the few balloons left on the floor. You rub one on your sweater and
find that it will "stick" to a wall. Ah ha, you know immediately that you are observing the electric force
in action. Since it will be some time before you guests arrive and you have already made the onion dip,
you decide to calculate the minimum electric force of the wall on the balloon. You know that the air
exerts a net upward force (the "buoyant" force) on the balloon which makes it almost float. You
measure that the weight of the balloon minus the buoyant force of the air on the balloon is 0.05 lb. By
reading your physics book, you estimate that the coefficient of static friction between the wall and the
balloon (rubber and concrete) is 0.80.
16.
Tension, Weight, Electric: While working in a University research laboratory you are given the job
of testing a new device for precisely measuring the weight of small objects. The device consists of two
very light strings attached at one end to a support. An object is attached to the other end of each
string. The strings are far enough apart so that objects hanging on them dont touch. One of the
objects has a very accurately known weight while the other object is the unknown. A power supply is
slowly turned on to give each object an electric charge which causes the objects to slowly move away
from each other (repel) because of the electric force. When the power supply is kept at its operating
value, the objects come to rest at the same horizontal level. At that point, each of the strings supporting
them makes a different angle with the vertical and that angle is measured. To test the device, you want
to calculate the weight of an unknown sphere from the measured angles and the weight of a known
sphere. You use a standard sphere with a known weight of 2.000 N supported by a string which
makes an angle of 10.0 with the vertical. The unknown sphere's string makes an angle of 20.0 with
the vertical.
17.
Gravitational: You are writing a short science fiction story for your English class. You get your idea
from the fact that when people cross the Earth's equator for the first time, they are awarded a
certificate to commemorate the experience. In your story it is the 21st Century and you are the tour
director for a trip to the moon. Transplanetary Tours promises tour participants a certificate to
commemorate their passage from the stronger influence of the Earth's gravitational pull to the stronger
gravitational pull of the moon. To finish the story, you need to figure out where on the trip you should
award the certificate. In your physics book you look up the distance between the Earth and the Moon
(3.8 x 105 km), the mass of the Earth (6.0 x 1024 kg), the mass of the Moon (7.3 x 1022 kg), the
radius of the Earth
(6.4 x 103 km), the radius of the Moon (1.7 x 103 km), and the universal gravitational constant (6.7 x
10-11 N m2/kg2).
18.
Gravitational: You have been hired as a consultant for the new Star Trek TV series to make sure
that the science in the show is correct. In this episode, the crew of the Enterprise goes into standard
orbit around a newly discovered planet. The plot requires that the planet is hollow and contains the
underground cities of a lost civilization. From orbit the science officer determines that the radius of the
planer is 1/4 (one-fourth) that of Earth. The first officer beams down to the surface of the planet and
measures that his weight is only 1/2 (one-half) of his weight on Earth. How does the mass of this
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Force Problems
planet compare with the mass of the Earth? If it were hollow, its density would be less than Earth.
Are the measurements consistent with a hollow planet?
19.
Gravitational, Electric: You and a friend are reading a newspaper article about nuclear fusion
energy generation in stars. The article describes the helium nucleus, made up of two protons and two
neutrons, as very stable so it doesn't decay. You immediately realize that you don't understand why
the helium nucleus is stable. You know that the proton has the same charge as the electron except that
the proton charge is positive. Neutrons you know are neutral. Why, you ask your friend, don't the
protons simply repel each other causing the helium nucleus to fly apart? Your friend says she knows
why the helium nucleus does not just fly apart. The gravitational force keeps it together, she says. Her
model is that the two neutrons sit in the center of the nucleus and gravitationally attract the two protons.
Since the protons have the same charge, they are always as far apart as possible on opposite sides of
the neutrons. What mass would the neutron have if this model of the helium nucleus works? Is that a
reasonable mass? Looking in your physics book, you find that the mass of a neutron is about the same
as the mass of a proton and that the diameter of a helium nucleus is 3.0 x 10-13 cm.
No Acceleration (a = 0), Force Components

20.
Tension, Weight, Friction: You are taking advantage of an early snow to go sledding. After a long
afternoon of going up and down hills with your sled, you decide it is time to go home. You are thankful
that you can pull your sled without climbing any more hills. As you are walking home, dragging the
sled behind you by a rope fastened to the front of the sled, you wonder what the coefficient of friction
of the snow on the sled is. You estimate that you are pulling on the rope with a 2 pound force, that the
sled weighs 10 pounds, and that the rope makes an angle of 25 degrees to the level ground.
21.
Human, Weight, Normal, Friction: You are helping a friend move into a new apartment. A box
weighing 150 lbs. needs to be moved to make room for a couch.. You are taller than the box, so you
reach down to push it at an angle of 50 degrees from the horizontal. The coefficient of static friction
between the box and the floor is 0.50 and the coefficient of kinetic friction between the box and the
floor is 0.30.
(a) If you want to exert the minimum force necessary, how hard would you push to keep the box
moving across the floor?
(b) Suppose you bent your knees so that your push were horizontal. How hard would you push to
keep the box moving across the floor?
22.
Human, Weight, Normal, Friction: You are helping an investigation of back injuries in the
construction industry. Your assignment is to determine why there is a correlation of the height of the
worker to the likelihood of back injury. You suspect that some back injuries are related to the way
people push heavy objects in order to move them. When people push an object, such as a box,
across the floor they tend to lean down and push at an angle to the horizontal. Taller people push at a
larger angle with respect to the horizontal than shorter people. To present your ideas to the rest of the
research team, you decide to calculate the force a 200-lb box exerts on a 150-lb person when they
push it across a typical floor at a constant velocity of 7.0 ft/s as a function of the angle with respect to
the horizontal at which the person pushes the box. Once you have your function, you will use angles of
0o, 10o, 20o, 30o, and 40o to make a graph of the result for the presentation. One of your coworkers
tells you that a typical coefficient of static friction between a box and a floor of 0.60 and while a typical
coefficient of kinetic friction between a box and a floor is 0.50. (Don't forget to make the graph).
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Force Problems
23.
Tension, Weight: Your are part of a team to help design the atrium of a new building. Your boss,
the manager of the project, wants to suspend a 20-lb sculpture high over the room by hanging it from
the ceiling using thin, clear fishing line (string) so that it will be difficult to see how the sculpture is held
up. The only place to fasten the fishing line is to a wooden beam which runs around the edge of the
room at the ceiling. The fishing line that she wants to use will hold 20 lbs. (20-lb test) so she suggests
attaching two lines to the sculpture to be safe. Each line would come from the opposite side of the
ceiling to attach to the hanging sculpture. Her initial design has one line making an angle of 20o with the
ceiling and the other line making an angle of 40o with the ceiling. She knows you took physics, so she
asks you if her design can work.
24.
Electric, Weight, Tension: While working in a University research laboratory you are given the job
of testing a new device, called an electrostatic scale, for precisely measuring the weight of small
objects. The device is quite simple. It consists of two very light but strong strings attached to a
support so that they hang straight down. An object is attached to the other end of each string. One of
the objects has a very accurately known weight while the other object is the unknown. A power
supply is slowly turned on to give each object an electric charge which causes the objects to slowly
move away from each other (repel) because of the electric force. When the power supply is kept at its
operating value, the objects come to rest at the same horizontal level. At that point, each of the strings
supporting them makes a different angle with the vertical and that angle is measured. To test the
device, you want to calculate the weight of an unknown sphere from the measured angles and the
weight of a known sphere. You use a standard sphere with a known weight of 2.00000 N supported
by a string which makes an angle of 10.00o with the vertical. The unknown sphere's string makes an
angle of 20.00o with the vertical.
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Force and Linear Kinematics

The following problems require both Newton's Laws of Motion and one or more kinematics relationship for
a solution. The specific types of forces involved in a problem (e.g., human push or pull, tension, normal,
weight, friction, gravitational, electric) are indicated in bold type at the beginning of each problem.
25.
Weight, Normal: While driving in the mountains, you notice that when the freeway goes steeply
down hill, there are emergency exits every few miles. These emergency exits are straight dirt ramps
which leave the freeway and are sloped uphill. They are designed to stop trucks and cars that lose
their breaks on the downhill stretches of the freeway even if the road is covered in ice. You are
curious, so you stop at the next emergency road. You estimate that the road rises at an angle of 10o
from the horizontal and is about 100 yards (300 ft) long. What is the maximum speed of a truck that
you are sure will be stopped by this road, even if the frictional force of the road surface is negligible?
26.
Weight, Normal: While driving in the mountains, you notice that when the freeway goes steeply
down hill, there are emergency exits every few miles. These emergency exits are straight dirt ramps
which leave the freeway and are sloped uphill. They are designed to stop trucks and cars that lose
their breaks on the downhill stretches of the freeway even if the road is covered in ice. You wonder at
what angle from the horizontal an emergency exit should rise to stop a 50 ton truck going 70 mph up a
ramp 100 yards (300 ft) long, even if the frictional force of the road surface is negligible.
27.
Weight, Normal: You and a few friends have decided to open a small business called Wee Deliver.
The business will guarantee to deliver any box between 5 lbs. and 500 lbs. to any location in the Twin
City area by the next day. At your distribution center, boxes slide down a ramp between the delivery
area and the sorting area. In designing the distribution center, you must determine the angle this ramp
should have with the horizontal so that a 500-lb box takes 5.0 seconds to slide down the ramp starting
from rest at the top. When the box arrives at the bottom of the ramp, its speed should not be too large
or the contents of the box might be damaged. You decide that this speed should be 10 ft/s. Using the
latest technology, your ramp will have a very slippery surface so you make the approximation that the
frictional force between the ramp and the box can be neglected.
28.
Weight, Normal: You are watching a ski jump contest on television when you wonder how high the
skier is when she leaves the starting gate. In the ski jump, the skier glides down a long ramp. At the
end of the ramp, the skier glides along a short horizontal section which ends abruptly so that the skier
goes into the air. You measured that the skier was in the air for 2.3 seconds and landed 87 meters, in
the horizontal direction, from the point she went into the air. Make the best estimate of the height of
the starting gate at the top of the ramp from the horizontal section from which the skier takes off into
the air. Make clear on what assumptions your answer depends (this is why it is an estimate).
29.
Weight, Normal, Friction: You are passing a construction site on the way to physics class, and stop
to watch for awhile. The construction workers appear to be going on coffee break, and have left a
large concrete block resting at the top of a wooden ramp. As soon as their backs are turned, the
block begins to slide down the ramp. You quickly clock the time for the block to reach the bottom of
the ramp at 10 seconds. You wonder how long the ramp is. You estimate that the ramp is at an angle
of about 20o to the horizontal. In your physics book you find that the coefficient of kinetic friction
between concrete and wood is 0.35.
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30.
Weight, Normal, Friction: You have a summer job at a company that specializes in the design of
sports facilities. The company has been given the contract to design a new hockey rink to try to keep
the North Stars in town. The rink floor is very flat and horizontal and covered with a thick coat of ice.
Your task is to determine the refrigeration requirements which gives best temperature for the ice. You
have a table which gives the coefficient of static and kinetic friction between ice and the standard NHL
hockey puck as a function of ice temperature. You have been told that the hockey game will be more
exciting if passes are swift and sure. Experts say that the passing game is best if, after it goes 5.0 m, a
puck has a speed which is 90% of the speed with which it left the hockey stick. A puck typically has a
speed of 20 km/hr when it leaves the hockey stick for a pass.
31.
Weight, Normal, Friction: You and some friends visit the Minnesota State Fair and decide to play a
game on the Midway. To play the game you must slide a metal hockey-type puck up a wooden ramp
so that it drops through a hole at the top of the ramp. Your prize, if you win, is a large, pink, and
rather gaudy, stuffed poodle. You realize the secret to winning is giving the puck just enough velocity
at the bottom of the ramp to make it to the hole. You estimate the distance from the bottom of the
ramp to the hole at about 10 feet, and the ramp appears to be inclined with an angle of 10o from the
horizontal. You just got out of physics class and recall the coefficient of static friction between steel
and wood is 0.1 and the coefficient of kinetic friction between steel and wood is 0.08. The mass of
the puck is about 2.5 lbs. You decide to impress your friends by sliding the puck at the precise speed
on the first try so as to land it in the hole. You slide the puck at 8.0 ft/sec. Do you win the stuffed
poodle?
32.
Weight, Normal, Tension, Friction: Finally you are leaving Minneapolis to get a few days of Spring
break, but your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. A tow truck weighing 4000 lbs. comes
along and agrees to tow your car, which weighs 2000 lbs., to the nearest town. The driver of the truck
attaches his cable to your car at an angle of 20o to the horizontal. He tells you that his cable has a
strength of 500 lbs. He plans to take 10 seconds to tow your car at a constant acceleration from rest
in a straight line along the flat road until he reaches the maximum speed limit of 45 miles/hour. Can the
driver carry out his plan? You assume that rolling friction behaves like kinetic friction, and the
coefficient of rolling friction between your tires and the road is 0.10.
33.
Weight, Normal, Friction: While visiting a friend in San Francisco you decide to drive around the
city. You turn a corner and are driving up a steep hill. Suddenly, a small boy runs out on the street
chasing a ball. You slam on the brakes and skid to a stop leaving a 50 foot long skid mark on the
street. The boy calmly walks away but a policeman watching from the sidewalk walks over and gives
you a ticket for speeding. You are still shaking from the experience when he points out that the speed
limit on this street is 25 mph. After you recover your wits, you examine the situation more closely.
You determine that the street makes an angle of 20o with the horizontal and that the coefficient of static
friction between your tires and the street is 0.80. You also find that the coefficient of kinetic friction
between your tires and the street is 0.60. Your car's information book tells you that the mass of your
car is 1570 kg. You weigh 130 lbs. Witnesses say that the boy had a weight of about 60 lbs. and
took 3.0 seconds to cross the 15 foot wide street. Will you fight the ticket in court?
34.
Weight, Lift, Thrust, Drag: One morning while waiting for class to begin, you are reading a
newspaper article about airplane safety. This article emphasizes the role of metal fatigue in recent
accidents. Metal fatigue results from the flexing of airframe parts in response to the forces on the plane
especially during take off and landings. As an example, the reporter uses a plane with a take off weight
of 200,000 lbs. and take off speed of 200 mph which climbs at an angle of 30o with a constant
Page 81
acceleration to reach its cruising altitude of 30,000 feet with a speed of 500 mph. The three jet
engines provide a forward thrust of 240,000 lbs. by pushing air backwards. The article then goes on
to explain that a plane can fly because the air exerts an upward force on the wings perpendicular to
their surface called "lift." You know that air resistance is also a very important force on a plane and is
in the direction opposite to the velocity of the plane. The article tells you this force is called the "drag."
Although the reporter writes that some metal fatigue is primarily caused by the lift and some by the
drag, she never tells you their size for her example plane. Luckily the article contains enough
information to calculate them, so you do.
Page 82

The problems in this section require the application of Newton's Laws of Motion as well as the relationships
between speed, frequency, and radial acceleration for circular motion at a constant speed. The problems are
divided into two groups: (1) No radial force components required for solution; and (2) Radial force
components required for solution. The specific types of forces involved in a problem (e.g., tension, normal,
weight, friction, gravitational, electric) are indicated in bold type at the beginning of each problem.
No Radial Force Components

35.
Weight, Normal: Just before finals you decide to visit an amusement park set up in the Metrodome.
Since it is a weekend, you invite your favorite niece along. She loves to ride on a Ferris wheel, and
there is one at the amusement park. The Ferris wheel has seats on the rim of a circle with a radius of
25 m. The Ferris wheel rotates at a constant speed and makes one complete revolution every 20
seconds. While you wait, your niece who has a mass of 42 kg, rides the Ferris wheel. To kill time you
decide to calculate the total force (both magnitude and direction) on her when she is one quarter
revolution past the highest point. Because the Ferris wheel can be run at different speeds, you also
decide to make a graph which gives the magnitude of the force on her at that point as a function of the
period of the Ferris wheel.
36
Weight, Normal: While relaxing from studying physics, you watch some TV. While flipping through
channels you see a circus show in which a woman drives a motorcycle around the inside of a vertical
ring. You determine that she goes around at a constant speed and that it takes her 4.0 seconds to get
around when she is going her slowest. If she is going at the minimum speed for this stunt to work, the
motorcycle is just barely touching the ring when she is upside down at the top. At that point she is in
free fall so her acceleration is just g. She just makes it around without falling off the ring but what if she
made a mistake and her motorcycle fell off at the top? How high up is she?
37.
Weight, Normal, Friction: The producer of the last film you worked on was so impressed with the
way you handled a helicopter scene that she hired you again as technical advisor for a new "James
Bond" film. The scene calls for 007 to chase a villain onto a merry-go-round. An accomplice starts
the merry-go-round rotating in an effort to toss 007 (played in this new version by Billy Crystal) off
into an adjacent pool filled with hungry sharks. You must determine a safe rate of rotation such that
the stunt man (you didn't think Billy would do his own stunts did you?) will not fly off the merry-goround and into the shark-infested pool. (Actually they are mechanical sharks, but the audience doesn't
know that.) You measure the diameter of the merry-go-round as 50 meters. You determine that the
coefficient of static friction between 007's shoes and the merry-go-round surface is 0.7 and the
coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.5.
38.
Weight, Normal, Friction: A new package moving system in the new, improved post office consists
of a large circular disc (i.e. a turntable) which rotates once every 3.0 seconds at a constant speed in
the horizontal plane. Packages are put on the outer edge of the turntable on one side of the room and
taken off on the opposite side. The coefficient of static friction between the disc surface and a
package is 0.80 while the coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.60. If this system is to work, what is the
maximum possible radius of the turntable?
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39.
Weight, Normal, Friction: You are driving with a friend who is sitting to your right on the passenger
side of the front seat. You would like to be closer to your friend and decide to use your knowledge of
physics to achieve your romantic goal. So you'll make a sharp turn. Which direction should you turn
so as to make your friend slide closer to you? If the coefficient of static friction between your friend
and the seat of the car is 0.40, and you drive at a constant speed of 18 m/s, what is the maximum
radius you could make your turn and still have your friend slide your way?
40.
Weight, Normal, Friction: On a trip through Florida, you find yourself driving in your 3000-lb car
along a flat level road at 50 mph. The road makes a turn which you take without changing your speed.
The curve is approximately an arc of a circle with a radius of 0.05 miles. You notice that the curve is
flat and level with no sign of banking. There are no warning signs but you wonder if it would be safe to
try to go 50 mph around the curve in the rain when the wet surface has a lower coefficient of friction.
What is the minimum coefficient of static friction between the road and your car's tires which will allow
your car to make the turn?
41.
Weight, Tension: After watching the movie "Crocodile Dundee," you and some friends decide to
make a communications device invented by the Australian Aborigines. It consists of a noise-maker
swung in a vertical circle on the end of a string. Your design calls for a 400 gram noise-maker on a 60
cm string. You are worried about whether the string you have will be strong enough, so you decide to
calculate the tension in the string when the device is swung with an acceleration which has a constant
magnitude of 20 m/s2 . You and your friends can't agree whether the maximum tension will occur
when the noise maker is at the highest point in the circle, at the lowest point in the circle, or is always
the same. To settle the argument you decide to calculate the tension at the highest point and at the
lowest point and compare them.
42.
You are watching a TV news program when they switch to some scenes taken aboard the space
shuttle which circles 500 miles above the Earth once every 95 minutes. To allow the audience to
appreciate the distances involved, the announcer tells you that the radius of the Earth is about 4000
miles and the distance from the Earth to the Moon is about 250,000 miles. When an astronaut drops
her pen it floats in front of her face. You immediately wonder how the acceleration of the dropped pen
compares to the acceleration of a pen that you might drop here on the surface of the Earth.
43.
Gravitational: You are still a consultant for the new Star Trek TV series. You were hired to make
sure that any science on the show is correct. In this episode, the crew of the Enterprise discovers an
abandoned space station in deep space far from any stars. This station, which was built by Earth in the
21st century, is a large wheel-like structure where people live and work in the rim. In order to create
"artificial gravity," the space station rotates on its axis. The special effects department wants to know
at what rate a space station 200 meters in diameter would have to rotate to create "gravity" equal to
0.7 that of Earth.
44.
Gravitational: You did so well in your physics course that you decided to try to get a summer job
working in a physics laboratory at the University. You got the job as a student lab assistant in a
research group investigating the ozone depletion at the Earth's poles. This group is planning to put an
atmospheric measuring device in a satellite which will pass over both poles. To collect samples of the
upper atmosphere, the satellite will be in a circular orbit 200 miles above the surface of the Earth. To
adjust the instruments for the proper data taking rate, you need to calculate how many times per day
the device will sample the atmosphere over the South pole. Using the inside cover of your trusty
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Physics text you find that the radius of the Earth is 6.38 x 103 km, the mass of the Earth is 5.98 x 1024
kg, and the universal gravitational constant is 6.7 x 10-11 N m2/kg2.
45.
Gravitational: You did so well in your physics course that you decided to try to get a summer job
working in a physics laboratory at the University. You got the job as a student lab assistant in a
research group investigating the ozone depletion at the Earth's poles. This group is planning to put an
atmospheric measuring device in a satellite which will pass over both poles. To collect samples of the
upper atmosphere, the satellite will be in a circular orbit 200 miles above the surface of the Earth
where g is 95% of its value on the Earth's surface. To adjust the instruments for the proper data taking
rate, you need to calculate how many times per day the device will sample the atmosphere over the
South pole. Using the inside cover of your trusty Physics text you find that the radius of the Earth is
6.38 x 103 km and the mass of the Earth is 5.98 x 1024 kg.
46.
Gravitational: You are reading a magazine article about pulsars. A few years ago, a satellite in orbit
around the Earth detected X-rays coming from sources in outer space. The X-rays detected from one
source, called Cygnus X-3, had an intensity which changed with a period of 4.8 hours. This type of
astronomical object emitting periodic signals is called a pulsar. One popular theory holds that the
pulsar is a normal star (similar to our Sun) which is in orbit around a much more massive neutron star.
The period of the X-ray signal is then the period of the orbit. In this theory, the distance between the
normal star and the neutron star is approximately the same as the distance between the Earth and our
Sun. You realize that if this theory is correct, you can determine how much more massive the neutron
star is than our Sun. All you need to do is first find the mass of the neutron star in terms of two
unknowns, the universal gravitational constant G and the radius of the Earth's orbit. Then find the mass
of our Sun in terms of the same two unknowns, G and the radius of the Earth's orbit. (The period of
the Earth's orbit is 1 year). Then you can calculate how many times more massive the neutron star is
than our Sun.
Radial Force Components

