Motion, forces and energy

A cyclist travels 4.8 km along a straight road in 20 minutes.
What is the average speed of the cyclist?

The distance–time graph for a delivery van is a horizontal straight line for the whole of a 5-minute interval.
What does this show about the van during this interval?

The speed–time graph for a train is a straight line. The line slopes downwards from 20 m/s to 0 m/s.
Which statement describes the motion of the train?

A stone is dropped from rest from a high bridge. Air resistance is negligible.
What is the speed of the stone after 2.0 s? (g = 9.8 m/s²)

A student releases a toy car at the top of a track. She uses a stopwatch to time how long the car takes to travel the full 2.40 m length of the track. She repeats the measurement three times and records 3.1 s, 3.3 s and 3.2 s.

A bus leaves a stop and moves along a straight road.
• From 0 s to 10 s it accelerates uniformly from rest to 15 m/s.
• From 10 s to 50 s it travels at a constant 15 m/s.
• From 50 s to 56 s it decelerates uniformly to rest at the next stop.

A small boat on a lake is pulled east by a rope with a force of 12 N. The wind pushes the boat west with a force of 5 N. What is the resultant force on the boat?

A wooden block is slid across a rough bench and slows down. Which statement about the friction force on the block is correct?

A spring has an unstretched length of 8.0 cm. When a load is hung from it, its length becomes 11.5 cm. What is the extension of the spring?

Which of these cannot be caused by a force acting on an object?

A student hangs a spring from a clamp and adds loads to it. She records the length of the spring for each load.
Load / N: 0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0
Length / cm: 5.0, 6.2, 7.4, 8.6, 9.8

A cyclist rides along a straight, level road. At one moment the forward driving force is 150 N, the air resistance is 90 N and the friction force from the road and bearings is 20 N. Both resistive forces act backwards.

A bag of rice has a mass of 2.5 kg. The gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.8 N/kg.
What is the weight of the bag of rice?

An astronaut travels from the Earth to the Moon. The gravitational field strength on the Moon is smaller than on the Earth.
What happens to the astronaut's mass and to the astronaut's weight?

A rectangular metal block measures 4.0 cm × 2.5 cm × 2.0 cm. Its mass is 54 g.
What is the density of the metal?

The densities of some materials are:
• cork: 0.24 g/cm³
• ice: 0.92 g/cm³
• water: 1.00 g/cm³
• aluminium: 2.70 g/cm³

A child pulls back the rubber band of a catapult and holds it still, ready to fire. In which energy store is the extra energy mainly held?

A worker pushes a crate across a floor with a constant horizontal force of 40 N. The crate moves 3.0 m in the direction of the force.
How much work does the worker do on the crate?

An electric motor does 6000 J of work in 20 s.
What is the power of the motor?

Two students, A and B, have the same weight. They both run up the same flight of stairs. Student A takes 8 s and student B takes 12 s.
Which statement is correct?

A shopper pushes a loaded trolley along a level supermarket aisle. The trolley moves at a constant speed.

A student pours water into a measuring cylinder. The water surface curves downwards in the middle, forming a meniscus.
Which method gives the most accurate reading of the volume?

A student uses a stopwatch to time 20 complete oscillations of a pendulum. The total time is 36.0 s.
What is the period of the pendulum?

A packet contains 250 identical sheets of paper. The stack is 2.5 cm thick.
What is the thickness of one sheet?

A student uses a measuring cylinder to find the volume of an irregularly shaped stone.
The cylinder contains water to the 35 cm³ mark. The stone is lowered gently into the water and the level rises to 48 cm³.

A force of 20 N acts on a lever. The perpendicular distance from the pivot to the line of action of the force is 0.30 m.
What is the moment of the force about the pivot?

Which unit is used for the moment of a force?

A door handle is fixed on the edge of the door furthest from the hinges.
Why does this make the door easier to open?

Which unit is equivalent to the pascal (Pa), the unit of pressure?

