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DYNAMICS 1

Examples 1 Kinematics - fundamentals


Unless otherwise stated the units of length and time are metre and second, respectively. The acceleration due to gravity g =9.81m/s2.

Q1.

The velocity of a particle in the x-direction is given by the equation: v = 2t2 - 6t + 12 (i) Plot the velocity and acceleration for the first 5 seconds. (ii) What is the velocity and acceleration after a time of 5s? (iii) If at time t = 0, the particles position x is zero, what is its position after a time of 5s? (iv) When will the velocity be a minimum and what will its value be then? (v) What is the acceleration at this time? A rocket is fired vertically from rest from the Moon. It maintains a constant acceleration of 15m/s2. Determine, (i) how long it will take to reach an altitude of 30km, and, (ii) its velocity at that moment. Assume that the Moon is stationary. Calculate the constant acceleration which the catapult of an aircraft-carrier must provide to produce aircraft launch velocities of 200 km/hour in a distance of 80m. How long is this acceleration sustained? Assume that the carrier is stationary. In a factory, small steel ball-bearings fall through an opening at the rate of five per second. Find the vertical separation between two consecutive ball-bearings when the lower one has dropped by two metres. Assume that the initial vertical velocity of the ball-bearings is zero. A particle moves along the x-direction with constant acceleration. Its positions at t = 0 and t = 10s are 20 and zero, respectively. Furthermore, its velocity is zero when t = 6s. Determine (i) its acceleration, and, (ii) its velocity and position at t = 20s. A stationary motorway police patrol-man observes a car passing by at a speed of 140 km/hour. After a two-second delay to finish his doughnut, he chases after the errant motorist while accelerating at a constant rate of 6 m/s2 in his Mitsubishi Evo. How long will he take to catch up with the speeder? Also, how far will he have travelled and what will be his speed at that point? [For simplicity, ignore the fact that the Evos top speed is about 80m/s] An express train travels at a constant velocity of 160 km/hr until it reaches a point 2km away from a level-crossing (where the train tracks cross a road). At this point, the driver slows the train by cutting the power and applying the brakes. The acceleration rate is -0.4 m/s2 which she maintains until the train comes to a standstill at the next station, which is some distance beyond the level-crossing. At the same instant as the train driver begins to slow the train, a motorist who is positioned 1.5 km from the level-crossing (and travelling at 50 km/hr) decides to accelerate so that he can cross the level-crossing ahead of the train. (i) Calculate how long it takes for the train to reach the level crossing (ii) If the barriers come down across the road twenty seconds before the train reaches the crossing, establish whether the motorist will be successful if he accelerates at a constant rate of 0.6 m/s2. If not, how far will he still have to go? (iii) Determine the minimum acceleration required to carry out this manoeuvre successfully. (iv) Determine the motorists speed when he crosses the tracks in this (last) case.

Q2.

Q3.

Q4.

Q5.

Q6.

Q7.

ANSWERS Q1. (i) Sketch, (ii) v = 32 m/s, a = 14 m/s2, (iii) x = 68.3 m, (iv) t=1.5s, v=7.5 m/s, (v) zero Q2. t = 63.2s, v = 948.7 m/s Q3. a = 19.3 m/s2, t = 2.88s Q4. x = 1.056m 2 Q5. (i) a = 2 m/s , (ii) v = 28 m/s, x = 180m Q6. t = 14.72s, x = 650m, v = 88.3 m/s Q7. (i) t = 62.68s, (ii) No - 360m, (iii) a = 0.996 m/s2, (iv) v = 56.4 m/s

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