47.
Weight, Lift: You are reading an article about the aesthetics of airplane design. One example in the
article is a beautiful new design for commercial airliners. You are worried that this light wing structure
might not be strong enough to be safe. The article explains that an airplane can fly because the air
exerts a force, called "lift," on the wings such that the lift is always perpendicular to the wing surface.
For level flying, the wings are horizontal. To turn , the pilot "banks" the plane so that the wings are
oriented at an angle to the horizontal. This causes the plane to have a trajectory which is a horizontal
circle. The specifications of the 100 x 103 lb plane require that it be able to turn with a radius of 2.0
miles at a constant speed of 500 miles/hr. The article states that tests show that the new wing structure
will support a force 4 times the lift necessary for level flight. Is the wing structure sufficiently strong for
the plane to make this turn?
48.
Weight, Lift: You are flying to Chicago when the pilot tells you that the plane can not land
immediately because of airport delays and will have to circle the airport. This is standard operating
procedure. She also tells you that the plane will maintain a speed of 400 mph at an altitude of 20,000
feet while traveling in a horizontal circle around the airport. To pass the time you decide to figure out
how far you are from the airport. You notice that to circle, the pilot "banks" the plane so that the wings
are oriented at 10o to the horizontal. An article in your in-flight magazine explains that an airplane can
fly because the air exerts a force, called "lift," on the wings. The lift is always perpendicular to the wing
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surface. The magazine article gives the weight of the type of plane you are on as 100 x 103 pounds
and the length of each wing as 150 feet. It gives no information on the thrust of the engines or the drag
of the airframe.
49. Because of your physics background, you have been hired as a member of the team the state highway
department has assigned to review the safety of Minnesota freeways. This week you are studying 35W
which has a curve which is essentially 1/8 of a circle with a radius of 0.5 miles. The road has been
designed with a banked curve so that the road makes an angle of 4 to the horizontal throughout the
curve. To begin the study, the head of your department asks that you calculate the maximum speed for
a standard passenger car (about 2000 lbs.) to complete the turn while maintaining a horizontal path
along the road. She asks that you first consider the case of a slick, ice covered road. When you have
completed that calculation she wants you to do the case of a dry, clear road where the coefficient of
kinetic friction is 0.70 and the coefficient of static friction is 0.80 between the tires and the road. This
will give her team the two extremes of Minnesota driving conditions on which to base the analysis.
50. Tension, Weight: A neighbor's child wants to go to a neighborhood carnival to experience the wild
rides. The neighbor is worried about safety because one of the rides looks dangerous. She knows that
you have taken physics and so asks your advice. The ride in question has a 10-lb chair which hangs
freely from a 30-ft long chain attached to a pivot on the top of a tall tower. When a child enters the
ride, the chain is hanging straight down. The child is then attached to the chair with a seat belt and
shoulder harness. When the ride starts up the chain rotates about the tower. Soon the chain reaches its
maximum speed and remains rotating at that speed. It rotates about the tower once every 3.0 seconds.
When you ask the operator, he says that the ride is perfectly safe. He demonstrates this by sitting in the
stationary chair. The chain creaks but holds and he weighs 200 lbs. Has the operator shown that this
ride safe for a 50-lb child?
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Conservation of Energy
The problems in this section require conservation principles to solve -- the conservation of energy, the
conservation of momentum, or both. For convenience, the problems are divided into four groups by the
concepts required for a solution: (1) conservation of energy (mechanical, gravitational); (2) conservation of
energy (mechanical) and force; (3) conservation of momentum; and (4) conservation of energy (mechanical)
and conservation of momentum.
Conservation of Energy (Mechanical, Gravitational)

1. You are watching a National Geographic Special on television. One segment of the program is about
archer fish, which inhabit streams in southeast Asia. This fish actually "shoots" water at insects to knock
them into the water so it can eat them. The commentator states that the archer fish keeps its mouth at
the surface of the stream and squirts a jet of water from its mouth at 13 feet/second. You watch an
archer fish shoot a juicy moth off a leaf into the water. You estimate that the leaf was about 2.5 feet
above a stream. You wonder at what minimum angle from the horizontal the water can be ejected from
the fish's mouth to hit the moth. Since you have time during the commercial, you quickly calculate this
angle.
2. Your artist friend is designing a kinetic sculpture and asks for your help since she knows that you have
had physics. Part of her sculpture consists of a 6.0-kg object (you can't tell what it is supposed to be,
but it's art) and a 4.0-kg object which hang straight down from opposite ends of a very thin, flexible
wire. This wire passes over a smooth, cylindrical, horizontal, stainless steel pipe 3.0 meters above the
floor. The frictional force between the rod and the wire is negligible. The 6.0-kg object is held 2.0
meters above the floor and the other object hangs 0.50 meters above the floor. When the mechanism
releases the 6.0-kg object, both objects accelerate and one will eventually hit the floor -- but they don't
hit each other. To determine if the floor will be damaged, calculate the speed of the object which hits
the floor.
3. You are driving your car uphill along a straight road. Suddenly, you see a car run a red light and enter
the intersection just ahead of you. You slam on your brakes and skid in a straight line to a stop, leaving
skid marks 100 feet long. A policeman observes the whole incident and gives a ticket to the other car
for running a red light. He also gives you a ticket for exceeding the speed limit of 30 mph. When you
get home, you read your physics book and estimate that the coefficient of kinetic friction between your
tires and the road was 0.60, and the coefficient of static friction was 0.80. You estimate that the hill
made an angle of about 10owith the horizontal. You look in your owner's manual and find that your car
weighs 2,050 lbs. Will you fight the traffic ticket in court?
4. You have landed a summer job with a company that has been given the contract to design the ski jump
for the next Winter Olympics. The track is coated with snow and has an angle of 25o from the
horizontal. A skier zips down the ski jump ramp so that he leaves it at high speed. The winner is the
person who jumps the farthest after leaving the end of the ramp. Your task is to determine the height of
the starting gate above the end of the ramp, which will determine the mechanical structure of the ski
jump facility. You have been told that the typical ski-jumper pushes off from the starting gate at a speed
of 2.0 m/s. For safety reasons, your design should be such that for a perfect run down the ramp, the
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Conservation Problems
skier's speed before leaving the end of the ramp and sailing through the air should be no more than 80
km/hr. You run some experiments on various skies used by the jumpers and determine that the
coefficient of static friction between the snow and the skis is 0.10 and its coefficient of kinetic friction is
0.02. Since the ski-jumpers bend over and wear very aerodynamic suits, you decide to neglect the air
resistance to make your design.
5.
The Navy wants a new airplane launcher for their aircraft carriers and you are on the design team. The
launcher is effectively a large spring that pushes the plane for the first 5 meters of the 20 meter long
runway. During that same time, the plane's jet engines supply a constant thrust of 5.4 x 104 N for the
entire length of the runway. The 2000 kg planes need to have a velocity of 45 m/s by the end of the
runway. What should be the spring constant for the launcher?
6.
You have been hired to design a safety system to protect drivers going down hills during an ice storm.
The planned system consists of a bumper, which can be considered a stiff spring, at the bottom of the
hill. In the scenario you are given, the car starts from rest at the top of a hill which makes an angle
with the horizontal. The distance that the car slides from the top of the hill until it is stopped by the
spring is L. For the worst case scenario, assume that there is no frictional force between the car and
road due to the ice. If the maximum compression of the spring from its equilibrium position is D, your
job is to calculate the required spring constant k in terms of D, L and .
7.
You are the technical advisor to the Dave Letterman Show. Your task is to design a circus stunt in
which Super Dave Osbourne, who weighs 170 pounds, is shot out of a cannon that is elevated 40o from
the horizontal. The "cannon" is actually a 3-foot diameter tube that uses a stiff spring and a puff of
smoke rather than an explosive to launch Super Dave. The manual for the cannon states that the spring
constant is 1822 Newtons/meter. The spring is compressed by a motor until its free end is level with the
bottom of the cannon tube, which is 5 feet above the ground. A small seat is attached to the free end of
the spring for Super Dave to sit on. When the spring is released, it extends 9 feet up the tube. Neither
the seat not the chair touch the sides of the 12-foot long tube. After a drum roll, the spring is released
and Super Dave will fly through the air with the appropriate sound effects and smoke. You have an
airbag 3-feet thick for Super Dave to land on. You know that the airbag will exert an average retarding
force of 2850 Newtons in all directions. You need to determine if the airbag is thick enough to stop
Super Dave safely. -- that is, so he is slowed to a stop by the time he reaches ground level.
8. Super Dave has just returned from the hospital where he spent a week convalescing from injuries
incurred when he was "shot" out of a cannon to land in an airbag which was too thin. Undaunted, he
decides to celebrate his return with a new stunt. He intends to jump off a 100-foot tall tower with an
elastic cord tied to one ankle, and the other end tied to the top of the tower. This cord is very light but
very strong and stretches so that it can stop him without pulling his leg off. Such a cord exerts a force
with the same mathematical form as the spring force. He wants it to be 75 feet long so that he will be in
free fall for 75 feet before the cord begins to stretch. To minimize the force that the cord exerts on his
leg, he wants it to stretch as far as possible. You have been assigned to purchase the cord for the stunt
and must determine the elastic force constant which characterizes the cord that you should order.
Before the calculation, you carefully measure Dave's height to be 6.0 ft and his weight to be 170 lbs.
For maximum dramatic effect, his jump will be off a diving board at the top of the tower. From tests
you have made, you determine that his maximum speed coming off the diving board is 10 ft/sec.
Neglect air resistance in your calculation -- let Dave worry about that.
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9. You were so impressed with the problem about Super Dave that you decide that this would make a
good stunt for the Institute of Technology (IT) day. To raise money for a University scholarship fund,
you want to have the new IT dean bungee jump from a crane if contributions can be found for 10
scholarships. To add some interest, the jump will be made from 44 m above a 2.5 m deep pool of JellO. A 30-m long bungee cord would be attached to the dean's ankle. First you must convince the dean
that your plan is safe for a person of his mass, 70 kg. The dean knows that as the bungee cord begins
to stretch, it will exert a force which has the same properties as the force exerted by a spring. Your
plan has the dean stepping off a platform and being in free fall for the 30 m before the cord begins to
stretch. You must determine the elastic constant of the bungee cord so that it stretches only 12 m,
which will just keep the dean's head out of the Jell-O.
10. Your friend is an artist. His new work is a kinetic sculpture called "destruction." The sculpture is simple
and has high impact. A 200-kg steel block is hung from the ceiling at the end of an 8-foot long rope.
Another rope is attached to the block so that it pulls it horizontally. The other end of the horizontal rope
is attached to a motor which is cleverly mounted so that the rope always pulls the block horizontally with
a constant force. The block starts from rest when it is hanging straight down and moves very slowly
until it is hanging at an angle of 30o to the vertical. At that point the horizontal rope will be released and
the block swings until it crashes into a wall. Your friend knows you have taken physics and asks you the
minimum energy that the motor must supply. You make a test and determine that the block is in
equilibrium when it is pulled by the horizontal rope connected to the motor and the block is hanging from
the other rope at 30o from the vertical.
11. (Gravitational Energy) Because of your knowledge of physics and interest in the environment, you
have gotten a summer job with an organization which wants to orbit a satellite to monitor the amount of
chlorine ions in the upper atmosphere over North America. It has been determined that the satellite
should collect samples at a height of 100 miles above the Earth's surface. Unfortunately, at that height air
resistance would make the amount of time the satellite would stay in orbit too short to be useful. You
suggest that an elliptical orbit would allow the satellite to be close to the Earth over North America,
where data was desired, but farther from the Earth, and thus out of almost all of the atmosphere, on the
other side of our planet. Your colleague estimates that the satellite would be traveling at 10,000
miles/hour when it was farthest from the Earth at a height of 1,000 miles. How fast would the satellite
be traveling when it took its air samples if you neglect air friction?
Conservation of Energy (Mechanical) and Force

12. At the train station, you notice a large horizontal spring at the end of the track where the train comes in.
This is a safety device to stop the train so that it will not go plowing through the station if the engineer
misjudges the stopping distance. While waiting, you wonder what would be the fastest train that the
spring could stop by being fully compressed, 3.0 ft. To keep the passengers as safe as possible when
the spring stops the train, you assume that the maximum stopping acceleration of the train, caused by the
spring, is g/2. You make a guess that a train might have a mass of 0.5 million kilograms. For the
purpose of getting your answer, you assume that all frictional forces are negligible.
13. You have a summer job at a company that specializes in the design of equipment for sports shows and
exhibitions. The company has been given the contract to design a piece of apparatus for an ice skating
show. An ice skater will start from rest and glide down an ice-covered ramp. At the bottom of the
ramp, the skater will continue gliding around in a ice-covered loop which is inside of a vertical circle.
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After going around the vertical circle, the skater emerges at the bottom of the circle to glide out on the
skating rink floor to the wild applause of the audience. To make a spectacular effect, the circular loop
should have a diameter of 30 feet. Your task is to determine the minimum height of the top of the ramp
to the rink floor so that the skater will not fall off the loop at the top.
14. In a weak moment you have volunteered to be a human cannonball at an amateur charity circus. The
"cannon" is actually a 3-foot diameter tube with a big stiff spring inside which is attached to the bottom
of the tube. A small seat is attached to the free end of the spring. The ringmaster, one of your soon to
be ex-friends, gives you your instructions. He tells you that just before you enter the mouth of the
cannon, a motor will compress the spring to 1/10 its normal length and hold it in that position. You are
to gracefully crawl in the tube and sit calmly in the seat without holding on to anything. The cannon will
then be raised to an angle such that your speed through the air at your highest point is 10 ft/sec. When
the spring is released, neither the spring nor the chair will touch the sides of the
12-foot long tube. After the drum roll, the spring is released and you will fly through the air with the
appropriate sound effects and smoke. With the perfect aim of your gun crew, you will fly through the
air over a 15-foot wall and land safely in the net. You are just a bit worried and decide to calculate
how high above your starting position you will be at your highest point. Before the rehearsal, the cannon
is taken apart for maintenance. You see the spring, which is now removed from the cannon, is hanging
straight down with one end attached to the ceiling. You determine that it is 10 feet long. When you
hang on its free end without touching the ground, it stretches by 2.0 ft. Is it possible for you to make it
over the wall?
15. As a concerned citizen, you have volunteered to serve on a committee investigating injuries to Junior
High School students participating in sports programs. Currently your committee is investigating the high
incidence of ankle injuries on the basketball team. You are watching the team practice, looking for
activities which can result in large horizontal forces on the ankle. Observing the team practice jump
shots gives you an idea, so you try a small calculation. A 40-kg student jumps 1.0 meters straight up
and shoots the 0.80-kg basketball at his highest point. From the trajectory of the basketball, you
deduce that the ball left his hand at 30o from the horizontal at 20 m/s. What is his horizontal velocity
when he hits the ground?
16. You are a volunteer at the Campus Museum of Natural History. Because of your interest in the
environment and your physics experience, you have been asked to assist in the production of an
animated film about the survival of hawks in the wilderness. In the script, a 1.5-kg hawk is hovering in
the air so it is stationary with respect to the ground when it sees a goose flying below it. The hawk dives
straight down. When it strikes the goose and digs its claws into the goose's body, it has a speed of 60
km/hr. The goose, which has a mass of 2.5 kg, was flying north at 30 km/hr just before it was struck by
the hawk and killed instantly. The animators want to know the velocity (magnitude and direction) of the
hawk and dead goose just after the strike.
17. You are looking forward to the end of final exams with more anticipation than usual because you have
lined up a great summer job. You might be hired by a company searching for treasure in the Caribbean!
Your prospective employer has discovered the captain's logbook of the 40,000-ton luxury liner, the
Hedonist, which left Miami in 1925 and never returned. In addition to the log, there is a long list of
jewelry and other valuables held in the ship's safe. The ship sank when it collided with a freighter and
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the wreckage was never found. The log tells that the Hedonist was going due south at a speed of 20
knots in calm seas through a rare fog just before the collision. While in the fog, it was struck broadside
by the 60,000-ton freighter, the Ironhorse, which was traveling west at 10 knots. The log tells the exact
location (latitude and longitude) of the liner just before the collision. Of course, your employer is
keeping that information secret for now. The log also notes that when the freighter's bow pierced the
hull of the liner, the two ships were stuck together and sank together. To get the summer job, you are
asked to help determine the search area by calculating the velocity (magnitude and direction) of the
ships just after collision.
18. You have been hired to check the technical correctness of an upcoming made-for-TV murder mystery.
The mystery takes place in the space shuttle. In one scene, an astronaut's safety line is sabotaged while
she is on a space walk, so she is no longer connected to the space shuttle. She checks and finds that
her thruster pack has also been damaged and no longer works. She is 200 meters from the shuttle and
moving with it. That is, she is not moving with respect to the shuttle. There she is drifting in space with
only 4 minutes of air remaining. To get back to the shuttle, she decides to unstrap her 10-kg tool kit
and throw it away with all her strength, so that it has a speed of 8 m/s. In the script, she survives, but is
this correct? Her mass, including space suit, is 80 kg.
Conservation of Energy (Mechanical) and Momentum

19. You have been hired as a technical consultant for an early-morning cartoon series for children to make
sure that the science is correct. In the script, a wagon containing two boxes of gold (total mass of 150
kg) has been cut loose from the horses by an outlaw. The wagon starts from rest 50 meters up a hill
with a 6o slope. The outlaw plans to have the wagon roll down the hill and across the level ground and
then crash into a canyon where his confederates wait. But in a tree 40 meters from the edge of the
canyon wait the Lone Ranger (mass 80 kg) and Tonto (mass 70 kg). They drop vertically into the
wagon as it passes beneath them. The script states that it takes the Lone Ranger and Tonto 5 seconds
to grab the gold and jump out of the wagon, but is this correct?. You assume that the wagon rolls with
negligible friction.
20. You are helping your friend prepare for her next skate board exhibition. For her program, she plans to
take a running start and then jump onto her heavy duty 15-lb stationary skateboard. She and the
skateboard will glide in a straight line along a short, level section of track, then up a sloped concrete
wall. She wants to reach a height of at least 10 feet above where she started before she turns to come
back down the slope. She has measured her maximum running speed to safely jump on the skateboard
at 7 feet/second. She knows you have taken physics, so she wants you to determine if she can carry
out her program as planned. She tells you that she weighs 100 lbs.
21. Because of your physics background, you have been hired as a technical advisor for a new James Bond
adventure movie. In the script, Bond and his latest love interest, who is 2/3 his weight (including skis,
boots, clothes, and various hidden weapons), are skiing in the Swiss Alps. She skis down a slope while
he stays at the top to adjust his boot. When she has skied down a vertical distance of 100 ft, she stops
to wait for him and is captured by the bad guys. Bond looks up and sees what is happening. He
notices that she is standing with her skis pointed downhill while she rests on her poles. To make as little
noise as possible, Bond starts from rest and glides down the slope heading right at her. Just before they
collide, she sees him coming and lets go of her poles. He grabs her and they both continue downhill
together. At the bottom of the hill, another slope goes uphill and they continue to glide up that slope
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until they reach the top of the hill and are safe. The writers want you to calculate the maximum possible
height that the second hill can be relative to the position where the collision took place. Both Bond and
his girl friend are using new, top-secret frictionless stealth skis developed for the British Secret Service.
22. Because of your concern that incorrect science is being taught to children when they watch cartoons on
TV, you have joined a committee which is reviewing a new cartoon version of Tarzan. In this episode,
Tarzan is on the ground in front of a herd of stampeding elephants. Just in time Jane, who is up in a tall
tree, sees him. She grabs a convenient vine and swings towards Tarzan, who has twice her mass, to
save him. Luckily, the lowest point of her swing is just where Tarzan is standing. When she reaches
him, he grabs her and the vine. They both continue to swing to safety over the elephants up to a height
which looks to be about 1/2 that of Jane's original position. To decide if you going to approve this
cartoon, calculate the maximum height Tarzan and Jane can swing as a fraction of her initial height.
23. You are watching a Saturday morning cartoon concerning a jungle hero called George of the Jungle.
George attempts to save his friend, an ape named Ape, from a stampeding herd of wildebeests. Ape is
at the base of a tall tree which has a vine attached to its top. George is in another tree holding the other
end of the vine. George plans to swing down from the tree, grab Ape at the bottom of the swing, and
continue up to safety on a ledge which is half of George's initial height in the tree. Assuming that Ape
weighs the same as George, will they successfully make it to the top of the ledge?
24. Your friend has just been in a traffic accident and is trying to negotiate with the insurance company of
the other driver to pay for fixing her car. She believes that the other car was speeding and therefore the
accident was the other driver's fault. She knows that you have a knowledge of physics and hopes that
you can prove her conjecture. She takes you out to the scene of the crash and describes what
happened. She was traveling North when she entered the fateful intersection. There was no stop sign,
so she looked in both directions and did not see another car approaching. It was a bright, sunny, clear
day. When she reached the center of the intersection, her car was struck by the other car which was
traveling East. The two cars remained joined together after the collision and skidded to a stop. The
speed limit on both roads entering the intersection is 50 mph. From the skid marks still visible on the
street, you determine that after the collision the cars skidded 56 feet at an angle of 30o north of east
before stopping. She has a copy of the police report which gives the make and year of each car. At
the library you determine that the weight of her car was 2600 lbs. and that of the other car was 2200
lbs., where you included the driver's weight in each case. The coefficient of kinetic friction for a rubber
tire skidding on dry pavement is 0.80. It is not enough to prove that the other driver was speeding to
convince the insurance company. She must also show that she was under the speed limit.
25. Because movie producers have come under pressure for teaching children incorrect science, you have
been appointed to help a committee of concerned parents review a script for a new Superman movie.
In the scene under consideration, Superman rushes to save Lois Lane who has been pushed from a
window 300 feet above a crowded street. Superman is 0.5 miles away when he hears Lois scream and
rushes to save her. He swoops down in the nick of time, arriving when Lois is just 3.0 feet above the
street, and stopping her just at ground level. Lois changes her expression from one of horror at her
impending doom to a smile of gratitude as she gently floats to the ground in Superman's arms. The
committee wants to know if there is really enough time to express this range of emotions, even if there is
a possible academy award on the line. The chairman asks you to calculate the time it takes for
Superman to stop Lois's fall. To do the calculation, you assume that Superman applies a constant force
to Lois in breaking her fall and that she weighs 120 lbs. While thinking about this scene you also
wonder if Lois could survive the force that Superman applies to her.
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26. This year you have a summer job working for the National Park Service. Since they know that you
have taken physics, they start you off in the laboratory which tests possible new equipment. Your first
job is to test a small cannon. During the winter, small cannons are used to prevent avalanches in
populated areas by shooting down heavy snow concentrations overhanging the sides of mountains. In
order to determine the range of the cannon, it is necessary to know the velocity with which the projectile
leaves the cannon (muzzle velocity). The cannon you are testing has a weight of 700 lbs. and shoots a
40-lb projectile. During the lab tests the cannon is held horizontally in a rigid support so that it cannot
move. Under those conditions, you measure the magnitude of the muzzle velocity to be 400 m/s. When
the cannon is actually used in the field, however, it is mounted so that it is free to move (recoil) when it is
fired. Your boss asks you to calculate the projectile's speed leaving the cannon under field conditions,
when it is allowed to recoil. She tells you to take the case where the cannon is fired horizontally using
cannon shells which are identical to those used in the laboratory test.
27. You have been able to get a part time job with a medical physics group investigating ways to treat
inoperable brain cancer. One form of cancer therapy being studied uses slow neutrons to knock a
particle (either a neutron or a proton) out of the nucleus of the atoms which make up cancer cells. The
neutron knocks out the particle it collides with in an inelastic collision. The heavy nucleus essentially
does not move in the collision. After a single proton or neutron is knocked out of the nucleus, the
nucleus decays, killing the cancer cell. To test this idea, your research group decides to measure the
change of internal energy of a nitrogen nucleus after a neutron collides with one of the neutrons in its
nucleus and knocks it out. In the experiment, one neutron goes into the nucleus with a speed of 2.0 x
107 m/s and you detect two neutrons coming out at angles of 30o and 15o. You can now calculate the
change of internal energy of the nucleus.
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The problems in this section can be solved by applying rotational kinematics and dynamics principles. The
problems are divided into four groups according to the major principles required for solution: (1) center of
mass, moment of inertia, and/or rotational kinematics; (2) rotational energy; (3) torques; and (4) angular
momentum. The specific principles required are indicated in italics at the beginning of each problem.
Center of Mass, Moment of Inertia, and Rotational Kinematics