A wooden crate of weight 60 N rests on a floor. The base of the crate is a rectangle measuring 0.20 m by 0.30 m.
What is the pressure the crate exerts on the floor?

A walker wears wide, flat snowshoes and sinks less into soft snow than when wearing ordinary boots.
Why does this happen?

A person of weight 600 N stands on a wooden floor wearing shoes with narrow heels.

A traveller packs a suitcase of mass 18 kg. The gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.8 N/kg.

A tall plastic bottle full of water has three small holes at different heights on one side. Water spurts out of all three holes.
Which statement about the water as it leaves the holes is correct?

A student wants to find the centre of gravity of a flat, irregularly shaped piece of plywood. She has a clamp stand, a pin, a plumb line and a pencil. There are three small holes near the edge of the plywood.

A concrete dam holds back a deep reservoir of fresh water. The wall of the dam is much thicker at the bottom than at the top.

A mechanic uses a wheel brace to undo a tight wheel nut. He pushes down on the end of the brace with a force of 150 N. The force is at right angles to the brace, 0.40 m from the centre of the nut.

A student wants to find the density of a rectangular block of aluminium.

A diesel-powered crane on a building site lifts a load of steel beams from the ground to the top of a building.

A student times 20 complete swings of a pendulum and records 31.0 s. What is the time period of the pendulum?

The distance–time graph for a cyclist consists of a straight sloping line, then a horizontal line, then a steeper straight sloping line. Which description of the motion is correct?

A metal block measures 6.0 cm × 5.0 cm × 4.0 cm and has a mass of 540 g. What is the density of the metal?

A student wants to find the density of a small irregular stone. The stone has a mass of 156 g. She has a measuring cylinder, water and a balance.

A rover has a mass of 180 kg on Earth, where the gravitational field strength is 9.8 N/kg. The rover is taken to the Moon, where the gravitational field strength is 1.6 N/kg.

An aluminium block for a building facade has a mass of 540 g and a volume of 200 cm³. What is its density?

A research submersible has a mass of 80 kg on Earth, where g = 9.8 N/kg. It is transported to Mars, where g = 3.7 N/kg. Which row gives its mass and weight on Mars?

A crate with a weight of 600 N rests on a pallet. The crate's base has an area of 0.15 m². What pressure does the crate exert on the pallet?

A concrete block for a wall has dimensions 0.50 m × 0.40 m × 0.20 m and a mass of 96 kg.

A cleaning robot moves up a building facade. It travels 24 m upwards in 30 s at a constant speed. It then stays still for 10 s before returning to its starting point at a constant speed of 1.2 m/s.

A marine biologist finds the density of a coral fragment of mass 36 g. She places it in a measuring cylinder; the water level rises from 40 cm³ to 52 cm³. What is the density of the coral?

A delivery van travels 30 km in 45 minutes. What is its average speed?

A spring in a test rig for a model bridge extends by 4.0 cm when a load of 2.0 N is hung from it. The spring obeys Hooke's law for loads up to 10 N. What is the extension when the load is 6.0 N?

The speed–time graph of a research submersible is a straight line sloping upwards from the origin, followed by a horizontal line. Which statement describes the motion?

A marine biologist tracks a tagged shark. Its distance from the start is logged: 0 m at 0 s, 12 m at 10 s, 24 m at 20 s and 36 m at 30 s.

A crop-spraying drone has a mass of 15 kg. The gravitational field strength is 9.8 N/kg. What is the weight of the drone?

A sample of grain has a mass of 0.84 kg and occupies a volume of 0.0012 m³. What is the density of the grain?

A light aircraft has a fuel tank holding 0.25 m³ of aviation fuel of density 800 kg/m³. Use g = 9.8 N/kg.

A tractor travels 4500 m along a farm track in 30 minutes at a steady speed.

A guitar amplifier of mass 25 kg stands on a flat floor. Use g = 9.8 N/kg.

A pharmacist stacks 25 identical tablets and measures the height of the stack with a ruler as 17.5 mm. What is the thickness of one tablet?

