WORK, ENERGY, POWER

NOTES
E = Pt = Fs

GPE = mgh
KE = mv2

WORKOUT QUESTIONS
1. A boy of mass 30kg runs up a flight of stairs in 30 seconds. What is the power of his body?

50m

40m

a. 10W
b. 30W
c. 100W
d. 300W

2. A sumo wrestler of mass 200kg pushes a wall with a force of 1500N. The wall crumbles. What is
the work done by the sumo wrestler?
a. 0 J
b. 2000 J
c. 1500 J
d. 300 kJ

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3. A pendulum starts at A. It swings back and forth. At which point does it have the most KE / GPE?
Ignore air resistance.

A C

KE GPE
a. A C
b. A,C B
c. B A,C
d. A,B,C A,B,C

4. A force of 100N is applied to a stationary block. It moves, experiencing an opposing frictional

force of 20N. It covers a distance of 4m.

a. Given that the force was exerted by a machine of power 100W, how long did the block
take to move the entire 4m?

b. What was the amount of energy used to overcome friction?

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5. A conveyor belt can deliver a box of mass 50kg up a vertical distance of 100m. The length of the
belt is able to hold 20 such boxes at any one time. It takes 1 minute to deliver 20 boxes. What is
the power output of this conveyor belt?

6. A mass of water takes 0.5 hours to boil.

a. How much heat energy is needed to boil the water using a 2000W kettle?

b. The heat energy used turns out to be 4,000kJ. Why do the numbers not tally?

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7. A block of mass 50kg is dropped from a building 500m tall and makes a dent in the ground that
is 5cm deep.

a. What is the speed at which it hits the ground?

b. What is the force that it exerts on the ground when it lands?

8. A car of mass 500kg moves up a slope and then down the other side.

a. What is the minimum power needed by the car in order to reach the peak of the 300m
high slope in 10 minutes?

b. Halfway down the slope, its velocity is 80 km h-1. What is its total energy at this point?

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 c. It reaches the bottom of the slope with a velocity of 85 km h-1. What was the work done
by the car against air resistance and friction?

9. As a man runs a marathon, the pressure exerted on him by the wind is 100Pa.

a. Given that the surface area of his body in contact with the wind is 200m2, what is the
minimum force that his body has to exert to overcome the wind?

b. The marathon is 42.5km long. What is the mans total work done against the wind?

c. If the man took 3.5 hours to complete the marathon, what is the power of his body?

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