1. Center of Mass: You have been hired as part of a research team consisting of biologists, computer
scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists investigating the virus which causes AIDS. This
effort depends on the design of a new centrifuge which separates infected cells from healthy cells by
spinning a container of these cells at very high speeds. Your design team has been assigned the task of
specifying the mechanical structure of the centrifuge arm which holds the sample container. For
aerodynamic stability, the arm must have uniform dimensions. Your team decided the shape will be a
long, thin strip of length L, width w, and thickness t. The mass of the strip is M. The actual values of
these quantities will be optimized by a computer program. For mechanical reasons, the arm must be
stronger at one end than at the other. Your team decided to use new composite materials to accomplish
this. Using these materials changes the strength by changing the density of the arm along its length while
keeping its dimensions constant. To calculate the strength of the brackets necessary to support the arm,
you must determine the position of the center of mass of the arm. You decide to do this in two different
ways.
(a) First you make a crude approximation of your design by assuming that the arm is a rigid, massless
rod of length L. On this rod are mounted four small objects of equal mass. One of these objects is
positioned at each end of the rod, one in the center of the rod, and one midway between the center and
the end.
(b) Next you do a more exact calculation by assuming that arm is a continuous material with a density
which varies linearly along its length as (A + Bx).
2. Center of Mass, Moment of Inertia: You are on a development team investigating a new design for
computer magnetic disk drives. You have been asked to determine if the standard disk drive motor will
be sufficient for the test version of the new disk. To do this you decide to calculate how much energy is
needed to get the 6.4 cm diameter, 15 gram disk to its operating speed of 350 revolutions per second.
The test disk also has 4 different sensors attached to its surface. These small sensors are arranged at the
corners of a square with sides of 1.2 cm. To assure stability, the center of mass of the sensor array is in
the same position as the center of mass of the disk. The disks axis of rotation also goes through the
center of mass. You know that the sensors have masses of 1.0 grams, 1.5 grams, 2.0 grams, and 3.0
grams. The moment of inertia of your disk is one-half that of a ring.
Center of Mass, Momentum, Kinematics: Two government agents (FBI agents Mulder and Scully)
need your physics expertise to determine why an alien spaceship exploded. The wreckage of the
spaceship is in three large pieces around a northern Minnesota town. The center of mass of one piece
(mass = 300 kg) of the spaceship landed 6.0 km due north of the center of town. Another piece (mass
= 1000 kg) landed 1.6 km to the southeast (36 degrees south of east) of the center of town. The last
piece (mass = 400 kg) landed 4.0 km to the southwest (65 degrees south of west) of the center of town.
There are no more pieces of the spaceship. The Army, which was watching the spaceship on its radar,
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claims it was hovering motionless over the center of town when the spaceship spontaneously exploded
and the pieces fell to the ground. Agents Mulder and Scully do not believe that the spaceship exploded
on its own accord. They think a missile hit it. They ask you to determine whether the fragments
found are consistent with the spaceship exploding spontaneously. If not, determine from what direction
the missile came. (For simplicity, assume that the pieces of the spaceship after the explosion are moving
horizontally.)
4. Kinematics, Moment of Inertia: You are working in a research group investigating more energy
efficient city busses. One option is to store energy in the rotation of a flywheel when the bus stops and
then use it to accelerate the bus. The flywheel under consideration is disk of uniform construction except
that it has a massive, thin rim on its edge. Half the mass of the flywheel is in the rim. When the bus
stops, the flywheel needs to rotate at 20 revolutions per second. When the bus is going at its normal
speed of 30 miles per hour, the flywheel rotates at 2 revolutions per second. The material holding the rim
to the rest of the flywheel has been tested to withstand an acceleration of up to 100g but you are worried
that it might not be strong enough. To check, you calculate the maximum radius of the rim for the case
when the flywheel reaches 20 revolutions per second just as the bus going 30 miles per hour makes an
emergency stop in 0.50 seconds. You assume that during this time the flywheel has a constant angular
acceleration. Your trusty physics text tells you that the moment of inertia of a disk rotating about its
center is half that of a ring of the same mass and radius.
5. Kinematics, Force: You did so well in your physics course that you decided to try to get a summer job
working in a physics laboratory at the University. You got the job as a student lab assistant in a research
group investigating the ozone depletion at the Earth's poles. This group is planning to put an atmospheric
measuring device in a satellite which will pass over both poles. To collect samples of the upper
atmosphere, the satellite will be in a circular orbit 200 miles above the surface of the Earth which has a
radius of about 4000 miles. To adjust the instruments for the proper data taking rate, you need to
calculate how many times per day the device will sample the atmosphere over the South pole.
6. Kinematics, Force: While listening to your professor drone on, you dream about becoming an engineer
helping to design a new space station to be built in deep space far from any planetary systems. This
state-of-the-(future) art station is powered by a small amount of neutron star matter which has a density
of 2 x 1014 g/cm3. The station will be a large light-weight wheel rotating about its center which contains
the power generator. A control room is a tube which goes all the way around the wheel and is 10
meters from its center. The living space and laboratories are located at the outside rim of the wheel and
are another tube which goes all the way around it at a distance of 200 meters from the center. To keep
the environment as normal as possible, people in both the outer rim and the control room should
experience the same weight as they had on Earth. That is if they were standing on a bathroom scale, it
would read the same as if they were on Earth. This is accomplished by a combination of the rotation of
the station and the gravitational attraction of the neutron star matter in the power generator. You
suddenly wake up when you drop your pen but decide that the idea is interesting enough to calculate the
necessary rate of rotation and generator mass. While drawing the free-body diagrams, you realize that
the people are standing with their heads inward on the rim of the station and with their heads outward in
the control room.
7. Kinematics, Force: You have a summer job at NASA where your team is responsible for specifying a
rocket to lift a communications satellite into a circular orbit around the Earth. To effectively relay signals,
the satellite will have to always remain over the same point on the Earth's equator just above the
communications station which is located 50 miles outside or Nairobi, Kenya. The satellite will have a
mass of 3500 kg. You have been assigned the task of calculating the radius of the satellite's orbit and its
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speed while in orbit and presenting that calculation to your team. For your own curiosity you also decide
to calculate the force that the satellite exerts on the Earth while it is in orbit. From your trusty physics
textbook you find the radius of the Earth is 6370 km, its mass is 5.96 x 1024 kg, and the universal
gravitational constant is 6.67 x 10- 11 N m2/kg2.
Rotational Energy
8. Energy: While working in an environmental engineering team to determine the quality of the air in
downtown Minneapolis, you have been given the task of calibrating the spectrum analyzer. This device
gives you the composition of the gasses in a sample by determining the frequency of light absorbed by
the sample. Each type of molecule absorbs a certain set of frequencies (its spectrum). The frequencies
actually measured are changed if the molecules have an angular velocity about their center of mass. To
calibrate the analyzer, you must calculate the expected angular velocity for the Oxygen molecules (O2) in
the sample of Minneapolis air. At the temperatures of your gas sample, you calculate that the center of
mass speed of a typical molecule is 500 m/s. Based on you knowledge of atomic sizes, you estimate that
the typical distance between the nuclei of oxygen atoms in the molecule is 10-8 cm. You also know that
the 27 x 10- 27 kg mass of an Oxygen atom is essentially concentrated in its very small nucleus. Your
boss tells you to assume that the rotational kinetic energy of the molecule rotating about an axis through
the center of the line joining the nuclei of the atoms and perpendicular to that line is 2/3 its translational
kinetic energy.
9. Energy: While working on your latest novel about settlers crossing the Great Plains in a wagon train,
you get into an argument with your co-author regarding the moment of inertia of an actual wooden
wagon wheel. The 70-kg wheel is 120-cm in diameter and has heavy spokes connecting the rim to the
axle. Your co-author claims that you can approximate using I = MR2 (like for a hoop) but you anticipate
I will be significantly less than that because of the mass located in the spokes. To find I experimentally,
you mount the wheel on a low-friction bearing then wrap a light cord around the outside of the rim to
which you attach a 20-kg bag of sand. When the bag is released from rest, it drops 3.77-m in 1.6-s
during which time the wheel rotates through an angle of 2p-radians. Hint: Use energy considerations.
10. Energy: You have a summer job helping to design the opening ceremony for the next winter Olympics.
One of the choreographers ideas is to have skaters race out onto the ice and grab a very large ring (the
symbol of the Olympics). Each ring is held horizontal at shoulder height by a vertical pole stuck into the
ice. The pole is attached to the ring on its circumference so that the ring can rotate horizontally around
the pole. The plan is to have the skater grab the ring at a point on the opposite side from where the pole
is attached and, holding on, glide around the pole in a circle. You have been assigned the job of
determining the minimum speed that the skater must have before grabbing the ring in terms of the radius
of the ring, the mass of the ring, the mass of the skater, and the constant frictional force between the
skates and the ice. The choreographer wants the skater and ring to go around the pole at least five
times. The skater is to be moving tangent to the ring just before grabbing it.
Energy, Center of Mass: As a project your team is given the task of designing a space station
consisting of four different habitats. Each habitat is an enclosed sphere containing all necessary life
support and laboratory facilities. The masses of these habitats are 10 x 105 kg, 20 x 105 kg, 30 x 105
kg, and 40 x 105 kg. The entire station must spin so that the inhabitants will experience an artificial
gravity. Your team has decided to arrange the habitats at corners of a square with 1.0 km sides. The
axis of rotation will be perpendicular to the plane of the square and through the center of mass. To help
decide if this plan is practical, you calculate how much energy would be necessary to set the space
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station spinning at 5.0 revolutions per minute. In your teams design, the size of each habitat is small
compared to the size of the space between the habitats and the structure that holds the habitats together
is much less massive than any single habitat.
12. Energy, Center of Mass: You have a great summer job working for a movie studio. Your assignment
is to check the script of an upcoming Star Wars movie for scientific accuracy. In one scene, the hero
escapes by putting her spaceship through a wormhole in space. The engines have failed so the ship is
coasting when it emerges in another part of the galaxy at the center of a binary star system. Both stars in
the system orbit their center of mass and have equal mass. You need to determine the minimum speed of
the spaceship when it emerges from the wormhole perpendicular to the plane of the orbiting stars so that
it is not captured by the star system. When the movie is better defined, you will know the mass of each
star, the radius of their orbit, and the mass of the spaceship. You assume that even a long time ago in a
galaxy far, far away the gravitational constant is the same.
13. Energy, Forces: You have applied for a great summer job working with a special effects team at a
movie studio. As part of your interview you have been asked to evaluate the design for a stunt in a new
Indiana Jones production. A large spherical boulder starts from rest and rolls down an inclined track.
At the bottom, the track curves up into a vertical circle so that the boulder can roll around on the inside
of the circle and come back to ground level. It is important that the boulder not fall off the track at the
top of the circle and crush the star standing below. You have been asked to determine the relationship
between the height of the boulders starting point on the ramp (measured from the center of the boulder)
and the maximum radius the circular part of the track. You can determine the mass and the radius of the
boulder should you need to know them. You have also been told that the moment of inertia of a sphere
is 2/5 that of a ring of the same mass and radius. After some thought you decide that the boulder will
stay moving in a vertical circle if its radial acceleration at the top is just that provided by gravity.
Torques
14. Torque: In a budget cutting move, the University decided to replace their human mascot, Goldie
Gopher, by a real gopher. Unfortunately the new 10 lb Goldie has other ideas and has escaped the
clutches of the athletic department by jumping out a window onto a flagpole attached to the building.
The fire department has been called in to recover the recalcitrant gopher. The plan is for a fireman to
climb out on the flagpole and get Goldie. Goldie is 3 meters out on the 4 meter long flagpole. Because
of your technical background, you have a part time job as a University safety officer and are asked to
approve this plan. The pole is attached to the building at an angle of 37 above the horizontal and
weighs 22 lbs. A horizontal cable with a rated strength of 300 lbs. connects the far end of the pole to the
building seems strong enough. The other end of the pole is connected to the building by a steel pin
supported by a strong steel brace.
You are worried about whether this pin is strong enough so you calculate the forces on the pin. The
lightest fireman available for the job of getting Goldie weighs 150 lbs. in all of her gear.
You find
that the pin is strong enough so you might approve this daring rescue. You want it to be as safe as
possible. You will require that the fireman wear a safety harness which is held by someone inside the
building. After all, the cable holding up the flagpole has been out in the Minnesota winter for years. If
the cable does break, the flagpole will rotate about the pin supporting its base.
Doing a quick integral, you find that the moment of inertia of a pole about an axis at one end is 1/3 as
much as if all its mass were concentrated at the other end of the pole. To save the fireman you must get
her off before the pole goes below a horizontal orientation. The gopher will be on its own. To see if
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rescue is possible, you calculate the acceleration of the flagpole with the fireman and gopher clinging to it
for the two extreme cases, just after the cable breaks and just as it reaches a horizontal orientation.
15. Torque: The automatic flag raising system on a horizontal flagpole attached to the vertical outside wall
of a tall building has become stuck. The management of the building wants to send a person crawling out
along the flagpole to fix the problem. Because of your physics knowledge, you have been asked to
consult with a group to decide whether or not this is possible. You are all too aware that no one could
survive the 250 foot fall from the flagpole to the ground. The flagpole is a 120 lb steel I-beam which is
very strong and rigid. One side of the flagpole is attached to the wall of the building by a hinge so that it
can rotate vertically. Nine feet away, the other end of the flagpole is attached to a strong, lightweight
cable. The cable goes up from the flagpole at an angle of 30 until it reaches the building where it is
bolted to the wall. The mechanic who will climb out on the flagpole weighs 150 lbs. including equipment.
From the specifications of the building construction, both the bolt attaching the cable to the building and
the hinge have been tested to hold a force of 500 lbs. Your boss has decided that the worse case is
when the mechanic is at the far end of the flagpole, nine feet from the building.
16. Torque: After watching a news story about a fire in a high rise apartment building, you and your friend
decide to design an emergency escape device from the top of a building. To avoid engine failure, your
friend suggests a gravitational powered elevator. The design has a large, heavy turntable (a horizontal
disk that is free to rotate about its center) on the roof with a cable wound around its edge. The free end
of the cable goes horizontally to the edge of the building roof, passes over a heavy vertical pulley, and
then hangs straight down. A strong wire cage which can hold 5 people is then attached to the hanging
end of the cable. When people enter the cage and release it, the cable unrolls from the turntable
lowering the people safely to the ground. To see if this design is feasible you decide to calculate the
acceleration of the fully loaded elevator to make sure it is much less than g. Your friends design has the
radius of the turntable disk as 1.5 m and its mass is twice that of the fully loaded elevator. The disk
which serves as the vertical pulley has 1/4 the radius of the turntable and 1/16 its mass. In your trusty
Physics book you find that the moment of inertia of a disk is 1/2 that of a ring.
17. Torques, Kinematics: Because of your physics background, you have been asked to be a stunt
consultant for a motion picture about a genetically synthesized prehistoric creature that escapes from
captivity and terrorizes the city. The scene you are asked to review has the three main characters of the
movie being chased by the creature through an old warehouse. At the exit of the warehouse is a thick
steel fire door 10 feet high and 6.0 feet wide weighing about 2,000 pounds. In the scene, the three
actors are to flee from the building and close the fire door (initially at rest), thus sealing the creature inside
the building. With the creature running at 30 mph, they have 5.0 seconds to shut the door. You are
asked to determine if they can do it. You estimate that each actor can each push on the door with a
force of 50 pounds. When they push together, each actor needs a space of about 1.5 feet between them
and the next actor. The door, which has a moment of inertia of 1/3 M r2 around its hinges, needs to
rotate 120 degrees for it to close completely.
18. Torque, Kinematics: While watching the local TV news show, you see a report about ground water
contamination and how it effects farms which get their water from wells. For dramatic effect, the
reporter stands next to an old style well which still works by lowering a bucket at the end of a rope into a
deep hole in the ground to get water. At the top of the well a single vertical pulley is mounted to help
raise and lower the bucket. The thin rope passes over the large pulley which is essentially a heavy steel
ring supported by light spokes. To demonstrate the depth of the well, the reporter completely wraps the
rope around the pulley and suspends the bucket from one end. She then releases the bucket, at rest near
the pulley, and it descends to the bottom of the well unwinding the rope from the pulley as it falls. It
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takes 2.5 seconds. She doesnt tell you the depth of the well so you decide to calculate it. You estimate
that the pulley has the same mass of the bucket and assume that the mass of the rope and any friction can
be neglected.
19. Energy or Torques, Kinematics: While you watching a TV show about life in the ancient world, you
see that the people in one village used a solid sphere made out of clay as a kind of pulley to help haul up
water from a well. A well-greased wooden axle was placed through the center of the sphere and fixed in
a horizontal orientation above the well, allowing the sphere to rotate freely. To demonstrate the depth of
the well, the host of the program completely wrapped the rope around the sphere and suspended the
bucket from one end. She then released the bucket, at rest near the sphere, and allowed it to descend to
the bottom of the well unwinding the string from the sphere as it went. It took 2.5 seconds. You
wonder what the depth of the well was so you decide to calculate it. You estimate that the sphere has
twice the mass of the bucket and assume that the mass of the rope can be neglected. You look up the
moment of inertia of a sphere about an axis through its center of mass and find it is 2/5 that of a ring of
the same mass and radius.
20. Energy or Torque, Kinematics: You have been asked to help design a safety mechanism which will
automatically drops a rope from the window of an apartment in the case of fire. One end of the rope is
fastened to a ledge on the outside wall of the building while the other is rolled tightly around a hollow
cylinder. When a fire is detected, the mechanism drops the hollow cylinder so that it is parallel to the
ground. The cylinder falls straight down without touching the side of the building and the rope unwinds
from around a point midway along its length. To optimize your design, you need to calculate how long it
takes to fall to the ground as a function of the height of the fall, the radius of the cylinder, the mass of the
cylinder, and the length of the cylinder.
21. Torques, Forces: A friend of yours who likes to fix his own car has improvised a car-lifting device in his
garage. He explains that he plans to park the car on a rectangular platform which is lifted into the air by
four ropes each attached to a corner of the platform. The platform is constructed of steel I-beams and
has a weight of 250 lbs. It is 12 feet long and 5.0 feet wide with its center of mass 5.0 feet from the
front and 2.5 feet from either side. His car has a weight of 1400 lbs. and 75% of that weight is carried
by the front tires. The distance between the centers of the tires is 7.2 feet. His plan is to park the car in
the middle of the platform with the front tire 2.4 feet from the front of the platform over the midpoint of
the platform. In that way, the two front ropes have the equal tensions and the two back ropes will also
have equal tensions. The ropes are certified to hold a load of 5000 N each. Before he uses his device,
he has asked your advice on its safety.
22. Torques, Forces: You have been asked to design a machine to move a large cable spool up a factory
ramp in 30 seconds. The spool is made of two 6.0 ft diameter disks of wood with iron rims connected
together at their centers by a solid cylinder 1.0 ft wide and 3.0 ft long. Sometime later in the
manufacturing process, cable will be wound around the cylinder. For now the cylinder is bare but the
spool still weighs 200 lbs. Your plan is to attach a thin ring around the cylinder and pull the spool up the
ramp with a rope attached to the top of this ring. The spool will then roll without slipping up the ramp on
its two outside disks at a constant speed. To finish the design you need to calculate how strong the rope
must be to pull the spool when it is moving up the ramp at a constant speed. The ramp has an angle of
27o from the horizontal and the rope will be parallel to the ramp. A set of light weight bearings minimizes
the friction between the ring and the cylinder and fixes the orientation of the ring so that the rope always
pulls from its top. The diameter of the ring is essentially the same as that of the cylinder.
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23. Torques, Forces: You have been chosen to be part of a team investigating an explosion in a virology
laboratory. When you enter the lab, you see that a large utility conduit, which was originally suspended
horizontally overhead, has fallen on top of a chemical workbench. You decide to determine if a
mechanical failure made the conduit break, crashing into the chemicals and causing the explosion or if the
chemical explosion caused the conduit to fall. The heavy conduit, essentially a bar with a non-uniform
mass distribution, was held up in the air by two lightweight cables attached to the ceiling at different
angles. One cable was attached at each end of the conduit. To check out the possibility of a mechanical
failure, you first decide to calculate the position of the center of mass from one end of the conduit based
on the known weight of the conduit, the length of the conduit, and the angles of the cables with the
ceiling.
24. Torques, Forces: You have a summer job working downtown washing windows on skyscrapers (the
pay is great and so are the medical benefits). The platform you and your partner are using to get to the
windows is a meter wide and four meters long. You know from hauling the platform out of your truck
countless times that it has a mass of 70 kg. It is supported by two cables, one at each end, mounted oncenter to prevent the platform from tipping over as it is pulled up the side of the building at a constant
speed. If you (mass of 55 kg) are standing on the platform 1 meter from one cable while your partner
(mass of 87 kg) is 1.3 meters from the other cable and both of you are half a meter from the side, what is
the tension in each cable? Assume the platform has a uniform mass distribution and is of negligible
thickness.
Angular Momentum
25. Angular Momentum: You are part of a team in an engineering contest trying to design a mechanical
"cat" which, when dropped motionless, upside down from 2.5 m, can right itself before it hits the ground
by rotating its "tail." The body of the "cat," aptly named Katt, is a solid cylinder 1 foot in length and 6
inches in diameter, with a mass of 5.44 kg. Attached to the center of one end of the body is Katt's "tail,"
a 1 foot long rod which extends out perpendicular to Katt's body and has only 1% the mass of the
body. Your task is to determine the energy demand put on the small electric motor in the body which
rotates the "tail." Based on your work, have you any design improvements to suggest to the rest of the
team? Remember: a solid cylinder rotated about it's central axis has a moment of inertia 1/2 that of a
cylinder with all it's mass on it's circumference; a rod rotated about one end has a moment of inertia 1/3
of that if mass were concentrated at the opposite end.
26. Angular Momentum: You have been asked to help evaluate a proposal to build a device to determine
the speed of hockey pucks shot along the ice. The device consists of a rod which rests on the ice and is
fastened to the ice at one end so that it is free to rotate horizontally. The free end of the rod has a small,
light basket which will catch the hockey puck. The puck slides across the ice perpendicular to the rod
and is caught in the basket which is initially at rest. The rod then rotates. The designers claim that
knowing the length of the rod, the mass of the rod, the mass of the puck, and the frequency of the
rotation of the rod and puck, you can determine the speed of the puck as it moved across the ice.
27. Angular Momentum, Energy: You are a member of a group designing an air filtration system for
allergy suffers. To optimize its operation you need to measure the mass of the common pollen in the air
where the filter will be used. To measure the pollens mass, you have designed a small rectangular box
with a hole in one side to allow the pollen to enter. Once inside the pollen is given a positive electric
charge and accelerated by an electrostatic force to a speed of 1.4 m/s. The pollen then hits the end of a
very small, uniform bar which is hanging straight down from a pivot at its top. Since the bar has a
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negative charge at its tip, the pollen sticks to it as the bar swings up. Measuring the angle that the bar
swings up would give the particles mass. After the angle is measured, the charge of the bar is reversed,
releasing that particle. Its a cool design but your friend insists it will never work. To prove it she asks
you to calculate the length of the bar which would give you a reasonable angle of about 10 for a typical
pollen particle of 4 x 10- 9 grams. Your plan calls for a bar of 7 x 10- 4 grams with a moment of inertial
1/12 as much as if all of its mass were concentrated at its end. Is she right?
28. Angular Momentum, Energy: You have been asked to design a new stunt for the opening of an ice
show. A small 50 kg skater glides down a ramp and along a short level stretch of ice. While gliding
along the level stretch she makes herself as small as possible. Keeping herself as small as possible she
then grabs the bottom end of a large 180 kg vertical rod which is free to turn vertically about a axis
through its center. The plan is for her to hold onto the 20 foot long rod while it swings her to the top.
The rod has a uniform mass distribution. You have been asked to give the minimum height of the ramp.
Doing a quick integral tells you that the moment of inertia of this rod about its center is 1/3 of what its
moment of inertia would be if all of its mass were concentrated at one of its ends.
29. Angular Momentum, Energy: Your group has decided to revisit the lab experiment in which a metal
ring was dropped onto a rotating plate. In hopes of getting better results, you now have a motor which
initially spins the disk and shaft at 3.0 rev. per second. You are also using a mechanical device to drop
the ring, so that it lands perfectly in the groove on every trial. Unfortunately the bearing in your apparatus
is giving out (after weeks of heavy use) so you must redo your analysis, taking into account the frictional
force which the bearing applies to the outside of the shaft. You assume that this force is approximately
constant, except perhaps during the collision event itself. To avoid the large uncertainties associated with
using a stopwatch, you decide to count revolutions -- you let the disk rotate twice after disengaging the
motor, then drop the ring, then note that the entire apparatus goes around 17 more times before coming
to rest. How large is the frictional force? The radii of the disk, shaft, and ring are 11 cm, 0.63 cm, and
6.5 cm (5.5 cm) outside (inside) respectively. The moments of inertia (about the appropriate axis) for
the disk, shaft, and ring are 5.1 x 10-3 kg m2, 3.7 x 10-6 kg m2, and 8.9 x 10-3 kg m2 respectively.
30. Angular Momentum, Energy, Kinematics: You have been hired by a company which is designing a
new water slide for an amusement park . The conceptual design has a customer going down a curved
slide ending up moving horizontally at the bottom. At the end of the of the slide, the customer grabs the
end of a 16.0 m long vertical bar that is free to pivot about its center. After grabbing onto the bar, the
customer swings out over a pool of water. When the bar swings out to its maximum distance, the
customer can drop off and fall straight down into the water. Your task is to determine the height of the
slide so that the maximum horizontal distance that the bar swings out is 5.0 m for a 60 kg person. The
bar has five times the mass of a 60 kg person. From an engineering handbook, you find that the moment
of inertia of the bar is 1/12 of what it would be if all of its mass were concentrated at the bottom.
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(Beginning Thermodynamics)
1.
To take a break from studying physics, you rent the video of the movie version of the book Fahrenheit
451, which stared Oscar Werner. The setting (in England) is an Orwellian society where books are
banned and all information is disseminated by a large TV screen in each home. Fire departments
respond not to put out fires, but to burn books, which combust at a temperature of 451 oF (hence the
name of the film). In the middle of the film, your mind wanders. You imagine the fire department using
the burning books to heat 600 cm3 of water for their afternoon tea. You imagine that the burner
transfers 80% of the heat from the burning books to the water, which you remember has a heat capacity
of 1.0 calorie/g oC. How much will the water temperature rise from burning one copy of the 500-page
book Fahrenheit 451 if the heat of combustion is 1.0 calorie per page?
2. You are helping a friend who is a veterinarian to do some minor surgery on a cow. She has asked you
to sterilize a scalpel and a hemostat by boiling them for 30 minutes. You boil them as ordered and then
quickly transfer the instruments to a well insulated tray containing 200 grams of sterilized water at room
temperature (23 oC) which is just enough to cover the instruments. After a few minutes the instruments
and water will come to the same temperature, but will they be safe to hand to your friend without being
burned? You are both wearing surgical rubber gloves, but they are very thin. You know that both the
50 gram scalpel and the 70 gram hemostat are made from steel which has a specific heat of 450 J / (kg
oC). They were boiled in 2.0 kg of water with a specific heat of 4200 J / (kg oC).
3. You have a summer job with a company that designs cookware. Your group is assigned the task of
designing a better pasta pot. You are very excited by a new strong, light alloy the group has just
produced, but will it make a good pasta pot? If it takes more than 10 minutes to boil water in a pasta
pot, it probably won't sell. So your boss asks you to calculate how long it would take water at room
temperature (23 oC) to reach boiling temperature (100 oC) in a pot made of the new alloy. Your
colleagues tell you that a typical pasta pot holds about 2 liters (2.0 kg) of water. They estimate that a
pot made of the alloy would have a mass of 550 grams, and a specific heat capacity of 860 J / (kg oC).
You look in your physics book and find that water has a specific heat capacity of 4200 J / (kg oC) and
its heat of vaporization is 2.3 x 106 J/kg. The owner's manual states that the burners on your stove
deliver 1000 Joules of heat per second. You estimate that only about 20% of this heat is radiated
away.
4. You are planning a birthday party for your niece and need to make at least 4 gallons of Kool-Aid,
which you would like to cool down to 32 oF (0 oC) before the party begins. Unfortunately, your
refrigerator is already so full of treats that you know there will be no room for the Kool-Aid. So, with a
sudden flash of insight, you decide to start with 4 gallons of the coldest tap water you can get, which
you determine is 50 oF (10 oC), and then cool it down with a 1-quart chunk of ice you already have in
your freezer. The owner's manual for your refrigerator states that when the freezer setting is on high, the
temperature is -20 oC. Will your plan work? You assume that the density of the Kool-Aid is about the
same as the density of water. You look in your physics book and find that the density of water is 1.0
g/cm3, the density of ice is 0.9 g/cm3, the heat capacity of water is 4200 J / (kg oC), the heat capacity
of ice is 2100 J / (kg oC), the heat of fusion of water is 3.4 x 105 J/kg, and its heat of vaporization is 2.3
x 106 J/kg.
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5. You are thinking ahead to spring when one of your friends is having an outdoor wedding. Your plan is to
design the perfect lemonade for the event. The problem with lemonade is that you make it at room
temperature and then add ice to cool it to a pleasant 10 C. Usually, the ice melts diluting the lemonade
too much. To help you solve this problem, you look up the specific heat capacity of water (1.0 cal/(gm
C)), the specific heat capacity of ice (0.50 cal/(gm C)), and the latent heat of fusion of water (80
cal/gm). You assume that the specific heat capacity of the lemonade is the same as water. Since you
will cool your lemonade in a Thermos jug, assume no heat is added to the lemonade from the
environment. Using that information, you calculate how much water you get from all the ice melting if you
make 6 quarts (5.6 kg) of lemonade at room temperature (23 C) and add ice which comes straight
from the freezer at -5.0 C.
6
While working for a grain loading company over the summer, your boss asks you to determine the
efficiency of a new type of pneumatic elevator. The elevator is supported in a cylindrical shaft by a
column of air, which you assume to be an ideal gas with a specific heat of 12.5 J/mol-C. The air
pressure in the column is 1.2 x 105 Pa when the elevator carries no load. The bottom of the cylindrical
shaft opens out so that there is a reservoir of air at room temperature (25 C) below the elevator when
it begins loading. Seals around the elevator assure that no air escapes as the elevator moves up and
down. The elevator has a cross-sectional area of 10 m2. A cycle of elevator use begins with the
unloaded elevator. The elevator is then loaded with 20,000 kg of grain while the air temperature stays
at 25 C causing the elevator to sink. The air in the system is then heated to 75 C and the elevator
rises. The elevator is then unloaded, while the air remains at 75 C. Finally, the air in the system is
cooled to room temperature again, returning the elevator to its starting level. While the elevator is
moving up and down, you assume that it moves at a constant velocity so that the pressure in the gas is
constant.
7. Note: This problem requires both mechanical energy and heat energy for a solution. In the class
demonstration, a 2.0-gram lead bullet was shot into a 2.0-kg block of wood. The block of wood with
the bullet stuck in it was hung from a string and rose to a height 0.50 cm above its initial position. From
that information we calculated that the initial speed of the bullet was about 300 m/s (close to the speed
of sound). What was the bullet like when it stopped? Using conservation of energy and conservation of
momentum, we decided that the internal energy of the bullet, block system had increased substantially.
If the change of internal energy of the bullet was half that of the system, would this change be enough to
melt the bullet? Assume that the bullet had a temperature of 50 oC when it left the gun. The melting
temperature of lead is 330 oC. It has a specific heat capacity of 130 J/(kg oC) and a latent heat of
fusion of 25 J/g. The specific heat capacity of wood is 1700 J/(kg oC).
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1. Oscillation: You have been asked to evaluate the design for a simple device to measure the mass of
small rocks on the Moon. The rock is attached to the free end of a lightweight spring which horizontal.
The surface on which the rock slides is almost frictionless. You are worried that the kinetic energy of the
rock may make this device dangerous in some situations. The device specifications state that a 150 gram
rock will execute harmonic motion, with a frequency of 0.32 Hz, described by x(t) = A sin (bt - 35)
when the rock has an initial speed of 1.2 cm/s.
3. Oscillations: You and some friends are waiting in line for "The Mixer", a new carnival ride. The ride
begins with the car and rider (150 kg combined) at the top of a curved track. At the bottom of the track
is a 50 kg block of cushioned material which is attached to a horizontal spring whose other end is fixed in
concrete. The car slides down the track ending up moving horizontally when it crashes into the
cushioned block, sticks to it, and oscillates at 3 repetitions in about 10 seconds. Your friends estimate
that the car starts from a height of around 10 feet. You decide to use your physics knowledge to see if
they are right. After the collision, you notice that the spring compresses about 15 ft from equilibrium.
3. Traveling Waves: Youve been hired as a technical consultant to the Minneapolis police department to
design a radar detector-proof device that measures the speed of vehicles. (i.e. one that does not rely on
sending out a radar signal that the car can detect.)
You decide to employ the fact that a moving car emits a variety of characteristic sounds. Your idea
is to make a very small and low device to be placed in the center of the road that will pick out a specific
frequency emitted by the car as it approaches and then measure the change in that frequency as the car
moves off in the other direction. The device will then send the initial and final frequencies to its
microprocessor, and then use this data to compute the speed of the vehicle.
You are currently in the process of writing a program for the chip in your new device. To complete
the program, you need a formula that determines the speed of the car using the data received by the
microprocessor. You may also include in your formula any physical constants that you might need.
Because your reputation as a designer is on the line, you realize that youll need find ways to check
the validity of your formula, even though it contains no numbers.
4. Traveling Waves: You have the perfect summer job with a team of marine biologists studying dolphin
communication off the coast of Hawaii. Massive boulders on the ocean floor can interrupt the reception
of underwater sound waves from the dolphins. To reduce these disruptions, your team has decided to
put several "transceivers" (a device that receives a signal, amplifies the signal, and then transmits it) at
strategic locations on the ocean floor. A transceiver will receive sound waves from a dolphin and then
retransmit them to the researchers on the ship. The ships receiver is on a long cable so that it is at
approximately the same depth as the dolphins. Because of your physics background, you worry that the
frequency received at the moving ship will be different than that emitted by the dolphin. To determine the
size of this effect, you assume that the ship is moving at 35km/h away from the stationary transceiver.
Meanwhile, the dolphin is moving at 60km/h towards the transceiver and at an angle of 63 to the ships
path when it emits a sound frequency of 660Hz.
5. Wave Equation: A friend of yours, a guitarist, knows you are taking physics this semester and asks for
assistance in solving a problem. Your friend explains that he keeps breaking repeatedly the low E string
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(640 Hz) on his Gibson "Les Paul" when he tunes-up before a gig. The cost of buying new strings is
getting out of hand, so your friend is desperate to resolve his Delia. Your friend tells you that the E string
he is now using is made of copper and has a diameter of 0.063 inches. You do some quick calculations
and, given the length of the neck of your friends guitar, estimate that the wave speed on the E string is
1900 ft/s. While reading about stringed instruments in the library, you discover that most musical
instrument strings will break if they are subjected to a strain greater than about 2%. How do you suggest
your friend solve his problem?
6. Standing Waves: Your friend, an artist, has been thinking about an interesting way to display a new
wind sculpture she has just created. In order to create an aural as well as visual effect, she would like to
use the wires needed to hang the sculpture as a sort of a string instrument. She decides that with three
wires and some luck, the strings will sound a C-major dyad (C - 262Hz, G - 392 Hz) when the wind
blows (note: A dyad is part of a chord.). Her basic design involves attaching a piece of wire from two
eye-hooks on the ceiling that are approximately a foot-and-a-half apart and then hanging the 50 pound
sculpture from another wire attached to the first wire forming a "y-shaped" arrangement. Your friend
tells you that she has been successful in hanging the sculpture but not in "tuning" the sound. Desperate for
success, she knows you are taking physics and asks for your help. Before you tackle the analysis, you
use your knowledge of waves to gather some more information. You take a sample of the wire back to
your lab and measure its linear mass density to be 5.0 g/m. You also determine that wire is some sort of
iron or steel from its color. What is your advice?
7. Standing Waves: You have a summer job in a biomedical engineering laboratory studying the
technology to enhance hearing. You have learned that the human ear canal is essentially an air filled tube
approximately 2.7 cm long which is open on one end and closed on the other. You wonder if there is a
connection between hearing sensitivity and standing waves so you calculate the lowest three frequencies
of the standing waves that can exist in the ear canal. From your trusty Physics textbook, you find that the
speed of sound in air is 343 m/s.
8. Standing Waves: You have joined a team designing a new skyway that is to link the Physics Building to
the Mechanical Engineering Building. To make sure it will be stable in gusts of wind, you need to find the
lowest frequency that sets up a standing wave in the skyway structure. Your group has decided to make
a scale model of the skyway and put it into a wind tunnel to determine the frequency. Unfortunately the
wind tunnel cannot be pulsed at a very low frequency. While the model is in the wind tunnel you pulse
the wind until you find a frequency which sets up a standing wave in the model. You then slowly increase
the frequency until you get the next standing wave pattern. Using the two frequencies you have measured
together with the length of the skyway model you then calculate the lowest frequency which will set up a
standing wave.
9. Energy, Frequency: You have an exciting summer job working on an oil tanker in the waters of
Alaska. Your Captain knows that the ship is near an underwater outcropping of land and wishes to
avoid running into it. He estimates that it is about 6 km straight ahead of the ship and asks you to use the
sonar to check how fast the ship is approaching it. The ships instruments tell you the ship is moving
through still water at a speed of 31 km/hr but the captain cannot take any chances. A sonar signal is sent
out with a frequency of 980 Hz, bounces off the underwater obstacle, and is detected on the ship. If the
ships speed indicator is correct, what frequency should you detect? You use your trusty Physics text to
find the speed of sound in sea water is 1522 m/s.
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10. Rotations: You are helping a friend build an experiment to test behavior modification techniques on rats.
She needs to build an obstacle that swings across a path every 1.0 second. To keep the experiment as
inexpensive as possible, she wants to use a meter stick as the swinging obstacle. She asks you to
determine where to drill a hole in the meter stick so that, when it is hung by a nail through that hole, it will
do the job for small swings.
11. Rotations: Your friend is trying to construct a clock for a craft show and asks you for some advice.
She has decided to construct the clock with a pendulum. The pendulum will be a very thin, very light
wooden bar with a thin, but heavy, brass ring fastened to one end. The length of the rod is 80 cm and
the diameter of the ring is 10 cm. She is planning to drill a hole in the bar to place the axis of rotation 15
cm from one end. She wants you to tell her the period of this pendulum.
12. Rotations: The child of a friend has asked you to help with a school project. She wants to build a
clock from common materials. She has found a meter stick which has a mass of 300g and asks you to
determine where to drill a hole in it so that when it is hung by a nail through that hole it will be a pendulum
with a period of 2.0 seconds for small oscillations. A quick calculation tells you that the moment of
inertia of the meter stick about its center of mass is 1/12 of its mass times the square of its length.
13. Rotations: You have a part time job at a software company that is currently under contract to produce
a program simulating accidents in the modern commuter railroad station being planned for downtown.
Your task is to determine the response of a safety system to prevent a railroad car from crashing into the
station. In the simulation, a coupling fails causing a passenger car to break away from a train and roll into
the station. Furthermore, the brakes on the passenger car have failed. It cannot stop on its own so it
keeps on rolling. The safety system at the end of the track is a large horizontal spring with a hook that
will grab onto the car when it hits preventing the car from crashing into the station platform. After the car
hits the spring, your program must calculate the frequency and amplitude of the cars oscillation based on
the specifications of the passenger car, the specifications of the spring, and the speed of the passenger
car. In your simulation, the wheels of the car are disks with a significant mass and a moment of inertia
half that of a ring of the same mass and radius. At this stage of your simulation, you ignore any energy
dissipation in the cars axle or in the flexing of the spring, and the mass of the spring.
14. Rotations: You have been asked to help design an automated system for applying a resistive paint to
plastic sheeting in order to mass produce containers to protect sensitive electronic components from
static electric charges. The object used to apply the paint is a solid cylindrical roller. The roller is
pushed back and forth over the plastic sheeting by a horizontal spring attached to a yoke, which in turn is
attached to an axle through the center of the roller. The other end of the spring is attached to a fixed
post. To apply the paint evenly, the roller must roll without slipping over the surface of the plastic. The
machine simultaneously paints two narrow strips of plastic that lay side by side parallel to the axle of the
roller. While the roller is in contact with one strip, a feed mechanism pulls the other strip forward to
expose unpainted surface. In order to determine how fast the process can proceed, you have been
assigned to calculate how the oscillation frequency of the roller depends on its mass, radius and the
stiffness of the spring. You know that the moment of inertia of a solid cylinder with respect to an axis
through its center is 1/2 that of a ring.
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Electricity and Magnetism Problems