In a video game the distance travelled by a character is plotted against time. The graph is a straight line from the origin to 20 m at 4.0 s, followed by a horizontal line until 10 s. What is the average speed of the character over the whole 10 s?

A box of medicine has mass 0.40 kg on Earth. It is taken to the Moon, where the gravitational field strength is 1.6 N/kg. On Earth g = 9.8 N/kg. What are the mass and weight of the box on the Moon?

A pharmacy technician checks the thickness of aluminium foil used to seal tablet packs.

A pharmacy pill dispenser uses a spring. Extensions for different loads are recorded: load/N 0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 10.0; extension/cm 0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 12.0.

A cube-shaped component for a space probe has sides of 0.10 m and a mass of 2.7 kg. What is the density of the material?

A probe has a mass of 450 kg. On the Moon the gravitational field strength is 1.6 N/kg. What is the weight of the probe on the Moon?

A steel pad that supports part of a bridge deck carries a load of 2.0 × 10⁵ N. The area of the pad in contact with the ground is 4000 cm² (0.40 m²). What is the pressure on the ground?

A rover on Mars drives in a straight line across level ground. It travels 18 m in 120 s at a constant speed.

The drum of a coffee roaster is turned by an electric motor. The motor receives energy at a rate of 150 W and delivers 105 W of useful mechanical power to the drum.

A steel counterweight block in a theatre flying system rests on the stage floor. Its weight is 480 N and the area in contact with the floor is 0.20 m². What pressure does the block exert on the floor?

A ferry leaves a harbour and accelerates uniformly from rest to 8.0 m/s in 5.0 s. It then travels at a constant 8.0 m/s for a further 7.0 s. What total distance does the ferry travel in the 12 s?

A stage lamp hangs from a long chain and swings gently from side to side. A student wants to find the time for one complete swing (the period).

A volcanologist wants to find the density of a small piece of volcanic rock of irregular shape.

A marine biologist deploys a tagging buoy of mass 5.0 kg. The gravitational field strength is 9.8 N/kg. What is the weight of the buoy?

A fitter tightens a bolt on a steel truss using a spanner. A force of 60 N is applied perpendicular to the spanner at a distance of 0.25 m from the bolt. What is the moment of the force about the bolt?

A delivery lorry travels 90 km in 1 hour 15 minutes. What is its average speed?

An archaeologist times a swinging plumb line. Twenty complete swings take 31.4 s. What is the time for one swing (the period)?

A bronze artefact has a mass of 420 g. Its volume, found by displacement of water, is 50 cm³. What is the density of the bronze?

A cyclist rides 4.5 km in 15 minutes. Later, in a separate ride, she accelerates uniformly from rest to 6.0 m/s in 8.0 s.

An archaeologist finds a small pottery shard and wants to know its density.

A technician measures the density of a liquid coolant used in a data centre. An empty bottle has a mass of 0.18 kg. When 250 cm³ of coolant is poured in, the bottle and coolant have a mass of 0.53 kg. Use g = 9.8 N/kg.

A beekeeper stacks 20 identical sheets of wax foundation and measures the height of the stack as 15.0 mm. What is the thickness of one sheet?

A hospital lift starts from rest and speeds up uniformly to 3.0 m/s in 2.0 s. It then moves at a constant 3.0 m/s for 5.0 s. What is the total distance it travels in these 7.0 s?

A spring in a beehive scale has a length of 20 cm when unloaded. A load of 4.0 N makes its length 26 cm. The spring obeys Hooke's law and the limit of proportionality is not exceeded. What is the length of the spring when the load is 10 N?

A beekeeper's hanging scale contains a spring. The table shows the extension of the spring for different loads.
Load / N: 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 10.0, 12.0
Extension / cm: 3.0, 6.0, 9.0, 12.0, 15.0, 21.0
Use g = 9.8 N/kg.

In a coffee roastery, a technician times 20 complete swings of a pendulum clock and records 36 s. What is the period of one swing?

