Question Exercise of Work, Energy and Power

1. A child sits at the top of a long, smooth slide, as shown below. Her mass is 50 kg.

a. Calculate the child’s weight

b. What does the word ‘smooth’ suggest to you about the frictional force on the child when she goes
down the slide?
c. Which force does work on the child as she goes down the slide?
d. Calculate the work done on the child by this force as she moves from the top of the slide to the bottom.
Remember that the distance moved must be in the direction of the force.
e. Describe how the chlid’s speed changes as she slides down

2. This question involves calculating a change in KE . Take care whe calculating a change in KE. You need to
calculate the KE before and the KE after the change; do not be tempted to calculateusing the charge its speed.
a. A boy of mass 54 kg is running at a speed of 5.0 m/s. calculate his KE.
b. The boy accelerates to a speed of 6.3 m/s. Calculate the change in his KE.

3. A ball of mass 0.35 kg was thrown upwards. It reached a height of 5.3 m above its starting position
a. Calculate the weight of the ball
b. Calculate the increase in its GPE when it is at its highest point.
c. Determine the decrease in the ball’s GPE as it falls back down to its starting position

4. This diagram shows a simple pendulum :

The pendulum bob has a mass of 25 g. When pulled to the left, it is 0.24 m above the lowest point in its swing.
a. Determine the change in the bob’s GPE when it swings from its starting point to the lowest point
b. Determine the speed v of the bob at its lowest point.
c. Explain why the speed v of the bob is greatest at the lowest point in its swing.

5. This Sankey diagram represents the energy changes each second in a combined heat and power (CHP) station.
CHP stations burn fuel to generate hot water and electricity.
 Question Exercise of Work, Energy and Power

a. How much energy is supplied to the power station, by its fuel, each second?
b. How much useful energy does the power station supply each second?
To calculate efficiency you need to identify all useful energy transfers. Wasted energy is usually heat,
but not all heat is wasted energy.
c. How much energy is wasted by the power station each second?
d. Calculate the efficiency of the power station.

6. A car of mass 650 kg accelerates from rest to a speed of 22 m/s

a. Calculate the car’s kinetic energy

To achieve this acceleration, the car’s engine burns 0.023 litre of petrol. Each litre of fuel stores 40 MJof
chemical energy.
b. Calculate the energy in the burned fuel
c. Calculate the efficiency of the engine in accelerating the car

7. A lift in a shopping centre can transport20 people to a height of 54 m in a time of 14 s. the lift compartment has
a mass of 1420 and the average person has a mass of 60 kg.
a. Calculate the combined mass of the compartment and the 20 people in it
b. Calculate the energy gained as the lift travels upward
Think about the lift as it rises. Which form the energy is increasing
c. Calculate the rate at which energy is transferred by the lift motor to the compartment

8. a. A steel ball of mass 20 g is placed on a smooth, curved track as shown

When released, the ball rolls back and forth along the track. As its lowest point, its speed is 0.47 m/s. Calculate
its KE at this point.
b. Deduce the height h above the bottom of the track from which it was released

9. This diagram shows a wooden block on a rough 1.7 m long slope. It shows the four forces acting on the block as
it is pulled, by a length of string, directly up the slope at a constant speed of 0.6 m/s

a. Explain what is meant by work done

 Question Exercise of Work, Energy and Power
b. With reference to Newton’s first law of motion, discuss whether the box is in equilibrium
c. Explain why the contact force C does no work as the block moves
d. Write down a word equation that relates the work done by the force T that pulls the block up the slope, the
gravitational potential energy of the box and the work done by force F
e. Use your equation in d to calculate a value for the force T
f. Calculate the power needed to pull the box up the slope at the constant speed

10.