Concepts and principles from electricity and magnetism can solve the problems in this section. The problems
are divided into five groups according to the major principles required for solution: (1) electric force and
field; (2) electric potential energy; (3) electric power; (4) circuits; and (5) magnetic force and field. The
specific principles required are indicated in Italics at the beginning of each problem.
Electric Force and Field

1. Electric Force: You and a friend are doing the laundry when you unload the dryer and the discussion
comes around to static electricity. Your friend wants to get some idea of the amount of charge that
causes static cling. You immediately take two empty soda cans, which each have a mass of 120 grams,
from the recycling bin. You tie the cans to the two ends of a string (one to each end) and hang the
center of the string over a nail sticking out of the wall. Each can now hangs straight down 30 cm from
the nail. You take your flannel shirt from the dryer and touch it to the cans, which are touching each
other. The cans move apart until they hang stationary at an angle of 10 from the vertical. Assuming
that there are equal amounts of charge on each can, you now calculate the amount of charge transferred
from your shirt.
2. Electric Force: You are part of a design team assigned the task of making an electronic oscillator that
will be the timing mechanism of a micro-machine. You start by trying to understand a simple model
which is an electron moving along an axis through the center and perpendicular to the plane of a thin
positively charged ring. You need to determine how the oscillation frequency of the electron depends
on the size and charge of the ring for displacements of the electron from the center of the ring which are
small compared to the size of the ring. A team member suggests that you first determine the
acceleration of the electron along the axis as a function of the size and charge of the ring and then use
that expression to determine the oscillation frequency of the electron for small oscillations.
3. Electric Force: You are spending the summer working for a chemical company. Your boss has asked
you to determine where a chlorine ion of effective charge -e would situate itself near a carbon dioxide
ion. The carbon dioxide ion is composed of 2 oxygen ions each with an effective charge -2e and a
carbon ion with an effective charge +3e. These ions are arranged in a line with the carbon ion
sandwiched midway between the two oxygen ions. The distance between each oxygen ion and the
carbon ion is 3.0 x 10-11 m. Assuming that the chlorine ion is on a line that is perpendicular to the axis
of the carbon dioxide ion and that the line goes through the carbon ion, what is the equilibrium distance
for the chlorine ion relative to the carbon ion on this line? For simplicity, you assume that the carbon
dioxide ion does not deform in the presence of the chlorine ion. Looking in your trusty physics
textbook, you find the charge of the electron is 1.60 x 10-19 C.
4. Electric Force: You have been asked to review a new apparatus, which is proposed for use at a new
semiconductor ion implantation facility. One part of the apparatus is used to slow down He ions which
are positive and have a charge twice that of an electron (He++). This part consists of a circular wire that
is charged negatively so that it becomes a circle of charge. The ion has a velocity of 200 m/s when it
passes through the center of the circle of charge on a trajectory perpendicular to the plane of the circle.
The circle has a charge of 8.0 C and radius of 3.0 cm. The sample with which the ion is to collide will
be placed 2.5 mm from the charged circle. To check if this device will work, you decide to calculate
the distance from the circle that the ion goes before it stops. To do this calculation, you assume that the
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circle is very much larger than the distance the ion goes and that the sample is not in place. Will the ion
reach the sample? You look up the charge of an electron and mass of the helium in your trusty Physics
text to be 1.6 x 10-19 C and 6.7 x 10-27 Kg.
5. Electric Force: You've been hired to design the hardware for an ink jet printer. You know that these
printers use a deflecting electrode to cause charged ink drops to form letters on a page. The basic
mechanism is that uniform ink drops of about 30 microns radius are charged to varying amounts after
being sprayed out towards the page at a speed of about 20 m/s. Along the way to the page, they pass
into a region between two deflecting plates that are 1.6 cm long. The deflecting plates are 1.0 mm apart
and charged to 1500 volts. You measure the distance from the edge of the plates to the paper and find
that it is one-half inch. Assuming an uncharged droplet forms the bottom of the letter, how much charge
is needed on the droplet to form the top of a letter 3 mm high (11 pt. type)?
6. Electric Force: While working in a University research laboratory your group is given the job of testing
an electrostatic scale, which is used to precisely measure the weight of small objects. The device
consists of two very light but strong strings attached to a support so that they hang straight down. An
object is attached to the other end of each string. One of the objects has a very accurately known
weight while the other object is the unknown. A power supply is slowly turned on to give each object
an electric charge. This causes the objects to slowly move away from each other. When the power
supply is kept at its operating value, the objects come to rest at the same horizontal level. At that time,
each of the strings supporting them makes a different angle with the vertical and that angle is measured.
To test your understanding of the device, you first calculate the weight of an unknown sphere from the
measured angles and the weight of a known sphere. Your known is a standard sphere with a weight of
2.000 N supported by a string that makes an angle of 10.00 with the vertical. The unknown sphere's
string makes an angle of 20.00 with the vertical. As a second step in your process of understanding
this device, estimate the net charge on a sphere necessary for the observed deflection if a string were 10
cm long. Make sure to give the assumptions you used for this estimate.
7. Electric Force: You and a friend have been given the task of designing a display for the Physics
building that will demonstrate the strength of the electric force. Your friend comes up with an idea that
sounds neat theoretically, but youre not sure it is practical. She suggests you use an electric force to
hold a marble in place on a sloped plywood ramp. She would get the electric force by attaching a
uniformly charged semicircular wire near the bottom of the ramp, laying the wire flat on the ramp with
each of its ends pointing straight up the ramp. She claims that if the charges on the marble and ring and
the slope of the ramp are chosen properly, the marble would be balanced midway between the ends of
the wire.
To test this idea, you decide to calculate the necessary amount of charge on the marble for a reasonable
ramp angle of 15 degrees and a semicircle of radius 10 cm with a charge of 800 micro-coulombs. The
marble would roll in a slot cut lengthwise into the center of the ramp. The mass of the lightest marble
you can find is 25 grams.
8. Electric Force, Gausss Law: You have a great summer job in a research laboratory with a group
investigating the possibility of producing power from fusion. The device being designed confines a hot
gas of positively charged ions, called plasma, in a very long cylinder with a radius of 2.0 cm. The
charge density of the plasma in the cylinder is 6.0 x 10-5 C/m3. Positively charged Tritium ions are to
be injected into the plasma perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder in a direction toward the center of
the cylinder. Your job is to determine the speed that a Tritium ion should have when it enters the
plasma cylinder so that its velocity is zero when it reaches the axis of the cylinder. Tritium is an isotope
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of Hydrogen with one proton and two neutrons. You look up the charge of a proton and mass of the
tritium in your trusty Physics text to be 1.6 x 10-19 C and 5.0 x 10-27 Kg.
9. Electric and Gravitational Force: You and a friend are reading a newspaper article about nuclear
fusion energy generation in stars. The article describes the helium nucleus, made up of two protons and
two neutrons, as very stable so it doesn't decay. You immediately realize that you don't understand why
the helium nucleus is stable. You know that the proton has the same charge as the electron except that
the proton charge is positive. Neutrons you know are neutral. Why, you ask your friend, don't the
protons simply repel each other causing the helium nucleus to fly apart? Your friend says she knows
why the helium nucleus does not just fly apart. The gravitational force keeps it together, she says. Her
model is that the two neutrons sit in the center of the nucleus and gravitationally attract the two protons.
Since the protons have the same charge, they are always as far apart as possible on opposite sides of
the neutrons. What mass would the neutron have if this model of the helium nucleus works? Is that a
reasonable mass? Looking in your physics book, you find that the mass of a neutron is about the same
as the mass of a proton and that the diameter of a helium nucleus is 3.0 x 10-13 cm.
10. Electric Field: You are helping to design a new electron microscope to investigate the structure of the
HIV virus. A new device to position the electron beam consists of a charged circle of conductor. This
circle is divided into two half circles separated by a thin insulator so that half of the circle can be
charged positively and half can be charged negatively. The electron beam will go through the center of
the circle. To complete the design your job is to calculate the electric field in the center of the circle as a
function of the amount of positive charge on the half circle, the amount of negative charge on the half
circle, and the radius of the circle.
11. Electric Field: You have a summer job with the telephone company working in a group investigating
the vulnerability of underground telephone lines to natural disasters. Your task is to write a computer
program which will be used determine the possible harm to a telephone wire from the high electric fields
caused by lightning. The underground telephone wire is supported in the center of a long, straight steel
pipe that protects it. When lightening hits the ground it charges the steel pipe. You are concerned that
the resulting electric field might harm the telephone wire. Since you know that the largest field on the
wire will be where it leaves the end of the pipe, you calculate the electric field at that point as a function
of the length of the pipe, the radius of the pipe, and the charge on the pipe.
Electric Potential Energy

