Eindhoven University of Technology — Bachelor College

final assessment ’Applied Natural Sciences’ (3NBB)

Monday, January 21, 2013, 9.00 – 12.00 hr

This assessment consists of ten exercises, each containing one or more questions. Every
question counts equally in determining your final score.
You are allowed to use the following:

1. Book University Physics of Young and Freedman

2. (graphical) calculator

3. dictionary

Write on every paper you use during the assessment your name, student ID, and the faculty
of your Bachelor.
The answers to the questions will be posted on the OASE-website of the course.
The grades will be announced before Tuesday February 12, 2013, through the OASE-website
of the course. If you disagree with the result, you are asked to contact the responsible lecturer
of the course, R.Engeln, via e-mail before Tuesday, February 26, 2013.
 final assessment ’Applied Natural Sciences’ (3NBB) — Monday, January 21, 2013

1. In the long jump, an athlete launches herself at a speed v0 at an angle α0 above the
ground and lands at the same height, trying to travel the greatest horizontal distance.
Suppose that on earth she is in the air for time T , reaches a maximum height H, and
achieves a horizontal distance D. She now jumps at the same speed v0 and angle α0
during a competition on Mars, where the acceleration due to gravity gM equals k times
the acceleration due to gravity g on earth (with k a dimensionless number between 0
and 1).

(a) Find her time TM in the air. Express your answer in terms of T .
(b) Find her maximum height HM . Express your answer in terms of H.
(c) Find her horizontal distance DM . Express your answer in terms of D.

2. Two blocks are connected by a massless cord passing over a small, frictionless pulley
and rest on frictionless planes, see figure. The acceleration due to gravity equals g.
(a) When the blocks are released from rest,
will they slide to the left or to the right?
Explain your answer.

(b) What is the acceleration of the blocks? 2m m

Express your answer in terms of g.
30◦ 60◦
(c) What is the tension in the cord? Express
your answer in terms of m and g.

3. In an amusement park a car with mass m rolls

without friction around the track shown in the
figure. It starts from rest at point A at a height
h above the bottom of the loop. Treat the car
as a particle. The acceleration due to gravity
equals g.

(a) What is the minimum value hmin of h (in terms of R) such that the car moves
around the loop without falling off at the top (point B)?
(b) If the car starts from rest at a height h > hmin , compute the speed vC of the
passengers when the car is at point C, which is at the end of a horizontal diameter.
Express your answer in terms of h, R and g.
(c) If the car starts from rest at a height h > hmin , compute the radial acceleration
arad of the passengers at point C. Express your answer in terms of h, R and g.
(d) If the car starts from rest at a height h > hmin , compute the tangential acceleration
atan of the passengers is at point C. Express your answer in terms of h, R and g.

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 final assessment ’Applied Natural Sciences’ (3NBB) — Monday, January 21, 2013

4. A movie stuntman (mass m1 ) stands on a

window ledge at a height h above the floor.
Grabbing a rope attached to a chandelier, he
swings down to grapple with the movie’s villain
(mass m2 ), who is standing directly under the
h
chandelier, see figure. The acceleration due to
gravity equals g. m1
(Assume that the stuntman’s center of mass
moves downward over a height h. He releases
the rope just as he reaches the villain.) m2

(a) In the collision both men stick together, and start to slide with velocity V . Express
V in terms of m1 , m2 , g and h.
(b) The two men slide together over a distance D before they come to rest. The
coefficient of kinetic friction between the two men and the floor is µk . Express D
in terms of V , µk and g.

5. A narrow U-shaped glass tube with open ends is filled with 25 cm of oil (of specific
gravity 0.800) and 25 cm of water on opposite sides, with a barrier separating the liq-
uids, see figure. The acceleration due to gravity equals g.

(a) Find the final heights hA and hB of the columns

of liquid in each side of the tube after the barrier
is removed. Assume that the two liquids do not
mix.

(b) What would be the heights hA and hB on each side

if the oil and water had equal densities? Arrive at
your answer by simple physical reasoning, not by
calculations.

(c) What would be the heights hA and hB on each

side if the oil’s density were much less than that of
water? Arrive at your answer by simple physical
reasoning, not by calculations.

6. An apple has a weight w. When you hang it from the end of a long spring of force
constant k and negligible mass, it bounces up and down in simple harmonic motion. If
you stop the bouncing and let the apple swing from side to side through a small angle,
the frequency of this simple pendulum is half the bounce frequency. (Because the angle
is small, the back and forth swings do not cause any appreciable change in the length
of the spring.)

(a) What is the unstretched length L0 of the spring? Express your answer in w and k.

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 final assessment ’Applied Natural Sciences’ (3NBB) — Monday, January 21, 2013

7. A simple, harmonic oscillator at the point x = 0 generates a wave on a rope. The

oscillator operates at a frequency of 40 Hz and with an amplitude of 3.00 cm . The rope
has a linear mass density of 50.0 g/m and is stretched with a tension of 5.00 N.

(a) Determine the speed of the wave.

(b) Calculate the wavelength.
(c) Calculate the maximum transverse acceleration of points on the rope.

8. The frequency of the note F4 is 349 Hz.

(a) If an organ pipe is open at one end and closed at the other, what length must it
have for its fundamental mode to produce this note at a temperature of 20.0 ◦ C?
Take the speed of sound to be 344 m/s.
(b) At what air temperature will the frequency be 360 Hz? (Ignore the change in
length of the pipe due to the temperature change.)

9. Rods of copper, brass, and steel are welded together to form a Y-shaped figure. The
cross-sectional area of each rod is 2.00 cm2 . The free end of the copper rod is maintained
at 90.0 ◦ C, and the free ends of the brass and steel rods at 0.0 ◦ C. Assume there is no
heat loss from the surfaces of the rods. The lengths of the rods are 10 cm (copper), 25 cm
(brass) and 50 cm (steel). The thermal conductivities (in W/mK) may be approximated
by 400 (copper), 100 (brass) and 50 (steel).

(a) How are the heat currents in the three rods related?
(b) What is the temperature of the junction point?

10. A ray of light is incident in air on a rectangular block of a

transparent solid whose index of refraction is n. The
index of refraction of air is 1.00.

(a) If n = 1.38, what is the largest angle of incidence

θa for which total internal reflection will occur at
the vertical face (point A shown in the figure)?

end of the exam