Physics Pre-AP

One Dimensional Motion

I highly recommend reading page 29 of the Giancoli text (section 2-6, problem solving).
**Answers are typically rounded to significant figures on this worksheet.

Constant Speed/Velocity (Ch. 2 Giancoli examples: 1, 2)

1. Three kids in a parking lot launch a rocket that rises into the air along a 380 m long arc for 40s.
Determine its average speed. Answer: 9.5 m/s

2. According to its computer, a robot that left its closet and traveled 1200 m had an average
speed of 18.0 m/s. How long did the trip take? Answer: 67 s

3. During a race on an oval track, a car travels at an average speed of 200 km/h. (a) How far did
it travel in 45.0 min? (b) Determine its average velocity at the end of its third lap.
Answer: (a) 150 km; (b) zero

4. A car travels West at 35 mph for a time period of 2.5 hours and then travels West at 55 mph for
an additional time of 4.0 hours. (a) How far will this car be from its starting point at the end of the
journey? (b) What is the car’s average speed? Answer: (a)307 mi (310 mi), (b)47.3 mph (47 mph)

5. During your drive home you travel a stretch of road at the rate of 25 km/h for 4.0 minutes,
then at 50 km/h for 8.0 minutes, and finally at 20 km/h for 2.0 minutes. Find the average speed for
the complete trip in m/s. Answer: 10.7 m/s (11m/s)

Accelerated Motion (Ch. 2 Giancoli examples: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

6. A truck starts from rest and moves with a constant acceleration of 5.0 m/s 2. Find its velocity
and the distance traveled after 4.0 s has elapsed. Answer: 20 m/s, 40 m

7. A box slides down an incline with uniform acceleration. It starts from rest and attains a
velocity of 2.7 m/s in 3.0s. Find (a) the acceleration and (b) the distance moved in the first 6.0 s.
Answer: (a) 0.90 m/s2, (b) 16 m

8. An auto’s velocity increases uniformly from 6.0 m/s to 20 m/s while covering 70 m in a straight
line. Find the acceleration and the time taken. Answer: 2.6 m/s2, 5.4 s

9. A train running along a straight track at 30 m/s is slowed uniformly to a stop in 44 s. Find the
acceleration and the stopping distance. Answer: (a) –0.68 m/s2 (b) 660 m

10. A plane starts from rest and accelerates in a straight line along the ground before takeoff. It
moves 600 m in 12 s. Find (a) the acceleration, (b) velocity at the end of 12 s, and (c) the distance
moved during twelfth second. Answer: (a) 8.3 m/s2, (b) 0.10 km/s; (c) 96 m

11. A body with initial velocity 8.0 m/s moves along a straight line with constant acceleration and
travels 640 m in 40 s. For the 40 s interval, find (a) the average velocity, (b) the acceleration, and
(c) the final velocity. Answer: (a) 16 m/s; (b) 0.40m/s 2; (c) 24 m/s

12. A car is accelerating uniformly as it passes two checkpoints that are 30.0 m apart. The time
taken between checkpoints is 4.0 s, and the car’s speed at the first checkpoint is 5.0 m/s. Find the
car’s (a) acceleration and (b) its speed at the second checkpoint.
Answer: (a) 1.3 m/s2, (b) 10 m/s
Free Fall (Ch. 2 Giancoli examples: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
Remember: down is defined as the negative direction!

13. A rock falls freely from rest. Find (a) its acceleration, (b) its displacement in 3.0 s, (c) its
velocity after falling 70.0 m, (d) the time required to reach a velocity of -25 m/s, and (e) the time
taken to fall 300.0 m. Answer: -9.80 m/s/s. -44 m, -37 m/s, 2.6s, 7.8 s

14. Calculate (a) how long it took King Kong to fall straight down from the top of the Empire State
Building (380 m high), and (b) his velocity just before impact.
Answer: 8.8 s, -86m/s

15. A stone is thrown straight downward with an initial speed 8.0 m/s from a height of
25 m. Find the time taken to reach the ground and the velocity with which it strikes.
Answer: 1.6 s, -24 m/s

16. A baseball is thrown straight upward with a speed of 30.0 m/s. (a)How long will it rise? (b)
How high will it rise? (c) How long after it leaves the hand will return to its starting point? (d) When
will its speed be 16.0 m/s? Answer: 3.1s, 46m, 6.1s, 1.4 and 4.7s

17. A ballplayer catches a ball 3.3 s after throwing vertically upward. With what speed did he
throw it, and what height did it reach? Answer: 16 m/s, 13.3 m

18. A bottle dropped from a balloon reaches the ground in 20s. Determine the height of the
balloon if (a) it was at rest in the air and (b) it was ascending with speed of 50 m/s when the bottle
was dropped. Answer: 2.0 km, 0.96 km

19. Two balls are dropped to the ground from different heights. One is dropped 1.5s after the
other, but they both strike the ground at the same time, 5.0s after the first was dropped. (a) What is
the difference in the heights from which they were dropped; (b) From what height was the first ball
dropped? Answer: 63 m, 123 m

20. A stone is thrown vertically upward with a speed of 12.0 m/s from the edge of a cliff 75.0 m
high. (a) How much later does it reach the bottom of the cliff? (b) What is its velocity just before
hitting? Answer: 5.3 s, -40 m/s

21. A nut comes loose from a bolt on the bottom of an elevator, as the elevator is moving up the
shaft at 3.00 m/s. The nut strikes the bottom of the shaft in 2.00 s. (a) How far from the bottom of
the shaft was the elevator when the nut fell off? (b) How far above the bottom was the nut 0.25 s after
it fell off? Answer: 13.6m, 14 m

Recommended reading from Conceptual Physics by Hewitt:

 Chapter Two: Linear Motion, p. 10-24

 Review Questions p.25-26 # 4-8, 22-25

Recommended reading from Physics by Giancoli :

 Chapter Two: p. 19-37 and Ch. 2 examples 1-7 and 11-15