12. Electric Potential Energy: While sitting in a restaurant with some friends, you notice that some "neon"
signs are different in color than others. You know that these signs are essentially just gas sealed in a
glass tube. The gas, when heated electrically, gives off light. One of your friends, who is an art major,
and makes such signs as sculpture, tells you that the color of the light depends on which gas is in the
tube. All "neon" signs are not made using neon gas. You know that the color of light tells you its
energy. Red light is a lower energy than blue light. Since the light is given off by the atoms, which make
up the gas, the different colors must depend on the structure of the different atoms of different gases.
Suppose that atomic structure is as given by the Bohr theory which states that electrons are in uniform
circular motion around a heavy, motionless nucleus in the center of the atom. This theory also states that
the electrons are only allowed to have certain orbits. When an atom changes from one allowed orbit to
another allowed orbit, it radiates light as required by the conservation of energy. Since only certain
orbits are allowed, so the theory goes, only light of certain energies (colors) can be emitted. This seems
to agree with the observations of your artist friend. You decide to test the theory by calculating the
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energy of light emitted by a simple atom when an electron makes a transition from one allowed orbit to
another. You decide to consider hydrogen since you know it is the simplest atom with one electron and
a nucleus consisting of one proton. You remember that the proton has a mass 2000 times that of an
electron. When you get home you look in your textbook and find the electron mass is
9 x 10-31 kg and its charge is 1.6 x 10-19 C. The radius of the smallest allowed electron orbit for
hydrogen is 0.5 x 10-10 meters, which determines the normal size of the atom. The next allowed orbit
has a radius 4 times as large as the smallest orbit.
13. Electric Potential Energy: You have a great summer job working in a cancer research laboratory.
Your team is trying to construct a gas laser that will give off light of an energy that will pass through the
skin but be absorbed by cancer tissue. You know that an atom emits a photon (light) when an electron
goes from a higher energy orbit to a lower energy orbit. Only certain orbits are allowed in a particular
atom. To begin the process, you calculate the energy of photons emitted by a Helium ion in which the
electron changes from an orbit with a radius of 0.30 nanometers to another orbit with a radius of 0.20
nanometers. A nanometer is 10-9 m. The helium nucleus consists of two protons and two neutrons.
14. Electric Potential Energy: Your job is to evaluate an electron gun designed to initiate an electron
beam. The electrons have a 20 cm path from the heating element, which emits them to the end of the
gun. This path is through a very good vacuum. For most applications, the electrons must reach the end
of the gun with a speed of at least 107 m/s. After leaving the heating element, the electrons pass through
a 5.0 mm diameter hole in the center of a 3.0 cm diameter charged circular disk. The disks charge
density is kept at 3.0 C/m2. The heating element is a spherical electrode 0.10 mm in diameter that is
kept at a very high charge of -0.10C. There is 1.0 cm between the heating element and the hole in the
disk. Your first step is to determine if the electrons are going fast enough. Your boss has pointed that
the hole in the disk is too large to ignore in your calculations. Using your physics text you find that the
mass of the electron is 9.11 x 10-31 kg.
15. Electric Potential Energy - Gausss Law: You have landed a summer job working with an
Astrophysics group investigating the origin of high-energy particles in the galaxy. The group you are
joining has just discovered a large spherical nebula with a radius 1.2 million km. The nebula consists of
about 5 x 1010 hydrogen nuclei (protons) which appear to be uniformly distributed in the shape of a
sphere. At the center of this sphere of positive charge is a very small neutron star. Your group had
detected electrons emerging from the nebula. A friend of yours has a theory that the electrons are
coming from the neutron star. To test that theory, she asks you to calculate the minimum speed that an
electron would need to start from the neutron star and just make it to outside the nebula. From the
inside cover of your trusty physics text you find that the charge of a proton (and an electron) is 1.6 x 1019 C, the mass of the proton is 1.7 x 10-27 kg, and the mass of the electron is 9.1 x 10 -31 kg.
16. Electric Potential Energy, Gausss Law: You are working in cooperation with the Public Health
department to design an electrostatic trap for particles from auto emissions. The average particle enters
the device and is exposed to ultraviolet radiation that knocks off electrons so that it has a charge of
+3.0 x 10-8 C. This average particle is then moving at a speed of 900 m/s and is 15 cm from a very
long negatively charged wire with a linear charge density of -8.0 x 10-6 C/m. The detector for the
particle is located 7.0 cm from the wire. In order to design the proper kind of detector, your colleagues
need to know the speed that an average emission particle will have if it hits the detector. They tell you
that an average emission particle has a mass of 6.0 x 10-9 kg.
17.. Electric Potential Energy, Heat Energy (Heat Capacity, Latent Heat): You are reading a
newspaper report of a lightning strike in Jackson, Wyoming. Two men were sitting at a table outside a
small cafe on a beautiful 30 oC day when a thunderstorm approached. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning
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struck a large aspen tree near their table. Needless to say, the men were very startled. One of the men
remarked, "It just about scared the espresso out of me." They reported that when the bolt hit the tree
and there was a loud hiss and a release of much steam from the tree. The lightning had boiled away
some of the tree's sap. You are curious, and wonder how much water could be evaporated in this
manner. So you study your physics book and make a few estimates and assumptions. You estimate
that the electric potential difference between the tree and the thunderhead cloud was about 108 volts,
and the amount of charge released by the bolt was about 50 Coulombs. You also assume that about
1% of the electrical energy was actually transferred into the sap, which is essentially water. The specific
heat capacity of water is 4200 J/(kg oC) and its heat of vaporization is 2.3 x 106 J/kg.
18. Electric Potential Energy, Gravitational Force: NASA has asked your team of rocket scientists
about the feasibility of a new satellite launcher that will save rocket fuel. NASA's idea is basically an
electric slingshot that consists of 4 electrodes arranged in a horizontal square with sides of length d at a
height h above the ground. The satellite is then placed on the ground aligned with the center of the
square. A power supply will provide each of the four electrodes with a charge of +Q/4 and the satellite
with a charge -Q. When the satellite is released from rest, it moves up and passes through the center of
the square. At the instant it reaches the square's center, the power supply is turned off and the
electrodes are grounded, giving them a zero electric charge. To test this idea, you decide to use energy
considerations to calculate how big Q will have to be to get a 100 kg satellite to a sufficient orbit height.
Assume that the satellite starts from 15 meters below the square of electrodes and that the sides of the
square are each 5 meters. In your physics text you find the mass of the Earth to be 6.0 x 1024 kg.
19.. Electric Potential Energy, Mechanical Energy: You have been able to get a part-time job in a
University laboratory. The group is planning a set of experiments to study the forces between nuclei in
order to understand the energy output of the Sun. To do this experiment, you shoot alpha particles
from a Van de Graaf accelerator at a sheet of lead. The alpha particle is the nucleus of a helium atom
and is made of 2 protons and 2 neutrons. The lead nucleus is made of 82 protons and 125 neutrons.
The mass of the neutron is almost the same as the mass of a proton. To assure that you are actually
studying the effects of the nuclear force, an alpha particle should come into contact with a lead nucleus.
Assume that both the alpha particle and the lead nucleus have the shape of a sphere. The alpha particle
has a radius of 1.0 x 10-13 cm and the lead nucleus has a radius 4 times larger. Your boss wants you to
make two calculations:
(a) What is the minimum speed of such an alpha particle if the lead nucleus is fixed at rest?
(b) What is the potential difference between the two ends of the Van de Graaf accelerator if the alpha
particle starts from rest at one end (from a bottle of helium gas)?
Electric Power
20. It's a cool day, about 10 oC, so you plan to make about 5.0 kg of clear soup using your slow cooking
crockpot. To decide whether the soup will be ready for dinner, you estimate how long it will take
before the soup gets to its boiling point. Before adding the ingredients, you turn the crockpot over and
read that it is a 200-ohm device that operates at 120 volts. Since your soup is mostly water, you
assume it has the same thermal properties as water, so its specific heat capacity is 4200 J/(kg oC) and
its heat of vaporization is 2.3 x 106 J/kg.
21. You are working with a company that has the contract to design a new, 700-foot high, 50-story office
building in Minneapolis. Your boss suddenly bursts into your office. She has been talking with an
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engineer who told her that when the elevator is operating at maximum speed, it would take the 6500-lb
loaded elevator one minute to rise 20 stories. She thinks this is too long a time for these busy executives
to spend in an elevator after returning from lunch at the Minneapolis Athletic Club. She wants you to
buy a bigger power supply for the elevator. You look up the specifications for the new supply and find
that it is the same as the old one except that it operates at twice the voltage. Your boss's assistant
argues that the operating expenses of the new power supply will be much more than the old one. Your
boss wants you to determine if this is correct. You estimate that while the elevator runs at maximum
speed, the whole system, including the power supply, is 60% efficient. The cost of electricity is $0.06
per kilowatt-hour (commercial rate).
22. You have finally graduated from college and found a job with the Washington State Agricultural
Concerns Group. Farmers and fishermen are concerned that the rate that water flows in the Columbia
river, which is controlled by dams, will not be adequate for both irrigation needs and salmon spawning.
The dams control the river's flow rate to produce most of the electrical power for cities along the West
Coast. Your group leader assigns you the task of calculating the volume of water per second (flow
rate) which normally would flow through the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest on the Columbia River.
She tells you that this dam typically generates 2000 megawatts (MW) of power and is 50% efficient in
converting the water's energy to electrical energy. The dam is 170 meters high ,and the water is kept in
a lake 10 meters below the top of the dam. The Columbia River is 170 meters wide at the dam. The
density of water is 1.00 g/cm3.
Circuits
23. Ohms Law: Because of your physics background, you landed a summer job as an assistant technician
for a telephone company in California. During a recent earthquake, a 1.0-mile long underground
telephone line is crushed at some point. This telephone line is made up of two parallel copper wires of
the same diameter and same length, which are normally not connected. At the place where the line is
crushed, the two wires make contact. Your boss wants you to find this place so that the wire can be dug
up and fixed. You disconnect the line from the telephone system by disconnecting both wires of the line
at both ends. You then go to one end of the line and connect one terminal of a 6.0-V battery to one
wire, and the other terminal of the battery to one terminal of an ammeter (which has essentially zero
resistance). When the other terminal of the ammeter is connected to the other wire, the ammeter shows
that the current through the wire is 1 A. You then disconnect everything and travel to the other end of
the telephone line, where you repeat the process and find a current of 1/3 A.
24. Ohm's Law: You have a summer job in the University ecology lab. Your supervisor asks you to
duplicate an electromagnet that she has borrowed. She tells you that this electromagnet is made by
wrapping a wire many times around a piece of iron and provides you with all the parts, the same type of
wire of the same diameter and an identical iron core. What you need to know is how much wire to
wrap around the iron. Unfortunately, you cannot simply unwrap the wire from the borrowed magnet
because that will destroy it. On the side of the electromagnet, it tells you that when a potential
difference of 12 V is put across the ends of its wire, there is a current of 0.06 A through the wire. With
a brilliant flash of insight, you realize that the cross-sectional area and the conductivity is the same for
both the magnet's wire and the wire you have, so you can find the length with a simple experiment. You
cut off a 100-foot piece of identical wire from your supply, attach it to a 1.5-V flashlight battery and
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measure a current of 0.10 A through that wire. Eureka! you can now find the length of the magnet's
wire.
25 Electric Power: You and a friend are studying for an exam and the session goes until the early
morning. At about 4 am you decide to cook some breakfast. Despite being sleepy you've got the
coffee perking. Now you want to make some waffles but you realize there might be a problem. The
1000-watt waffle iron and the 600-watt coffee maker are plugged into the 110 V kitchen electrical
outlets. If you plug in your 700-watt blender, will you overload the 20 A circuit breaker? The circuit
breaker protects those kitchen circuit wires that have the most current from carrying too much current.
You are trying to figure out how the electrical outlets are connected together in a circuit when your
friend reminds you that when you disconnect the coffeepot, the waffle iron stays on. Now everything is
clear.
26. Electric Power: You and a friend are studying for a final and the session goes until the early morning.
About 4 AM you decide to cook some breakfast. Despite being sleepy, things are going well. The
waffles are cooking and the coffee is perking. Should you make some toast now? The 1000-watt
waffle iron and the 600-watt coffee maker are plugged into kitchen wall electrical outlets. You will also
use a kitchen wall outlet for the toaster. The kitchen wall outlets are all part of the same 110-V circuit
which has a 20-A circuit breaker (with negligible resistance) to protect the wire carrying the largest
current from getting too hot. (Some homes have fuses to do the same job). You know that if you plug
in too many appliances you will overload the circuit breaker. The toaster label says that its power
output is 700 watts.
27. Electric Power: As a member of the safety group for the space shuttle scientific program, you have
been asked to evaluate an electronics design change. In order to improve the reliability of a circuit to be
used in the next shuttle flight, the experimental design team has suggested adding a second 12 V battery
to the circuit. The equivalent resistances of the proposed design are shown below. You are worried
about the heat generated by the device with the 20 ohm resistance since it will be located next to a
sensitive low temperature experiment so you do the appropriate calculation.
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100
28. Electric Power: As part of your summer
job as a design engineer at an electronics
company, you have been asked to inspect the
circuit shown below. The resistors are rated
at 0.5 Watts, which means they burn-up if
more than 0.5 Watts of power passes
through them. Will the 100 resistor in the
circuit burn-up?
9 V -+
3
13
6V
200
29. Electric Power: While trying to find the power ratings of your appliances you find their circuit
diagrams. Looking them over, your friend believes there must be a typo in the circuit diagram of your
toaster. The heating element that toasts the bread is listed as having a resistance of 5 ohms. A variable
resistor, which is changed by a knob on front of the toaster, has a range of from 2 to 20 ohms. Your
friend feels that an element with this resistance will not toast bread properly. Based on the circuit
diagram, given below, you decide to calculate the maximum power output by the heating element.
Magnetic Force and Field

30. Magnetic Force: You are working on a project to make a more efficient engine. Your team is
investigating the possibility of making electrically controlled valves that open and close the input and
exhaust openings for an internal combustion engine. Your assignment is to determine the stability of the
valve by calculating the force on each of its sides and the net force on the valve. The valve is made of a
thin but strong rectangular piece of non-magnetic material that has a loop of current carrying wire along
its edges. The rectangle is 0.35 cm x 1.83 cm. The valve is placed in a uniform magnetic field of 0.15
T such that the field lies in the plane of the valve and is parallel to the short sides of the rectangle. The
region with the magnetic field is slightly larger than the valve. When a switch is closed, a 1.7 A current
enters the short side of the rectangle on one side of the valve and leaves on the opposite side. To give
different currents through the wires along the long sides of the valve, a resistor is inserted into the wire
on each of these sides. The value of the resistor on one side is twice that on the other side.
31. Magnetic Force: You have landed a great summer job in the medical school assisting in a research
group investigating short lived radioactive isotopes which might be useful in fighting cancer. Your group
is working on a way of transporting alpha particles (Helium nuclei) from where they are made to another
room where they will collide with other material to form the isotopes. Since the radioactive isotopes are
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not expected to live very long, it is important to know precisely how much time it will take to transport
the alpha particles. Your job is to design that part of the transport system which will deflect the beam of
alpha particles (m = 6.64 x 10-27 kg, q = 3.2 x 10-19 C) through an angle of 90o by using a magnetic
field. The beam will be traveling horizontally in an evacuated tube. At the place the tube is to make a
90o turn you decide to put a dipole magnet which provides a uniform vertical magnetic field of 0.030 T.
Your design has a tube of the appropriate shape between the poles of the magnet. Before you submit
your design for consideration, you must determine how long the alpha particles will spend in the uniform
magnetic field in order to make the 90o -turn.
32. Magnetic Force: You've just learned about the earth's magnetic field and how a compass works and
you are relaxing in front of the TV. Tired of your show, you think about how the picture tube works in
relation to what you have learned. In a typical color picture tube for a TV, the electrons are boiled off
of a cathode at the back of the tube and are accelerated through about 20,000 volts towards the picture
tube screen. On the screen is a grid of ``color dots'' about 1/100 inch apart. When the electrons hit
them, the dots scintillate their appropriate colors producing the color picture. Without taking apart the
set, you determine whether the manufacturer needed to shield the color picture tube from the earth's
magnetic field?
33. Magnetic Field (Biot-Savart Law): You are continually having

troubles with the CRT screen of your computer and wonder if it is
due to magnetic fields from the power lines running in your
building. A blueprint of the building shows that the nearest power
line is as shown below. Your CRT screen is located at point P.
Calculate the magnetic field at P as a function of the current I and
the distances a and b. Segments BC and AD are arcs of
concentric circles. Segments AB and DC are straight-line
segments.
34. Magnetic Field - Amperes Law: While studying intensely for your physics final you decide to take a
break and listen to your stereo. As you unwind, your thoughts drift to newspaper stories about the
dangers of household magnetic fields on the body. You examine your stereo wires and find that most of
them are coaxial cable, a thin conducting wire at the center surrounded by an insulator, which is in turn
surrounded by a conducting shell. The inner wire and the conducting shell are both part of the circuit
with the same current (I) passing through both, but in opposite directions. As a way to practice for your
physics final you decide to calculate the magnetic field in the insulator, and outside the coaxial cable as a
function of the current and the distance from the center of the cable. As an additional challenge to
yourself, you calculate what the magnetic field would be (as a function of the current and the distance
from the center of the cable) inside the outer conducting shell of the coaxial cable. For this you assume
that the inner radius of the conducting shell is R1 and the outer radius is R2.
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35. Magnetic Force - Faradays Law: You have a summer job working at a company developing
systems to safely lower large loads down ramps. Your team is investigating a magnetic system by
modeling it in the laboratory. The safety system is a conducting bar that slides on two parallel
conducting rails that run down the ramp. The bar is perpendicular to the rails and is in contact with
them. At the bottom of the ramp, the two rails are connected together. The bar slides down the rails
through a vertical uniform magnetic field. The magnetic field is supposed to cause the bar to slide down
the ramp at a constant velocity even when friction between the bar and the rails is negligible. Before
setting up the laboratory model, your task is to calculate the constant velocity of the bar sliding down
the ramp on rails in a vertical magnetic field as a function of the mass of the bar, the strength of the
magnetic field, the angle of the ramp from the horizontal, the length of the bar which is the same as the
distance between the tracks, and the resistance of the bar. Assume that all of the other conductors in
the system have a much smaller resistance than the bar.
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5. Problem-Solving Labs
This chapter contains some materials that describe our cooperative-group problem solving labs. This
material is described below.
Page
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Problem-solving Labs?
119
We use this handout in our TA Orientation. It gives a brief introduction to the structure
of our labs, and answers the following questions:
What goals are addressed by these labs?
Why this style of lab?
Why do students tend to dislike labs?
Why have students work in cooperative groups?
Why are there so many exercises in each lab?
Why don't the lab instructions give the necessary theory?
What is the reason for giving minimal laboratory instructions?
Why should the students write up lab exercises?
What is the function of the pre-lab computer check out?
Comparison of Different Types of Lab Structures
125
This table compares our problem-solving labs with traditional verification labs and
inquiry labs.
General Lesson Plan for the Problem-solving Labs
126
This is another handout we use in TA Orientation. It gives detailed (and repetitious)

teaching tips for how to conduct cooperative-group problem solving labs.
Table of Contents for Calculus-Based Introductory Labs
132
This table of contents illustrates the structure of the lab manuals -- equipment and
measurement issues are in appendices.
1st Semester (Physics 1301)
2nd Semester (Physics 1302)
Laboratory Manual: Introduction to Problem-solving Labs
137
This is a description of what students need to do to be successful in the lab.
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Page
Example of Adapting a Textbook Problem
Lab Manual's Introduction to the Forces Lab: Example of our brief introduction to a
Lab (which lasts 2 or 3 weeks), including the Objectives and Preparation.
147
Enhanced Version of Problem #2: Forces in Equilibrium. We have added the

commentary students read only for the first lab problem at the beginning of the first
semester. The commentary describes the purpose of each part of a lab problem, and
appropriate student actions.
148
Instructor's guide for the Forces Lab: This shows the typical guidance our TAs have for
teaching a problem-solving lab.
Example of an Exploratory Lab Problem
153
160
2nd Semester, Lab 5, Exploratory Problem #7 (Magnets and Moving Charge): This is
a typical example of an exploratory problem -- qualitative Prediction, no Method
Questions.
Example of the Importance of Predictions
2nd Semester, Lab 1, Problem #4 (Gravitational Force on the Electron): This lab leads
to results that usually do not match students predictions. The unexpected results are
explored in a further problem.
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163
Frequently Asked Questions About the Laboratory

Written for teaching assistants (TAs)
Introduction:
These lab instructions are probably different than those you are used to. You will not find a detailed
discussion of the principles explored by the lab; you will not find any algebra deriving the equation to be used
in the lab; and you will not find step-by-step instructions telling the students what to do. These labs allow
students to practice making decisions based on the physics presented in the other parts of the class: the
discussion sections, the lecture, and the text.
The lab instructions are divided into 4 to 5 two-to-three-week units (labs), an equipment appendix, and
five technique appendices. The labs themselves are comprised of an introduction page and several
problems. Notice that we do not do experiments in our laboratory. The lab problems are similar to the ones
found at the end of a textbook chapter or on a quiz, which the students to solve and then compare the
solution to nature. Typically an problem should take the students about an hour to complete (if they have
done their homework). They should analyze all the data and reach a conclusion in class before starting a
new problem. The problems are further broken down into sections which represent the process expert
researchers use in a laboratory. The sections are: introduction to the problem, description of the equipment,
a prediction of the outcome, method questions, exploration, measurement, analysis and conclusion.
Each problem begins by describing a context in which a problem arises. This context has been selected
to be relevant to the students. The equipment is then described in enough detail to allow the students to
predict the outcome of the problem. The questions in the next two sections (Prediction and Method
Questions) are to be answered by the students before they come into lab and will be checked by the lab
instructor (you) within the first five to ten minutes of class. The Prediction is a quantitative or qualitative
solution to the problem. The Methods Questions are designed to help the student either complete the
prediction or plan the analysis the data before they come to lab. Typically, the introduction to each lab class
will begin when you ask the members of each group to arrive at a consensus about one or more of these
questions and then put its answer on the blackboard. Then have a class discussion comparing and
contrasting these answers. Remember, the purpose of the introduction is to get students to make an
intellectual commitment to the lab. They do not need to arrive at the correct answer to the questions until
after they have completed the problem. The Exploration section encourages the students to get familiar with
the apparatus so they will understand the range over which valid measurements can be made. The
Measurement section asks the students to think about the kinds of measurements needed to test the
prediction. The Analysis section asks the students to process their data so that they can interpret their results
in the Conclusions section.
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FAQ About the Labs
Grading:
Students are graded on a ten point scale. They receive one point per week for their prediction and the
answers to the methods questions, and they receive another point each week for keeping a competent lab
journal. Each student is also required to write a lab report for one problem, which is different for each
member of a group. That problem is assigned by the instructor (you) at the end of the two week lab period.
This report should be a concise and self-contained technical report which is essentially a clarification of the
student's lab journal. It should only be about three pages in length. You will assign up to six points for this
report.
To encourage cooperation in lab groups, the students should be awarded bonus points if everyone in
their group receives more than eight points on the report. You may want to generate a little peer pressure for
preparation by giving a bonus point if everyone in a group comes to lab with a complete set of answers for
the prediction and methods questions.
Frequently Asked Questions:

What goals are addressed by these labs?
There are many possible reasons of doing a physics laboratory. For example, a lab could allow students
to:
confront their preconceptions of how the world works;
practice their problem solving skills;
learn how to use equipment;
learn how to design an experiment;
observe an event which does not have an easy explanation to realize new knowledge is needed;
gain an appreciation of the difficulty and joy of doing and interpreting an experiment;
experience what real scientists do; and
have fun by doing something more active than sitting and listening.
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FAQ About the Labs
It is impossible to satisfy all of these goals with a single laboratory design. Because this course follows
the traditional structure of learning physics through solving problems, we have focused the laboratories
toward PROBLEM SOLVING. Since the most important reason that our students cannot solve physics
problems is that they have misconceptions about the physics, our second goal is to confront some of those
misconceptions in the laboratory.
Why this style of lab?

