Physics IA Worksheet # 4 on Forces and Motion

1. What force is required to lift up a 10 kg mass with an acceleration of 2 m/s2 ? Is this

force greater than its weight ? What does this result mean as far as proper weight
lifting technique is concerned ?

2. A car accelerates from rest to 40 m/s in 15 sec. If the average force of wind resistance
acting against the car is 1,000 N, and the average forward force from the engine is
3,000 N, what is the car’s mass ?

3. Mike and Ike are attempting to steal a safe by dragging it out of the door of the safe
deposit company. If the mass of the safe is 500 kg, and the coefficient of friction between
the safe and the floor is 0.35, What will be the safe’s acceleration if Mike and Ike pull
on the safe with a combined force of 2,000 N ? Is this force enough to get the safe
started moving ? (One of the most unusual real life attempts at bank robbery occured
in New Jersey a few years ago when thieves attached the hooks of a tow truck to an
outdoor ATM and pulled it from the wall of the bank.)

4. Would it be possible for you to accelerate a train just by pulling on it ? If you pull with a
force of 800 N on a freight car of mass 4,000 kg, will it accelerate if the coefficient of
rolling friction is 0.05 ?

5. A force of 20 N moves a 10 kg block of concrete along at constant speed. What is the

coefficient of friction between the block and the surface ?

6. An elevator of mass 900 Kg accelerates upward at 3 m/s/s. What is the tension in the
cable where it is attached to the elevator?

7. A 55 Kg. woman, trying to escape a fire, slides down a bedsheet tied to some furniture.
The bedsheet is too weak to completely support her weight, and can only withstand a
force of 400 N. What is the minimum acceleration the woman can maintain if she
slides down the sheet ?

8. Would you rather be a hammer or a nail ? Explain, making reference to Newton’s

third and second laws.

1. 120 N 2. 750 kg 3. yes, a = 0.5 m/s/s

4. If it is moving, yes, but not the way you want, a = -.3 m/s/s. If it was not moving, then it won’t move at all.
5. µ = 0.2 6. T = 11,700 N 7. a = -2.7 m/s/s
8. I’d rather be a hammer, because I hate to be accelerated very quickly

A-25