Most physicists feel that labs are an essential part of a physics course because physics describes reality.
Some have gone so far as to state that all physics instruction should take place in the laboratory.
Nevertheless, labs are the most expensive way to teach physics. Research to determine the benefit of labs in
teaching physics has consistently shown that labs which give students explicit instructions in a "cookbook"
style have little value, particularly to address a problem-solving goal. The research also shows that "handson" experience is an efficient way of overcoming misconceptions. In our teaching environment, the
laboratory is the only opportunity for you to interact with small groups of students during an extended period.
Because the students have specific and visible goals, it is easier for the instructor (you) to determine their
physics difficulties by observing them. Solving a problem in the laboratory requires the student to make a
chain of decisions based on their physics knowledge. Wrong decisions based on wrong physics lead to
experimental problems that you can observe and correct.
How can I make my students like and value the labs?
Instructor attitude is the most important factor in determining what the students like. If the instructor likes
the labs and thinks they are valuable, then the students will tend to like the labs. The converse is also true.
Even before starting the class, many students consider labs as "busy work" which have nothing to do with the
content of the course. Labs have required attendance, so some students see their object as getting a task
done as fast as possible so they can leave -- the "take-the-data-and-run" approach. This view is reinforced
when (a) students are given step-by-step instructions focused on doing the task as efficiently as possible; (b)
the lab instructor spends a majority of the lab time helping groups get their apparatus working so they can get
done; (c) the lab instructions have all the necessary information, so the students do not need to use the
textbook or the lectures; (d) the problems are not seen as challenging; and (e) there is no reference to the
labs in the lectures or on tests.
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FAQ About the Labs
The physical appearance of the lab is also very important in determining student attitude. Students will
also dislike the labs if they are overly frustrated in their attempts to operate in the laboratory environment.
An instructor who takes time to assure that the lab is neat and orderly before the students enter gives the
message that the students' lab work is important.
Why have students work in groups?
The simplest answer is that a well functioning group is the most efficient way to solve any problem.
However, in this class we have more definite educational reasons. Students working in groups must discuss
what their thoughts are -- they get practice in "talking physics." This discussion tends to bring their physics
preconceptions (alternative conceptions) to the surface so they can deal with them. It is a clich that the
"best way to learn is to teach," but it is true. Working in the same groups in both laboratory and discussion
section allows students to become more familiar with each other so that they feel comfortable enough to
discuss their physics difficulties. Having the same groups and instructor for both the laboratory and
discussion section also explicitly connects the lab to the rest of the course. In addition, students working in
groups make teaching more manageable for the instructor. Instead of trying to serve 18 individual students,
you interact with 6 groups, so you can be their "coach" to help them become better problem solvers. By
pooling their knowledge and experiences, members of a group will get "stuck" less often which leaves the
instructor freer to concentrate on groups which are on the wrong track.
Why are there so many problems in each lab?
These labs have been written so that there are more problems than the typical group can complete in the
time allotted. This emphasizes that the function of the lab is to learn the physics not to get the problems
"done." The teaching team for each course can then choose a preferred order of problems and the minimum
number of problems to be completed to match the emphasis of the lectures. In addition, the extra problems
allow each lab instructor (you) the flexibility to select the material to meet the needs of each particular group.
Some of your groups may understand the material and need to be challenged with more difficult problems to
deepen their knowledge. This also keeps these groups from becoming bored. On the other hand, some
groups will have difficulty in understanding the basic physics being presented and may need to concentrate on
a single, straight-forward problem or do a second very similar problem.
Why don't the lab instructions give the necessary theory?
This is to emphasize that the laboratory is an integral part of the entire course. The theory is available in
the textbook and the preparation section for each laboratory gives which sections are to be read. Reading
the text and doing the predictions and method questions for each problem gives an adequate preparation for
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FAQ About the Labs
the lab. A computer check out is used to assure that each student has a basic understanding of the necessary
text material before coming to class. Doing the lab problems should help, with the guidance of the lab
instructor, clarify and solidify the ideas in the text and in the lecture.
What is the reason for giving minimal laboratory instructions?
One of the primary goals of the laboratory is to help students learn to solve physics problems better.
Good problem solving requires informed decision making. Most of these students need a great deal of
practice in making analytical decisions. The labs are designed to leave most of the decisions up to the
students. As with any problem, usually there are several correct paths. Discussing the possible choices
within the group gives each student the opportunity to solidify correct concepts and dispel alternative
conceptions. This freedom also allows groups to make incorrect choices. It is another true clich "that we
learn from our mistakes". Observing these incorrect decisions allows the instructor (you) to teach to the
needs of the particular students or groups.
Why should the students write up lab problems?
No matter how conscientious the lab instructor is, many students will leave the lab with some of the same
misconceptions as when they entered. The presentation of the course material may also generate new
misconceptions. Reading a student's words gives the instructor valuable knowledge about that student's
knowledge of the physics. This can help you direct your teaching more effectively. In addition, these
students need to begin the process of clear, concise, meaningful written technical communication that they
will need in their careers.
What is the function of the pre-lab computer check out?
This set of questions are available in selected computer labs around campus. They are designed to make
sure that students have read the relevant sections of the text before they come to your laboratory. The
questions require minimal understanding of the concepts in the text and are a good preparation for the
lectures as well as the laboratory. Students are required to score at least 75% to pass. If a student misses a
question, the test is expanded to give them another chance to answer a similar question correctly. The more
questions that the student misses, the longer the test. Student can take the check out as many times as they
wish. They can use their textbook, their notes, and consult with other students when they take the check out.
The important thing is that they come to lab prepared. When a student keeps getting the same question
wrong even though they are sure they put in the right answer, it is almost never a computer glitch -- usually
the student has an alternative conception. This is an excellent opportunity for instruction. Each students'
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FAQ About the Labs
scores, questions missed, the number of times the check out is taken, and the time the student takes are all
recorded in a file for your use. A student who has read the material with some understanding should pass the
check out in less than 15 minutes. Of course, this rarely happens. Typically students read their text for the
first time while they are taking the test, so they can take from 30 - 45 minutes to learn the information. If a
student is taking more than 60 minutes to pass the test, this is probably too much time and you should discuss
the problem with the student.
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Page 125
Students are given theory and how to

apply it to the lab.
Students are given the prediction

(value measurement should yield).
Students are told how to make the

measurements.
Students determine how well their

measurement matches the accepted
value.
CONCLUSION:
Emphasis is on precision and

experimental errors.
Emphasis is on concepts
(quantitatively).
Students determine if their own ideas

(prediction) match their measurement.
CONCLUSION:
Students usually given analysis

technique(s).
Students decide in groups details of

analysis.
ANALYSIS:
Students decide in groups how to make

the measurements (guided qualitative
exploration).
ANALYSIS:
Students are told what to measure.
Students are told what to measure.
METHODS:
Students predict what their

measurements should yield.
Students must apply theory from

text/lecture.
METHODS:
Students are given quantity to compare

with measurement.
Students are given a context-rich

problem to solve.
INTRODUCTION:
To illustrate, support what is being

learned in the course.
MAJOR GOAL:
U OF MN P ROBLEM-SOLVING LABS
INTRODUCTION:
To illustrate, support what is being

learned in the course and teach
experimental techniques.
MAJOR GOAL:
TRADITIONAL VERIFICATION LABS
Sometimes students are asked for a

prediction.
Sometimes students are given related

theory.
Students are given a question to

answer.
Students decide how to make the

measurements (open-ended qualitative
exploration).
Students decide what to measure.
Emphasis is on concepts
(qualitatively).
Students must determine analysis

techniques.
Students construct an hypothesis to

explain their results.
CONCLUSION:
ANALYSIS:
METHODS:
INTRODUCTION:
To learn the process of doing science.
MAJOR GOAL:
INDUCTIVE OR "INQUIRY LABS
Typical Objections To Cooperative Group Discussion Sections
Outline: General Plan for Teaching a Laboratory

What the Students Do
Opening
Moves:
15 min
What the TA Does
Do their individual predictions before

they get to class.
0. Get to the laboratory

classroom early.
Arrive at group consensus about their

prediction(s).
1. Check individual predictions in

grade book.
Recorder/checker puts group

prediction on board.
2. Diagnose major conceptual

problems.
Participate in discussion about

prediction(s).
3. Lead class discussion about

reasons for group predictions
4. Assign groups problems to
complete.
5. Tell class time they need to
stop and remind managers to
keep track of time.
Do the assigned laboratory problems:

Middle
Game
6. Diagnose problems
- explore apparatus
7. Intervene when necessary
- decide on measurement plan
8. When appropriate, grade

journals
- execute measurement plan

- analyze data as they go along
- discuss conclusions . . .
Finish problem, clean up lab area.

End Game:
9. Ten minutes before you want

them to stop, tell students to
find a good stopping place and
clean up their area. Make sure
you are done grading journals.
Also pass out group
functioning forms at this time.
10. Select one person from each
group to put their results or
data on the board.
10-20 min
Participate in class discussion.
11. Lead a class discussion of

these results.
12. If necessary, lead a class
discussion of group
functioning
13. Tell students what problem to
do predictions for next week.
14. Assign students problems to
write up (if last lab).
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Lab Lesson Plan
Detailed Advice for TAs about General Laboratory Lesson Plan

0. Get to the laboratory classroom early.
When you get to the classroom, go in and lock the door, leaving your early students outside. The best
time for informal talks with students is after the lab!
Prepare the classroom by checking to see that there is no garbage around the room and that the proper
equipment is on student tables and on the front table. On the blackboards, provide space for each group
to present its predictions. If you have changed groups, list the new groups on the board at this time also.
Let your students in when you are prepared to teach the lab.
To keep the students from starting the problem before they discuss their predictions, set aside a small but
necessary piece of equipment. Pass this out only after the predictions and discussion are complete.
1. Check students' individual predictions in your grade book
This should be done within the first five to ten minutes of the starting time for the laboratory session,
and not after. That is one of the best ways that has been found to encourage students to be on time to
class.
2. Diagnose major conceptual problems
This is easier to do for some problems than others. When possible, the mentor TAs will pass out
research papers on common alternative conceptions that relate to current laboratories, and alternative
conceptions will be discussed in the weekly all-TA meetings.
No matter how severe students' conceptual problems seem to be, how unprepared students seem to be,
DO NOT LECTURE to students at the start of lab. They have an opportunity to see the theory of
physics in their lectures and textbooks, but lab gives them an opportunity to find out for themselves
whether they are right about the way the world works. Even if the lecturer has not yet covered the
material (which happens occasionally), DO NOT LECTURE the students about the concepts or lab
procedures. Many lab problems serve as good introductions to a topic, and need only minimal reading
from the text for students to be able to complete the Predictions and Methods Questions before the lab.
3. Lead class discussion about reasons for group predictions
This is important! Many students can come up with correct answers or reasonable looking graphs for
strange reasons that do not follow the accepted laws of physics. If you do not discuss these reasons,
your students will never realize later that their reasoning is incorrect. DO NOT TELL THE STUDENTS
IF THEIR PREDICTIONS ARE CORRECT! This would spoil the whole purpose of the labs.
4. Assign groups problems to complete (if necessary)
If you have a group that is working very quickly, assign them longer or harder problems. If you have a
group that is experiencing great difficulties, remember that it is better that they spend two or even three
hours on the first problem, and learn it, than that they work quickly and do not learn.
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Lab Lesson Plan
5. Tell class when (at what time) they need to stop and remind managers to keep track of time.
If you see that there are prevalent or varied alternative conceptions shown in students' group predictions
and reasons, you will want to stop students earlier so that you can have a longer discussion of their
results. If, on the other hand, students seem to understand the relevant physics before they begin their
laboratory problem, you will not need as much time for discussion. The students should then be able to
complete the problem very quickly to check their prediction.
6. Diagnose any initial problems getting started
Once the groups have settled into their task, spend about five minutes circulating and observing all
groups. Try not to explain anything (except trivial clarification) until you have observed all groups at least
once. This will allow you to determine if a whole-class intervention is necessary to clarify the task (e.g.,
Be sure to . . . ).
7. Monitor groups and intervene when necessary
When students work in cooperative groups, they make hidden thinking processes overt, so these
processes are subject to observation and commentary. You will be able to observe how students are
constructing their understanding of physics concepts and the problem-solving strategy.
While groups are working, a significant fraction of your time should be spent monitoring (observing and
listening to group members) in order to see
what they do and do not understand, and
what problems they have working together cooperatively.
With this knowledge, your interventions can be more efficient. DO NOT get trapped into going from
group to group explaining the task/physics or answering questions. If you begin intervening too soon, it is
not fair to the last groups. By the time you recognize that all groups may have the same difficulty, the last
groups will have wasted considerable time.
a
Monitoring
Establish a circulation pattern around the room. Stop and observe each group to see how easily
they are solving the experimental problem and how well they are working together. Don't spend a
long time with any one group. Keep well back from students' line of sight so they don't focus on
you.
Make notes about student difficulties with the task and with group functioning so you know what
end-game moves to make.
If several groups are having the same difficulty, you may want to stop the whole class and clarify
the task or make additional comments that will help the students get back on track (e.g., I noticed
that you are all . . . Remember to . . .) Another strategy is to stop the class and have one group
(or several groups) show the class how they decided to make a certain measurement or carry out
a particular analysis. You can then spend a few minutes discussing how that measurement or
analysis could be done most effectively.
b. Intervening
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Lab Lesson Plan
From your observations (circulation pattern), decide which group (if any) is obviously struggling
and needs attention most urgently. Return to that group, watch for a moment and then join the
group at eye level. One way to intervene is to point out the problem and ask the appropriate
group what can be done about it. This establishes your role as one of coach rather than answergiver. Another way to intervene is to ask them (a) What are you doing? (b) Why are you doing
it? and (c) How will that help you? Try to give just enough help to get the group on track, then
leave.
One way to coach is to first diagnose the type of problem (e.g., managerial, came to decision too
quickly without considering all the options, can't agree on what procedure to use, etc.) Then ask:
"Who is the manager (or skeptic, or checker)? What should you be doing to help resolve this
problem?" If the student doesn't have any suggestions, then you could model several possibilities.
If you observe a group in which one student does not seem to be involved in the discussion and
decisions, ask that student to explain what the group is doing and why. This emphasizes the fact
that all group members need to be able to explain each step in solving the experimental problem.
If a group asks you a question, try to turn the question back to the group to solve. Again, try to
give just enough help to get the group started, then leave.
8. When appropriate, grade journals
This should be easy and quick to do. Check to see that students are keeping track of their data and that
they are doing analysis in their lab journals as they go along. If they are not, tell the students they have
lost their journal point(s). Losing a point once will prompt almost any student to improve his or her
journal keeping.
9. Ten minutes before you want them to stop, tell students to find a good stopping place and clean
up their area.
Make sure you are done grading journals. Also pass out group functioning forms at this time (if
necessary, about every 2 - 3 weeks). (Note: Another common teaching error is to provide too little
time for students to process the quality of their cooperation. Students do not learn from experiences that
they do not reflect on. If the groups are to function better next time, members must receive feedback,
reflect on how their actions may be more effective, and plan how to be even more skillful during the next
lab or discussion session.)
When you were an undergraduate, your laboratory instructor probably did not stop you to have a class
discussion at the end of the laboratory period. Doing this is one of the hardest things you will have to do
as a TA. You may be tempted to let students keep working so that they can get as much done as
possible, or to let them go home early so that they like you better. However, research has shown that
students do not learn from their laboratory experiences unless they have the chance to process their
information. One good way to do this is by comparing their results to their predictions with the whole
class.
Most students do not want to stop, and may try to keep working. If it is necessary, to make your
students stop working you can remove a small but essential piece of equipment (i.e., a battery or a
connecting cable) so that they are forced to stop taking data. You are in charge of the class, and if you
make it clear that you want the students to stop, they will.
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Lab Lesson Plan
10.
Select one person from each group to put their results or data on the board, so all students can
see what each group did.
Typically, the checker/recorder in each group is not selected. In the beginning of the course, select
students who are obviously interested, enthusiastic, and articulate. Later in the course, it is sometimes
effective to occasionally select a student who has not participated in the labs as much as you would like.
This reinforces the fact that all group members need to know and be able to explain what their group
did.
11.
Lead a class discussion of these results.

A whole-class discussion is commonly used to help students consolidate their ideas and make sense out
of what has been going on in the lab. Discussions serve several purposes:
to summarize what students have learned;
to help students find out what other students learned from the same problem;
to produce discrepancies which stimulate further discussion, thinking, or investigations; and
to provide a transition to the next problem.
These discussions should always be based on the groups, with individuals only acting as representatives
of a group. This avoids putting one student "on the spot." The trick is to conduct a discussion about the
results without (a) telling the students the "right" answer or becoming the final "authority" for the right
answers, and (b) without focusing on the "wrong" results of one group and making them feel stupid or
resentful. To avoid these pitfalls, you could try starting with general, open-ended questions such as:
- How are these results the same?
- How are these results different?
Then you can become more specific:
- What could be some reasons for them to be different?
- Are the differences important?
- Do these differences indicate a real difference in the physics, or are they a matter of judgment
(e.g., decisions about starting times and positions for a graph).
Always encourage an individual to get help from other group members if he or she is "stuck."
Encourage groups to talk to each other by redirecting the discussion back to the groups. For example, if
a group reports a certain result or conclusion, ask the rest of the class to comment: "What do the rest of
you think about that?" This helps avoid the problem of you becoming the final "authority" for the right
answer.
Students should be able to explain to their classmates how they collected and analyzed their data in order
to come up with the answer to the experimental problem. If their predictions were very different, ask
students to think about and discuss why they might have thought differently before and after the lab.
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Lab Lesson Plan
12.
If necessary, lead a class discussion about the group functioning.

Discussing group functioning occasionally is essential. Students need to hear difficulties other groups are
having, discuss different ways to solve these difficulties, and receive feedback from you.
Randomly call on one member from each group to report either
- one way they interacted well together, or
- one difficulty they encountered working together, or
- one way they could interact better next time.
Add your own feedback from observing your groups (e.g., "I noticed that many groups are
coming to an agreement too quickly, without considering all the possibilities. What might you do
in your groups to avoid this?")
13.
Tell students what problem to do predictions for next week

You will decide what problems all students should do in your team meetings. If there is extra time, you
can decide what problem all students will do based on your knowledge of the conceptual difficulties your
students have experienced up to this point.
14. Assign students problems to write up (if last session of lab).

Each student will write up one problem from each lab individually. If there was one person in a group
that was not participating as well as you would like in a particular problem, you might want to assign that
problem to the student. This way either the group will help the student catch up with the important
information, or the student will be taught (by the bad grade you will give) to participate in the future.
Page 131
Table of Contents
1st Semester Laboratory, Calculus-Based Introductory Physics
Introduction
Laboratory I: Description of Motion in One Dimension
Problem #1: Constant Velocity Motion
Problem #2: Motion Down an Incline
Problem #3: Motion Up and Down an Incline
Problem #4: Motion Down an Incline With an Initial Velocity
Problem #5: Mass and Motion Down an Incline
Problem #6: Motion on a Level Surface With an Elastic Cord
Check Your Understanding
Laboratory I Cover Sheet
INTRO -
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
1
3
11
16
21
26
31
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39
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
1
2
7
12
18
23
28
31
34
36
Laboratory III: Forces

Problem #1: Force and Motion
Problem #2: Forces in Equilibrium
Problem #3: Frictional Force
Problem #4: Normal and Kinetic Frictional Force I
Problem #5: Normal and Kinetic Frictional Force II
Table of Coefficients of Friction
Laboratory III Cover Sheet
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
1
2
8
12
17
21
25
26
29
Laboratory IV: Conservation of Energy and Momentum

Problem #1: Kinetic Energy and Work
Problem #2: Energy and Collisions When the Objects Stick Together
Problem #3: Energy and Collisions When the Objects Bounce Apart
Problem #4: Energy and Friction
Laboratory IV Cover Sheet
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
1
2
6
10
14
17
19
Laboratory II: Description of Motion in Two Dimensions

Problem #1: Mass and the Acceleration of a Falling Ball
Problem #2: Initial Conditions
Problem #3: Projectile Motion and Velocity
Problem #4: Bouncing
Problem #5: Acceleration and Circular Motion
Problem #6: A Vector Approach to Circular Motion
Problem #7: Acceleration and Orbits
Laboratory II Cover Sheet
Page 132
Laboratory V: Conservation of Energy and Momentum

Problem #1: Perfectly Inelastic Collisions
Problem #2: Elastic Collisions
Laboratory V Cover Sheet
Laboratory VI: Rotational Kinematics
Problem #1: Angular Speed and Linear Speed
Problem #2: Rotation and Linear Motion at Constant Speed
Problem #3: Angular and Linear Acceleration
Laboratory VII: Rotational Dynamics
Problem #1: Moment of Inertia of a Complex System
Problem #2: Moment of Inertia About Different Axes
Problem #3: Moment of Inertia With an Off-Axis Ring
Problem #4: Forces, Torques, and Energy
Problem #5: Conservation of Angular Momentum
Problem #6: Designing a Mobile
Problem #7: Equilibrium
Laboratory VI Cover Sheet
Appendix A:
Appendix B:
Appendix C:
Appendix D:
Appendix E:
Appendix F:
Appendix G:
Turn Your Macintosh On

Significant Figures
Accuracy, Precision, and Uncertainty
Graphing
Video Analysis of Motion
Sample Laboratory Report
Instructions for Using the Computer Lab-Prep Tests
V
V
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V
V
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2
6
10
13
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
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VII
VII
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Page 133
Table of Contents
2nd Semester Laboratory, Calculus-Based Introductory Physics
Introduction
INTRO - 1
Laboratory I: Electric Fields and Forces

Simulation Problem #1: Electric Field Vectors
Exploratory Problem #2: The Electric Field from a Dipole
Problem #3: The Electric Field from Parallel Charged Plates
Problem #4: Gravitational Force on the Electron
Problem #5: Deflection of an Electron Beam by an Electric Field
Problem #6: Deflection of an Electron Beam and Velocity
Laboratory I Cover Sheet
I
I
I
I
I
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3
7
10
13
18
23
28
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Laboratory II: Electric Fields and Electric Potentials

Problem #1: The Electric Field from Multiple Point Charges
Problem #2: The Electric Field from a Line of Charge
Problem #3: The Electric Potential from Multiple Point Charges
Problem #4: The Electric Potential from a Line of Charge
Laboratory II Cover Sheet
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
1
3
7
10
14
17
19
Laboratory III: Electric Energy and Capacitors

Problem #1: Electrical and Mechanical Energy
Problem #2: Simple Circuits with Capacitors
Exploratory Problem #3: Capacitance
Problem #4: Circuits with Two Capacitors
Laboratory III Cover Sheet
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
1
2
5
8
11
16
17
Laboratory IV: Electric Circuits

Exploratory Problem #1: Simple circuits
Exploratory Problem #2: More Complex Circuits
Exploratory Problem #3: Short Circuits
Exploratory Problem #4: Simple Circuits with Capacitors
Exploratory Problem #5: Circuits with Two Capacitors
Problem #6: Resistors and Light Bulbs
Problem #7: Quantitative Circuit Analysis (Part A)
Problem #8: Quantitative Circuit Analysis (Part B)
Problem #9: Qualitative Circuit Analysis
Laboratory IV Cover Sheet
IV
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Page 134
Laboratory V: Magnetic Fields and Forces

Problem #1: Permanent Magnets
Exploratory Problem #2: Current Carrying Wire
Exploratory Problem #3: Measuring the Magnetic Field of Permanent Magnets
Problem #4: Measuring the Magnetic Field of One Coil
Problem #5: Determining the Magnetic Field of a Coil
Problem #6: Measuring the Magnetic Field of Two Parallel Coils
Exploratory Problem #7: Magnets and Moving Charge
Problem #8: Magnetic Force on a Moving Charge
Laboratory VI: Electricity from Magnetism
Exploratory Problem #1: Magnetic Induction
Problem #2: Magnetic Flux
Problem #3: The Sign of the Induced Potential Difference
Problem #4: The Magnitude of the Induced Potential Difference
Problem #5: The Generator
Problem #6: Time-Varying Magnetic Fields
A Brief Introduction to RMS Measurements
Laboratory VI Cover Sheet
Appendix A:
Appendix B:
Appendix C:
Appendix D:
Appendix E:
Appendix F:
Equipment
Significant Figures
Accuracy, Precision, and Uncertainty
Graphing
Software
Sample Laboratory Report
V
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Page 135
Notes:
Page 136
WELCOME TO THE PHYSICS LABORATORY!

Physics is our human attempt to explain the workings of the world. The
success of that attempt is evident in the technology of our society. We are
surrounded by the products resulting from the application of that
understanding, technological inventions including clocks, cars, and computers.
You have already developed your own physical theories to understand the
world around you. Some of these ideas are consistent with the accepted
theories of physics while others are not. This laboratory is designed to focus
your attention on your interactions with the world so that you can recognize
where your ideas agree with those accepted by physics and where they do not.
You are presented with contemporary physical theories in lecture and in your
textbook. The laboratory is where you can apply those theories to problems in
the real world by comparing your application of those theories with reality.
The laboratory setting is a good one to clarify your ideas through discussions
with your classmates. You will also get to clarify these ideas through writing in
a report to be read by your instructor. Each laboratory consists of a set of
problems that ask you to make decisions about the real world. As you work
through the problems in this laboratory manual, remember that the goal is not
to make a lot of measurements. The goal is for you to examine your ideas about
the real world.
The three components of the course - lecture, discussion section, and laboratory
- each serve a different purpose. The laboratory is where physics ideas, often
expressed in mathematics, come to grips with the real world. Because different
lab sections meet on different days of the week, sometimes you will deal with
concepts in the lab before meeting them in lecture. In that case, the lab will
serve as a good introduction to the lecture. In other cases, when the lecture
about a topic precedes the lab, the lecture will be a good introduction to the lab.
The amount you learn in lab will depend on the time you spend in preparation
before coming to lab.
Before coming to lab each week you must read the appropriate sections of your text,
read the assigned problems to develop a fairly clear idea of what will be happening,
and complete the prediction and method questions for the assigned problems.
Often, your lab group will be asked to present its predictions and data to other
groups so that everyone can participate in understanding how specific
measurements illustrate general concepts of physics. You should always be
prepared to explain your ideas or actions to others in the class. To show your
instructor that you have made the appropriate connections between your
measurements and the basic physical concepts, you will be asked to write a
laboratory report. Guidelines for preparing lab reports can be found in the lab
manual appendices and in this introduction. An example of a good lab report is
shown in Appendix F. Please do not hesitate to discuss any difficulties with
your fellow students or the lab instructor.
Relax. Explore. Make mistakes. Ask lots of questions, and have fun.
Page 137
INTRODUCTION
WHAT TO DO TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THIS LAB:
Safety always comes first in any laboratory.

If in doubt about any procedure, or if it seems unsafe
to you, do not continue. Ask your lab instructor for
help.
A. What to bring to each laboratory session:
1. Bring an 8" by 10" graph-ruled lab journal, such as University of
Minnesota 2077-S to all lab sessions. Your journal is your
"extended memory" and should contain everything you do in the
lab and all of your thoughts as you are going along.
2. Bring a "scientific" calculator.
3. Bring this lab manual.
B. Prepare for each laboratory session:
Each laboratory consists of a series of related problems that can be
solved using the same basic concepts and principles. Sometimes all
lab groups will work on the same problem, other times groups will
work on different problems and share results.
1. Before beginning a new lab, you should carefully read the
Introduction, Objectives and Preparation sections. Read the
sections of the text specified in the Preparation section. Before you
come to the lab, you must pass a short lab-prep test covering some
basic material in the textbook.
These lab-prep tests are on computer and are designed to take about
15 minutes to complete. There are two designated computer sites
where you may access the lab-prep tests: Physics 130, and Computer
Science 3-166. Complete instructions are in Appendix G.
2. Each lab contains several different experimental problems. Before
you come to a lab, be sure you have completed the assigned
Page 138
INTRODUCTION
Prediction and Method Questions. The Method Questions will help

you build a prediction for the given problem. It is usually helpful
to answer the Method Questions before making the prediction.
These individual predictions will be checked (graded) by your
lab instructor immediately at the beginning of each lab session.
This preparation is crucial if you are going to get anything out of
your laboratory work. There are at least two other reasons for
preparing:
a) There is nothing more dull or exasperating than plugging
mindlessly into a procedure you do not understand.
b) The laboratory work is a group activity where every individual
contributes to the thinking process and activities of the group.
Other members of your group will not be happy if they must
consistently carry the burden of someone who isn't doing
his/her share.
C. Laboratory Problem Reports

At the end of every lab (about once every two weeks) you will be
assigned to write up one of the experimental problems. Your report
must present a clear and accurate account of what you and your group
members did, the results you obtained, and what the results mean. A
report is not to be copied or fabricated. To do so constitutes Scientific
Fraud. To make sure no one gets in that habit, such behavior will be
treated in the same manner as cheating on a test: A failing grade for
the course and possible expulsion from the University. It should
describe your predictions, your experiences, your observations, your
measurements, and your conclusions. A description of the lab report
format is discussed at the end of this introduction. Each lab report is
due, without fail, within two days of the end of that lab.
D. Attendance
Attendance is required at all labs without exception. If something
disastrous keeps you from your scheduled lab, contact your lab
instructor immediately. The instructor will arrange for you to attend
Page 139
INTRODUCTION
another lab section that same week. There are no make-up labs in
this course.
E. Grades
Satisfactory completion of the lab is required as part of your course
grade. Those not completing all lab assignments by the end of the semester at
a 60% level or better will receive a semester grade of F for
the entire course. The laboratory grade is 15% of your final course grade.
Once again, we emphasize that each lab report is due, without fail,
within two days of the end of that lab.
There are two parts of your grade for each laboratory: (a) your
laboratory journal, and (b) your formal problem report. Your
laboratory journal is graded by the lab instructor during the laboratory
sessions. Your problem report will be graded and returned to you in
your next lab session.
If you have made a good-faith attempt but your lab report is
unacceptable, your instructor may allow you to rewrite parts or all of
the report. A rewrite must be handed in again within two days of the
return of the report to you by the instructor, in order to obtain an
acceptable grade.
F.
The laboratory class forms a local scientific community. There are

certain basic rules for conducting business in this laboratory.
1. In all discussions and group work, full respect for all people is
required. All disagreements about work must stand or fall on
reasoned arguments about physics principles, the data, or
acceptable procedures, never on the basis of power, loudness, or
intimidation.
2.
Page 140
It is OK to make a reasoned mistake. It is in fact, one of the more efficient

ways to learn.
INTRODUCTION
This is an academic laboratory in which to learn things, to test

your ideas and predictions by collecting data, and to determine
which conclusions from the data are acceptable and reasonable to
other people and which are not.
What do we mean by a "reasoned mistake"? We mean that after careful
consideration and a substantial amount of thinking has gone into your ideas you
simply give your best prediction or explanation as you see it. Of course, there is
always the possibility that your idea does not accord with the accepted ideas.
Then someone says, "No, that's not the way I see it and here's why." Eventually
persuasive evidence will be offered for one viewpoint or the other.
"Speaking out" your explanations, in writing or vocally, is one of the best ways to
learn.
3. It is perfectly OK to share information and ideas with colleagues. Many

kinds of help are OK. Since members of this class have highly diverse
backgrounds, you are encouraged to help each other and learn from each
other.
However, it is never OK to copy the work of others.
Helping others is encouraged because it is one of the best ways for
you to learn, but copying is completely inappropriate and
unacceptable. Write out your own calculations and answer
questions in your own words. It is OK to make a reasoned
mistake; it is wrong to copy.
No credit will be given for copied work. It is also subject to University rules about
plagiarism and cheating, and may result in dismissal from the course and the
University. See the University course catalog for further information.
4. Hundreds of other students use this laboratory each week. Another class
probably follows directly after you are done. Respect for the environment
and the equipment in the lab is an important part of making this experience
a pleasant one.
The lab tables and floors should be clean of any paper or
"garbage." Please clean up your area before you leave the lab.
The equipment must be either returned to the lab instructor or left
neatly at your station, depending on the circumstances.
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INTRODUCTION
In summary, the key to making any community work is RESPECT.

Respect yourself and your ideas by behaving in a professional manner
at all times.
Respect your colleagues (fellow students) and their ideas.
Respect your lab instructor and his/her effort to provide you with an
environment in which you can learn.
Respect the laboratory equipment so that others coming after you in the
laboratory will have an appropriate environment in which to learn.
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INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS EXPECTED IN A PROBLEM REPORT?

HOW IS IT HANDLED?
1. Before you leave the laboratory, have the instructor assign the problem
you will write up and initial your cover sheet.
2. A cover sheet for each problem must be placed on top of each problem
report handed in to the instructor. A cover sheet can be found at the end
of every lab. It gives you a general outline of what to include in a report.
3. A problem report, is always due within two days of the end of the lab.
4. A problem report should be an organized, coherent display of your
thoughts, work, and accomplishments. It should be written neatly
(word processor recommended) in English that is clear, concise, and
correct. It may help you to imagine that hundreds of people will read
your report and judge you by it. Communication is the goal of the
report. In many cases tables and graphs can aid communication.
5. A sample report is included in Appendix F. Listed below are the major
headings which most lab reports use.
Major parts of a report:

COVER SHEET
See page 145 for a sample cover sheet.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
State the problem you were trying to solve, and how you went about it.
Describe the general type of physical behavior explored, and indicate
any theory from your textbook or lectures that was tested. If a
relationship was tested, use diagrams and equations to explain your
prediction.
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INTRODUCTION
DATA AND RESULTS

Following the problem statement is a Data and Results section,
containing a detailed description of how you made your
measurements and what results you obtained. This usually involves
an organized and coherent display of labeled diagrams, tables of
measurements, tables of calculated quantities, and graphs.
Explanations of all results must occur in correct grammatical English
that would allow a reader to repeat your procedure.
Mathematical calculations connecting fundamental physics
relationships to the quantities measured should be given. Any
interesting behavior should be explained. Difficulties performing the
experiment should be described as well as any subtleties in the
analysis.
All data presented must be clearly identified and labeled. Calculated
results should be clearly identified. Anybody should be able to
distinguish between quantities you measured, those you calculated,
and those you included from other sources. Clearly assign
uncertainties to all measured values -- without uncertainties, the data
are nearly meaningless.
CONCLUSIONS
The Conclusions section should include your answers to the following
questions: What generalized behavior did you observe? Was it
different from what you expected? Why? (e.g., What were the possible
sources of uncertainties? Did you have any major experimental
difficulties?) How do your results compare with the theory presented
in your textbook or during lectures? Can you think of any other ways
to check your theory with your data?
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INTRODUCTION
SAMPLE COVER SHEET

PHYSICS ____ LABORATORY REPORT
LABORATORY I
Name and ID#: _______________________________________________________
Date performed: ________________
Day/Time section meets: _______________
Lab Partners' Names: _________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Problem # and Title: __________________________________________________
Lab Instructor Initials: ____________
Grading Checklist
Point
s
LABORATORY JOURNAL:
PREDICTIONS
(individual predictions completed in journal before each lab session)
LAB PROCEDURES
(measurement plan recorded in journal, tables and graphs made in
journal as data is collected, observations written in journal)
PROBLEM REPORT:
ORGANIZATION
(clear and readable; correct grammar and spelling; section headings
provided; physics stated correctly)
DATA AND DATA TABLES (GROUP PREDICTIONS)
(clear and readable; units and assigned uncertainties clearly stated)
RESULTS
(results clearly indicated; correct, logical, and well-organized
calculations with uncertainties indicated; scales, labels and
uncertainties on graphs; physics stated correctly)
CONCLUSIONS
(comparison to prediction & theory discussed with physics stated
correctly ; possible sources of uncertainties identified; attention called
to experimental problems)
TOTAL(incorrect or missing statement of physics will result in a
maximum of 60% of the total points achieved; incorrect grammar or
spelling will result in a maximum of 70% of the total points achieved)
BONUS POINTS FOR TEAMWORK
(as specified by course policy)
* An "R" in the points column means to rewrite that section only and return it to your lab
instructor within two days of the return of the report to you -- no exceptions.
Page 145
Notes:
Page 146
LABORATORY III
FORCES
This laboratory will allow you to investigate the effect of specific interactions (forces) on the
motion of objects. In the first problem, you will investigate the effect of forces on a sliding
object. The second problem illustrates the application of the force concept and, in particular,
the vector nature of forces, to a situation in which nothing is moving. The third and fourth
problems investigate the behavior of a specific interaction (in this case, the frictional force.)
OBJECTIVES:
After successfully completing this laboratory, you should be able to:
Make and test quantitative predictions about the relationship of forces on objects
and the motion of those objects for real systems.
Use forces as vector quantities.
Characterize the behavior of the friction force.
Improve your problem solving skills.
PREPARATION:
Read Halliday, Resnick, and Walker: all of Chapter 5; Chapter 6, sections 1 and 2. Review the
motion of a cart moving down a ramp.
Before coming to lab you should be able to:
Define and use sine, cosine and tangent for a right triangle.
Recognize the difference between mass and weight.
Determine the net force on an object from its acceleration.
Draw and use force diagrams.
Resolve force vectors into components and determine the total force from the
components.
Explain what is meant by saying a system is in "equilibrium."
Write down the force law for a frictional force.
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Problem #2:
Forces in Equilibrium
These laboratory instructions may be unlike any instructions you have seen before. You will not find any
worksheets, plug-and-chug formulas, or step-by-step instructions. Instead, the instructions are
designed to get you thinking about physics. Since this design may be new to you, this first problem
contains both the instructions to explore forces in equilibrium and an explanation of the various parts of
the instructions. The explanation of the instructions are in this font and are preceded by double, vertical
lines.
Why are we doing this lab problem? In these lab instructions, the first paragraphs describe a possible
context and motivation for the problem you are about to solve. This emphasizes that physics is useful
for solving real-world problems.
You have a summer job with a research group studying the ecology of a rain forest in
South America. To avoid walking on the delicate rain forest floor, the team members
walk along a rope walkway that the local inhabitants have strung from tree to tree
through the forest canopy. Your supervisor is concerned about the maximum amount of
equipment each team member should carry to safely walk from tree to tree. If the
walkway sags too much, the team member could be in danger, not to mention possible
damage to the rain forest floor. You are assigned to set the load standards.
Each end of the rope supporting the walkway goes over a branch and then is attached to
a large weight hanging down. You need to determine how the sag of the walkway is
related to the mass of a team member plus equipment when they are at the center of the
walkway between two trees. To check your calculation, you decide to model the
situation using the equipment shown below.
How does the vertical displacement of an

object suspended on a string halfway between
two branches, depend on the mass of that
object?
The question(s), framed in a box and preceded by a question mark, defines the experimental problem
you are trying to solve. You should keep the question(s) in mind as you work through the problem.
EQUIPMENT
To make a prediction about what you expect to happen, you need to have a general understanding of
the apparatus you will use before you begin. This section contains a brief description of the apparatus
and the kind of measurements you can make to solve the experimental problem. The details should
become clear to you as you use the equipment.
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PROBLEM #2: FORCES IN EQUILIBRIUM
The system consists of a central object, B, suspended halfway between two pulleys by
strings. The picture below is similar to the situation with which you will work. The
objects A and C, which have the same mass (m), allow you to determine the force
exerted on the central object by the string.
You do need to make
L
some assumptions
P
about what you can
neglect. For this
investigation, you will
also need a meter stick
and weights to vary the
mass of B.
PREDICTION
All people, including scientists, have their own "personal theories" about the way the world works. One
purpose of this lab is to help you clarify your conceptions of the physical world by testing the predictions
of your personal theory against what really happens. For this reason, we will always predict an answer
(what will happen )before collecting an analyzing the data. Your prediction should be completed
and written in your lab journal before you come to lab.
Spend the first few minutes at the beginning of the lab session comparing your prediction with those of
your partners. Discuss the reasons for any differences in opinion. It is not necessary that your
predictions be correct, but it is necessary that you understand the basis of your prediction.
Calculate the change in the vertical displacement of the central object (B) as you increase
its mass. You should obtain an equation which predicts how the vertical displacement
of central object B depends on its mass, the mass of objects A and C, and the horizontal
distance between the two pulleys.
Use your equation to graph of the vertical displacement of object B as a function of its
mass.
Sometimes, as with this problem, you will be asked to use your knowledge of the concepts and
principles of physics to predict the relationship between two variables in the experimental problem. For
other problems, your prediction is an "educated guess" based on your knowledge the physical world.
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METHOD QUESTIONS
Method Questions are a series of questions about procedures intended to help you solve the
experimental problem. They either help you think about the experimental method for solving the
problem (e.g., how to analyze data and/or display results), or they guide you through a problem-solving
method for predicting the relationship between the variables in the problem. Method Questions
should be answered and written in your lab journal before you come to lab.
To solve this problem it is useful to have an organized problem-solving strategy such as
the one outlined in the following questions. You should use a technique similar to that
used in Problem 1 (where a more detailed set of Methods Questions are given) to solve
this problem. You might also find the Competent Problem Solver useful.
1.
Draw a sketch similar to the one in the Equipment section. Draw vectors which
represent the forces on objects A, B, C, and point P. Use trigonometry to show how
the vertical displacement of object B is related to the angle that the string between
the two pulleys sags below the horizontal.
2.
The "known" (measurable) quantities in this problem are L, m and M; the unknown
quantity is the vertical displacement of object B.
3.
Use Newton's laws to solve this problem. Write down the acceleration for each
object. Draw separate force diagrams for objects A, B, C and for point P. (If you
need help, see your text.) What assumptions are you making?
Which angles between your force vectors and your horizontal coordinate axis are the same as the angle
between the strings and the horizontal?
4.
For each force diagram, write Newton's second law along each coordinate axis.
5.
Solve your equations to predict how the vertical displacement of object B depends
on its mass (M), the mass (m) of objects A and C, and the horizontal distance
between the two pulleys (L). Use this resulting equation to make a graph of how
the vertical displacement changes as a function of the mass of object B.
EXPLORATION
Before you begin making measurements, it is useful to explore the range of variables over which your
apparatus is reliable. Remember to always treat the apparatus with care and respect. Your fellow
students in the next lab section will need to use the equipment after you are finished with it. If you are
unsure about how the apparatus works, ask your lab instructor.
Most apparatus has a range in which its operation is simple and straightforward. This is its range of
reliability. Outside of that range, complicated corrections need to be applied. You can quickly
Page 150
determine the range of reliability by making qualitative observations at what you consider to be the
extreme ranges of your measurements. Record your observations in your lab journal. If you observe
that the apparatus does not function properly for the range of variables you were considering measuring,
you can modify your experimental plan before you have wasted time taking an invalid set of
measurements. At this time you can also determine whether the behavior you observe agrees
qualitatively with your predictions.
The result of the exploration should be a plan for doing the measurements you need. Record your
measurement plan in your journal.
Start with just the string suspended between the pulleys (no central object), so that the
string looks horizontal. Attach a central object and observe how the string sags. Decide
on the origin from which you will measure the vertical position of the object.
Try changing the mass of objects A and C (keep them equal for the measurements but
you will want to explore the case where they are not equal).
Do the pulleys behave in a frictionless way for the entire range of weights you will use?
How can you determine if the assumption of frictionless pulleys is a good one?
Add mass to the central object to decide what increments of mass will give a good range
of values for the measurement.
MEASUREMENT
Now that you have predicted how your measurement will go and have explored how your apparatus
behaves, you are ready to make careful measurements. To avoid wasting time and effort, make the
minimal measurements necessary to convince yourself and others that you have solved the experimental
problem.
Measure the vertical position of the central object as you increase its mass. Make a table
and record your measurements.
ANALYSIS
Data by itself is of very limited use. It is hard to tell much from a column of numbers or dots on a tape.
Most interesting variables are those derived from the data, not direct measurements themselves. Your
predictions may be qualitatively correct but quantitatively very wrong. To see this you must process
your data.
Page 151
Always complete your data processing (analysis) before you take your next set of data. If something is
going wrong, you shouldn't waste time taking a lot of precise but useless data. After analyzing the first
data, you may need to modify your measurement plan. If you do, be sure to record the changes in
your plan in your journal.
Make a graph of the vertical displacement of the central object as a function of its mass
based on your measurements. On the same graph, plot your predicted equation.
Where do the two curves match? Where do the two curves start to diverge from one
another? What does this tell you about the system?
What are the limitations on the accuracy of your measurements and analysis?
CONCLUSION
After you have analyzed your data, you are ready to answer the experimental problem. State your
result in the most general terms supported by your analysis. This should all be recorded in your
journal in one place before moving on to the next problem assigned by your lab instructor.
What will you report to your supervisor? How does the vertical displacement of an
object suspended on a string between two pulleys depend on the mass of that object?
Did your measurements of the vertical displacement of object B agree with your initial
predictions? If not, why? State your result in the most general terms supported by your
analysis.
What information would you need to apply your calculation to the walkway through
the rain forest?
Estimate reasonable values for the information you need, and solve the problem for the
walkway over the rain forest.
Occasionally in this lab manual, you will be asked to extend what you have learned in this problem to a
slightly more sophisticated setting. While the Check Your Understanding questions are not required for
your lab report, they are an excellent review of the problem and may appear on the quizzes for the
course.
Check Your Understanding: Estimate reasonable values for the
you need, and solve the problem for the walkway over the rain forest.
Page 152
information
Instructors Guide
Laboratory III: Forces
Teaching Tips
1. This is the first of the true sets of complete quantitative problem solving labs.
(Problem #4 of Lab 2 is really the first complete problem solving lab.) Point out the
difference to your students. Tell them of the new expectations of getting equations
for their predictions as opposed to using an educated guess to determine the
relevant physics quantity.
2. The prediction for Problem #2 is challenging for the students. This is one prediction
where at least half the class will not have a complete prediction. Resist the urge just
to solve the problem for the whole class. Work with the individual groups so that
they get it. A whole class discussion can be useful to point out the important factors
that go into the solution. The students need to be able to do this type of problem
themselves.
3. Problems #3 and #4 are similar. You might consider dividing the class in half and
letting each half do one problem. The halves can then combine into two large
groups, compare their data, and each large group can do a 5-minute presentation.
4. Students have plenty of alternative conceptions about forces. One force that is
particularly confusing is the normal force. Be alert for students using the word
natural to describe the normal force. This means that they do not associate the
force with a direction. Explaining that in this case normal means perpendicular
(make sure they know to what the force is perpendicular) may help.
5. The key to the friction problems is making measurements as consistently as possible.
A good discussion topic is to ask what different factors would affect consistency.
6. Most of your students still have difficulty determining the components of vectors and
understanding what these components mean. This lab repeats the use of vector
components in the context of forces. Look for a recurrence of the mistakes you
observed in kinematics.
7. Refer your students to the check your understanding questions at the end of the lab.
You might want to use some of these questions in your discussions.
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INSTRUCTORS GUIDE TO LAB 3: FORCES
* Prob. #1 *
Prob. #2
difficult
Prob. #3
Prob. #4
By the end of this lab students should be able to:

Make and test quantitative predictions about the relationship of the sum of forces on
objects to the motion of those objects for real systems.
Determine which object is exerting a given force on the object in question.
Use forces as vector quantities.
Determine the characteristics of an unknown force.
Things to check out before teaching this lab:
For Problem #1, it is nice, but not vital, that the cart avoid running over the string.
Determine what you can suggest to students if they want to avoid the string.
For Problem #2, make sure the pulleys that your students are using turn freely
without binding. Replace any that dont.
For Problem #2, determine how to best set up the apparatus so that you can help
your students use the largest range of masses for M.
For Problems #3 and #4, be sure that the end stops are not on the track. Having
blocks running into the stops ruins the magnets and the Velcro pads.
Also for Problems #3 and #4, the block slides differently if part of it is on the yellow
ruler tape on the track. See how well you can avoid sliding the block along the
yellow tape so that you are ready to give your students some advice if they need it.
Try sliding the wooden block down the ramp at different angles (Problems #3 and
#4) to determine where you will get consistent results. You dont need to take any
data, careful qualitative observation should be enough.
Page 154
Problem #1: Force and Motion

Purpose:
To show the students that the acceleration is proportional to the force exerted on an
object and that the tension in the rope is not equal to the weight of the hanging mass.
1. The students need enough string to hang over the pulley, but it should be long
enough so that the mass hits the ground before the cart runs out of track.
2. It is amazing how quickly students forget kinematics. This problem will reinforce
the idea that physics builds upon itself.
3. Many students may have difficulty with the necessity of drawing the two force
diagrams required to solve this problem. Most will want to equate the force on the
cart with the weight hanging on the string. Avoid using the clever system of the
weight + string + cart in your explanations. This system tends to confuse students
and obscure the connection of forces with physical interactions.
4. This problem gives very good results if students remember to take into account the
distortion from the camera lens.
Major Alternative Conception of Students: Many students believe that the weight of the
hanging mass is a force on the cart. Others know that the string is exerting a force on the
cart but believe that the string tension is equal to the weight of the hanging mass.
Prediction:
2mgh
m+ M
where m is the mass of object A, M is the mass of the cart and h is the height through
which object A falls.
v=
Method Questions:
Page 155
Problem #2: Forces in Equilibrium

Purpose:
To have students use Newton's second law in a situation which requires the use of
force components and the knowledge of the relationship of the direction of the forces
to the geometry of the situation.
1. It is a good idea to tell your students, before they come to lab, that the algebra is
messy. Students often think that they are doing something wrong if the algebra isn't
simple. It is interesting to point out to your students that the equation is not simple
even though the system is not particularly complicated. This is a good example of
how quickly the mathematics can become complicated in the real world yet the
problem remains soluble.
2. Students will have trouble with the predictions. You should insist they do them
before they arrive, but be prepared to dedicate class time to letting the students
work on their predictions again after you compare group predictions in class. Lead
a class discussion to highlight the difficulties that students are having and suggest
solutions to those difficulties.
3. Resist the urge to do the problem for the class. The students can do this problem if
you have confidence in them. Let them try.
4. Often students leave such quantities as in their equation. If another group does not
point out that can be determined by measuring lengths, make sure you do so.
5. This is a good opportunity to encourage your students to use extreme cases to check
their results. Ask them to determine what happens when M 0, 8. A discussion of
taking limits is probably best done in the closing discussion after all measurements
have been made.
6. The students need a large enough mass range to show them that the curve is not
linear. If the students aren't using a large enough range of masses, remind them to
look at how the deflection depends on other quantities. They can bring the pulleys
together or add masses to the outside weights to increase the range of the central
mass before it hits the floor.
7. For the sake of the analysis, assume no error on the masses. They can check this
assumption with a balance.
8. Encourage the students to explore both mass ranges 0<M<m and M>m.
9. An interesting test of the frictionless pulley assumption is to put unequal masses on
each side (A and C) and find the maximum difference between A and C which causes
the masses to move.
Page 156
Major Alternative Conception of Students: Many students do not connect the concept of
a force with a physical interaction. They can not determine the direction of a force from
the physical connections of real objects. Some students still confuse the components of a
force with the entire force.
Prediction:
h=
LM
2 (2m )2 M 2
where M is the mass of object B, m is the mass of each of the objects A and C, L is the
separation of the pulleys, and h is the vertical displacement of object B.
Method Questions:
Page 157
Problems #3: Frictional Force

Purpose:
To show whether the frictional force changes value as a function of the acceleration
of the object.
This lab addresses the question Is the frictional force on an object larger when that
object speeds up than when it coasts?. Be prepared to lead this discussion.
1. Be sure the students get both the carts motion and the falling object in the
video.
2. Dont let the video run on too long.

3. It is important that cart accelerate smoothly along the ramp, otherwise the
force will not be constant.
friction
Major Alternative Conceptions of Students: The frictional force is difficult for the
students. Students generally believe that the frictional force is always either a constant
or equal to the weight of an object. They do not associate the frictional force with
motion or a physical interaction with another object. Some of these students will have
difficulties trying to relate the notion of initially over-coming static friction, which then
lead to kinetic friction. they will also have difficulties deciding whether kinetic friction
depends on the motion of the object in question.
Prediction:
Method Questions:
Page 158
Problems #4 and #5: Normal Force and the Kinetic Frictional Force
(Parts I and II)
Purpose:
To show that the normal force does not have a fixed value. The normal force
depends on the weight of the object (Problem #3) and on the angle of incline
(Problem #4).
These labs address different parts of the same question. If there is enough time, it is
useful to have each group do both problems. If there is not enough time, have half the
class do one problem, the other half the other problem. The two halves should discuss
their results separately. Then choose a representative from each side to present their
findings to the entire class. Be prepared to lead this discussion.
1. Be sure the block doesnt slide along the yellow ruler tape.
2. Dont let the block crash into the end stop. Be sure to remove the end stops before
sliding the blocks down the track.
3. It is important that the wooden block accelerate smoothly down the ramp, otherwise
the friction force will not be constant. Increasing the angle of incline will help solve
this problem.
Major Alternative Conceptions of Students: The normal force is difficult for the
students. Students generally believe that the normal force is always either a constant or
equal to the weight of an object. They do not associate the normal force with a physical
interaction with another object. These students believe that there is always a normal
force, even if there is nothing touching the object. The angular dependence should help
them understand the necessity of an interaction. The students often have difficulty
relating the angle of the incline to the direction of the normal force.
Prediction:
N = mgcos
f k = mg sin ma
Method Questions:
Page 159
EXPLORATORY PROBLEM
MAGNETS AND MOVING CHARGE
You are leading a technical team at a company that is redesigning the cathode ray tubes
(CRTs) used for computer monitors. To introduce this project to a group of stock
holders, you need to demonstrate how an electron beam can be moved across a screen
by a magnetic field. You decide to use an ordinary bar magnet held outside of the CRT
to deflect the electrons. Before you do the demonstration, you need to know the
qualitative effect of bringing a bar magnet up to a CRT. In the laboratory you determine
the how the direction and size of the electron deflection is related to the magnetic field
direction, the magnetic field strength, and the velocity of the electron.
How will the electron beam in a CRT deflect in

the presence of a magnetic field?
EQUIPMENT
For this problem you will need a cathode ray tube (CRT) and accessories, a bar magnet,
a meter stick, and a compass. Review the information from Laboratory I and Appendix
A regarding the design of the CRT and the proper way to use it.
PREDICTION
If you bring a magnet near the side of the CRT, which arrow represents the deflection of
the electron beam on the screen?
?
screen
?
?
?
?
Does the size of the deflection increase or decrease as the magnet gets closer to the CRT?
As you increase the size of the magnetic field? Does the size of the deflection depend
on the speed of the electrons? Explain your reasoning.
Page 160
EXPLORATORY PROBLEM: MAGNETS AND MOVING CHARGE
EXPLORATION
WARNING: You will be working with equipment that
generates large electric voltages. Improper use can cause
painful burns. To avoid danger, the power should be turned
OFF and you should WAIT at least one minute before any
wires are disconnected from or connected to the power
supply. Never grasp a wire by its metal ends.
Connect the CRT according to the directions in Appendix A and your lab journal from
Lab I. Select the accelerating voltage that gave the largest deflection for the smallest
electric field based on your explorations from Lab I. Record the location of the
undeflected beam spot.
Determine which pole on your bar magnet is the north magnetic pole. Make a
qualitative field map of your magnet to make sure it is a simple dipole. If it is not, ask
your instructor to replace it. Describe the magnetic field at the end of the magnet?
Place the magnet near the side of the CRT. Did the deflection match your prediction?
Why or why not? Repeat this procedure for the south pole. Should there be any
difference? In which direction did the beam spot deflect?
Put the bar magnet
perpendicular to the screen of
the CRT, do you see a
deflection? Try this with both
poles of the magnet. Record your results. Were they what you expected?
Can you orient the bar magnet so that it attracts or repels the electron beam?
Place the north pole of your magnet a fixed distance away from the side of the CRT near
the screen. Record the deflection. Increase the speed of the electrons by increasing the
accelerating voltage as much as possible. Calculate the increase in speed. How does
deflection change? Try this with both poles of the magnet. Record your results. Were
your results what you anticipated?
Place the north pole of your magnet a fixed distance away from the side of the CRT near
the screen. Record the deflection. Increase the magnetic field adding more magnets.
How does deflection change? Try this with both poles of the magnet. Record your
results. Were your results what you anticipated?
Page 161
EXPLORATORY PROBLEM: MAGNETS AND MOVING CHARGE
What effect does the Earths magnetic field have on the electron beam of a CRT? What is
the direction of the Earths magnetic field in your laboratory room? Arrange the CRT to
see the maximum effect. The minimum effect. By measuring the electron deflection,
what would you say is the relative strength of the magnet and the Earths magnetic field
in the lab. Remember to take account of the distance that the electron travels through
each magnetic field. What is the effect of the Earths magnetic field on the CRT beam
relative to the Earths gravitational field? How did this affect your results from Lab 1,
Problem #5?
Devise your own exploration of the effect of a magnetic field on electrons using the CRT
and the bar magnets. What variables can you control with the magnets and the CRT?
Record your questions that will guide your exploration and check it with your lab
instructor for safety before starting
ANALYSIS
Draw the picture relating the three vectors representing the velocity of the electron, the
magnetic field, and the force on the electron that is consistent with your results.
CONCLUSION
Did the electron beam deflection in the presence of a magnetic field agree with your
prediction? Why or why not? What was the most interesting thing you learned from
this exploration?
Page 162
GRAVITATIONAL
FORCE ON THE ELECTRON
You are working in a research laboratory that is attempting to make a better electron
microscope. The key to advancing the project is the precise control of a beam of
electrons. For your study of electron control you decide to use a Cathode Ray Tube
(CRT), the same device that is the basis of TV sets and most computer screens. In the
CRT, electrons are emitted at one end of an evacuated glass tube and are detected by
their interaction with a phosphorous screen on the other end. You know that every
object in flight near the Earth's surface is subject to the gravitational force. From your
physics experience you also know that the acceleration of all objects in free fall is the
same, independent of their mass. Even though an electron has a small mass, it has the
same gravitational acceleration as a baseball or a bullet. You worry that the
gravitational force will deflect the electron from its path giving it the parabolic trajectory
that you studied in the first semester of physics.
How does the Earth's gravitational force affect

the motion of the electrons in the CRT?
EQUIPMENT
You will be using the Cathode Ray
Tube (CRT) described in Appendix A.
The fluorescent screen has a one-half
centimeter grid in front of it so you can
measure the position of the beam spot.
PREDICTION
Calculate how far an electron falls during its flight within the CRT when the CRT is
horizontal ( = 0o). Assume that the initial velocity is along the central axis of the CRT.
Will this electron deflection increase, decrease or stay the same as the angle is increased
from horizontal ( = 0o) to vertical ( = 90o). Sketch the graph of the electron's distance
from the center of the CRT at the screen (its deflection) versus angle of incline of the CRT
from the horizontal. Explain your reasoning.
Page 163
GRAVITATIONAL FORCE ON THE ELECTRON
METHOD QUESTIONS
To test your prediction, it is useful to have an organized problem-solving strategy such

as the one used below:
1. Draw a picture of the CRT in the horizontal position. Do not include the deflection
plates shown in Appendix A since they will not be used in this problem. Be sure
you have all the other components in your picture and you understand the function
of these parts.
2. Draw the electron's trajectory from the time it leaves the electron gun until it hits the
screen. Label all of the important kinematic quantities in the problem. Label all of
the important forces on the electron. The target quantity for this problem is the
electron beam deflection at the screen. The quantities you can measure in this
problem are the position of the electron beam spot on the fluorescent screen, the
initial electron accelerating voltage (V acc in your picture), the distance from the end
of the electron gun to the CRT screen, and the angle the CRT makes with the
horizontal.
3. What physics principles will you use to solve this problem? To use kinematics, a
motion diagram will probably be useful. Choose a convenient coordinate system
and describe your reason for choosing it. How is the motion along one axis of your
coordinate system influenced by the motion along the other axis? During what time
interval will you analyze the motion of the electron? To determine the motion of the
electron, you need to know its acceleration.
4. Dynamics (Newtons second law) will allow you to determine the acceleration of the
electron from the forces on it. What are the forces on the electron in that time
interval? What is their direction? From the forces, determine the acceleration of the
electron during that time interval along each of the coordinate axes you have chosen.
5. If the acceleration is constant along any axis of your coordinate system, you can use
constant acceleration kinematics to describe the motion along that axis. If not,
determine the behavior of the electrons acceleration as a function of time and use
calculus. Write down two equations (one for each coordinate axis) that describe the
electrons position at the screen in terms of its motion (positions, velocities,
accelerations, and times).
6. You can determine the electrons velocity as it leaves the electron gun in the CRT
from the force on the electron as it travels between the plates using conservation of
Page 164
energy. The magnitude of the electric field between two equally charged parallel
plates is equal to the voltage between the two plates in Volts divided by the distance
between the plates in meters. Assume that the direction of the electron leaving the
electron gun region of the CRT is along the central axis of the tube. What is the
direction of the electric field between the two plates? What is the direction of the
electron just after it leaves the two plates? What assumption(s) have you made?
7. Examine your equations giving the electrons position at the screen. You can solve
them if the number of unknowns in your equations is equal to the number of
equations. Is it? If it is, solve your equations algebraically for the distance an
electron will fall while traveling through a CRT. If it is not, write down additional
equations that relate some of the unknown quantities in your equations to quantities
that you know. Complete your solution by using the actual numbers that describe
your situation.
8. Does your solution make sense? You can check by determining the time of flight of
the electron. In that amount of time, how far would a ball drop in free fall? If the
solution does not make sense, check your work for logic problems or algebra
mistakes.
9. Now return to step 1 and solve the problem for a CRT pointed upward and an angle
from the horizontal. What difference will this make to your solution?
EXPLORATION
WARNING: You will be working with equipment that

generates large electric voltages. Improper use can cause
painful burns. To avoid danger, the power should be turned
OFF and you should WAIT at least one minute before any
wires are disconnected from or connected to the power
supply. Never touch the conducting metal of any wire.
Follow the directions in Appendix A for connecting the power supply to the CRT.
Check to see that the connections from the power supply to the high voltage and the
filament heater are correct, before you turn the power supply on. You should have
between 250 and 500 volts of electric potential between the cathode and anode. After a
moment, you should see a spot that you can adjust with the knob labeled Focus. If
your connections are correct and the spot still does not appear, inform your lab
instructor.
Page 165
Do you expect the gravitational deflection to vary as a function of the angle of the CRT
with the horizontal? Try different orientations to see if you can observe any difference.
Does the qualitative behavior of the electron deflection agree with your prediction?
For what orientation of the CRT is it impossible for the gravitational force to deflect the
electron? This is the location of the beam spot when there is no gravitational effect on the
motion of the electrons.
If you observe a deflection of the electron beam, determine if this deflection is or is not
caused by the gravitational force. If it is not, what force do you think causes it and how
can you minimize the effect of that force on your measurements? Is the deflection
different if you move the CRT to a different position in the room?
Devise a measuring scheme to record the angle of the CRT and the position of the beam
spot.
Write down your measurement plan.
MEASUREMENT
Measure the position of the beam spot at an orientation of the CRT for which you expect
the gravitational deflection to be zero and the position at an angle for which the
gravitational deflection should be maximum. Make measurements at several
intermediate angles as well.
Note: Be sure to record your measurements with the appropriate number of significant figures (see
Appendix B) and with your estimated uncertainty (see Appendix C). Otherwise, the data are
nearly meaningless.
ANALYSIS
Make a graph of the position of the electron beam spot as a function of the angle that the
CRT makes with the horizontal.
If you observe a deflection, how can you tell if it is caused by the gravitational force?
What else could cause a deflection?
Use your data to determine the size of the gravitational deflection of the electron.
Page 166
CONCLUSION
Did your data agree with your predictions? Did you observe any deflection of the
electron beam? Was it in the direction you expected? What could account for any
aberrant behavior? How can you arrange your CRT to minimize that deflection?
Does the Earth's gravitational force affect the motion of the electrons in the CRT in a
measurable way? State you results in the most general terms supported by your data.
When you deflect the electron beam by an electric field what correction will you need to
apply? How can you arrange your CRT to minimize that deflection?
Page 167
Notes:
Page 168
6. References
Page
1.
Cooperative Group Problem Solving at the University of

Minnesota
171
2.
A Short Bibliography of Articles and Books About Cooperative

Grouping
172
Page 169
Page 170
Cooperative Group Problem Solving at the University of Minnesota

For more information about Cooperative Group Problem Solving at the University of
Minnesota and the research behind it, please see the following articles:
Heller, P., Keith, R., and Anderson, S. (1992). Teaching problem solving through
cooperative grouping. Part 1: Group versus Individual problem solving. American
Journal of Physics, 60(7): 627-636.
Heller, P., and Hollabaugh, M. (1992). Teaching problem solving through cooperative
grouping. Part 2: Designing problems and structuring groups. American Journal of
Physics, 60(7): 637-644.
Page 171
Cooperative Group Problem Solving Bibliography

Ann L. Brown and Annemarie S. Palincsar (1989), Guided, Cooperative Learning and Individual Knowledge
Acquisition, Knowing, Learning, and Instruction, Lauren B. Resnick, ed., pp. 393-451, Hillsdalw: Erlbaum
Associates.
Patricia Heller, Ronald Keith, and Scott Anderson (1992). Teaching problem solving through cooperative
grouping. Part 1: Group versus Individual problem solving. American Journal of Physics, 60(7): pp. 627-636.
Patricia Heller, Ronald Keith, and Scott Anderson (1992). Teaching problem solving through cooperative
grouping. Part 2: Designing problems and structuring groups. American Journal of Physics, 60(7): pp. 637644.
B. Humphrey, Roger T. Johnson, and David W. Johnson (1982), Effects of Cooperative, Competitive, and
Individualistic Learning on Students Achievement in Science Class, Journal of Research in Science
Teaching, pp. 351-356.
David W. Johnson and Frank P. Johnson (1987), Joining Together, Third Edition, Englewood Cliffs: PrenticeHall.
David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson (1989), Cooperation and Competition: Theory and Research,
Edina, Minnesota: Interaction Book Company.
David W. Johnson, and Roger T. Johnson, and Karl A. Smith (1991), Active Learning: Cooperation in the
College Classroom, Edina, Minnesota: Interaction Book Company.
David W. Johnson, and Roger T. Johnson, and Karl A. Smith (1991), Cooperative Learning: Increasing
college Faculty Instructional Productivity, ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4, Washington, D.C.:
The George Washington University School of Education and Human Development. [LB1032 J6.3 1991]
Roger T. Johnson and David W. Johnson (1986), Action Research: Cooperative Learning in the Science
Classroom, Science and Children, October, 1986, pp. 31-32.
Roger T. Johnson and David W. Johnson (1988), Cooperative Learning and the Gifted Science Student, in
Gifted Young in Science, Paul F. Brandwein and A. Harry Passow, eds., Washington, D.C.: National Science
Teachers Association, pp. 321-330.
Roger T. Johnson, David W. Johnson, and E. J. Holubec (1988), Cooperation in The Classroom, Edina,
Minnesota: Interaction Book Company.
Karl A. Smith (1985), Cooperative Learning Groups, in Strategies for Active Teaching and Learning in
University Classrooms, S. Schomberg, ed., Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 18-26.
Karl A. Smith (1989), The Craft of Teaching. Cooperative Learning: An Active Learning Strategy, IEEE
Frontiers in Education Conference Proceedings, pp. 188-192.
More information about Cooperative Learning as well as information about Interaction Book
Company can be found on the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesotas web
site: http://www.co-operation.org/index.html.
Page 172

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University of Minnesota

Supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the

3. Cooperative Group Problem Solving in Discussion Sections

4. Context-rich Written Problems

Also, Visit our WWW Page:

University of Minnesota, 1999

1. The Minnesota Model for Large

Description of the Minnesoata Model for Teaching

Instructional Design Model

Minnesota Model for Large Introductory Courses

II. THE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

III. IMPLEMENTING THE COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP M ODEL

Table 1: Reinforcing Desired Behaviors and Discoraging Initial Behaviors

Desired Knowledge, Thought

Students tend to learn physics as a

Students will overcome their

A story line is provided that

Consequently, many students

Within the story-line, multiple

Students tend to solve problems

Students will learn a logical,

Students are taught a logical

Some students do not attend the lectures. They

Some students attend the lectures to make sure they

Some students attend lectures to clarify the reading

Students' Initial Expectations

They will only take notes on issues they wish to

Students will actively process information,

Desired Learning Behavior

Reinforcement of Desired Behaviors

The lecturer prepares overheads that are

Written predictions or answers to a question are

Students participate in small ad hoc cooperative

The lecturer occasionally stops talking and asks

Students are encouraged to talk softly to their

Students expect lab instructions to contain all

During labs, students expect to passively follow a

After the first few sessions, most students stop

Students expect TAs to answer specific questions

Students' Initial Expectations

Students will recognize when their intuitive

During the lab, students will be actively engaged

Students will prepare for each lab by reviewing

As they try to solve written problems, students

Students will be actively engaged in refining their

Desired Learning Behavior

Students are put in a supportive cooperative-group

The labs are designed so students must make many

Students must make individual predictions of the

Students must pass a short lab preparation test before

If a student is absent from the previous recitation

About three times a quarter, one of the cooperative

Reinforcement of Desired Behaviors

Table 3. Student Opinions of the Course Content and Structure

1. The instructor covered too little material in the course.

2. The mixture of presenting new material and solving problems was

3. Pausing in lecture to allow students to discuss the concepts with

4. The recitation sessions were well coordinated with the lecture.

5. The discussions with my group helped me to understand the

6. My group worked well together to complete problem solving

7. The laboratory activities were well coordinated with the lecture.

8. The laboratory experiments helped me to understand the

9. Working with the same group in laboratory and recitation

11. The problem solving procedure taught in class makes sense