A steel block for a bridge model has a mass of 15.6 kg and a volume of 2000 cm³. What is the density of the steel in g/cm³?

A spring in a roasting-machine scale extends by 4.0 cm when the load is 6.0 N. The spring obeys Hooke's law for all loads up to 20 N. What is its extension when the load is 15 N?

A walker takes 3 min 20 s to cross a straight bridge of length 240 m at a constant speed.

A coffee roaster measures the density of coffee beans before and after roasting. 12.0 kg of green beans fill a container of volume 0.016 m³. After roasting, the beans have a mass of 10.2 kg and occupy a volume of 0.024 m³.

An archaeologist measures the thickness of a pottery fragment with a micrometer screw gauge. With the jaws closed the gauge reads 0.04 mm. With the fragment between the jaws it reads 3.46 mm. What is the true thickness of the fragment?

A cyclist's speed increases uniformly from 0 to 12 m/s in 8.0 s. What distance does the cyclist travel in this time?

An irregular stone from a dig has a mass of 156 g. When it is lowered into a measuring cylinder, the water level rises by 60 cm³. What is the density of the stone?

A cyclist rides once around a circular track at a constant speed of 10 m/s. Which statement is correct?

A cyclist starts from rest and accelerates uniformly for 10 s until reaching a speed of 8.0 m/s. The cyclist then rides at this constant speed for 30 s and finally slows uniformly to rest in 5.0 s.

A porter pushes a hospital trolley along a corridor. On a distance–time graph, the motion is a straight line sloping upwards from the origin for 10 s, followed by a horizontal straight line lasting 5 s. Which statement describes the motion?

A technician in a hospital physics laboratory times 20 complete swings of a pendulum and records 32.4 s. What is the time for one swing?

A beekeeper measures a jar of honey. The empty jar has a mass of 120 g. The jar with the honey has a mass of 540 g. The honey has a volume of 300 cm³.

A nurse checks an intravenous drip. She times 10 drops falling and finds that they take 24 s. Each drop has a volume of 0.050 cm³.

A stack of 20 identical steel plates for a bridge test has a total thickness of 15.0 mm, measured with a micrometer. What is the thickness of one plate?

Which list contains only vector quantities?

A student finds the density of a steel sample used for a bridge cable. The sample has mass 158 g. It is lowered into a measuring cylinder containing 40 cm³ of water, and the water level rises to 60 cm³.

A rover from a space probe drives across a planet's surface. Its distance from the start is recorded.
Time / s: 0, 300, 400, 700
Distance / m: 0, 18, 18, 49

A spring in a coffee-scoop balance is loaded and the extension is measured.
Load / N: 0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 10.0, 12.0
Extension / cm: 0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.5

A space probe coasts at a constant speed of 15 km/s for 2.0 hours. What distance does it travel in this time?

A sample of green coffee beans has mass 0.150 kg and occupies a volume of 2.0 × 10⁻⁴ m³. After roasting, the sample has mass 0.120 kg and volume 3.0 × 10⁻⁴ m³. What is the density of the roasted beans?

A bridge-inspection drone of mass 0.40 kg flies horizontally at 6.0 m/s. What is its kinetic energy?

A student investigates a model bridge deck that swings from side to side like a pendulum. Using a stopwatch, the student finds that 20 complete oscillations take 31.4 s.

A space probe has a mass of 460 kg. The gravitational field strength is 9.8 N/kg on Earth and 3.7 N/kg on the surface of Mars.

An archaeologist finds a stack of 25 identical Roman coins with a total height of 40 mm. What is the thickness of one coin?

A cyclist rides 4500 m in 15 minutes at a steady speed. What is the speed in m/s?

A stone slab of mass 60 kg is displayed on a museum floor. Use g = 9.8 N/kg. The slab is a cuboid and rests on a face measuring 0.40 m by 0.30 m.

A pharmacist measures out 40 cm³ of a syrup. The syrup has a mass of 52 g. What is the density of the syrup?

A spring extends by 4.0 cm when a load of 6.0 N is hung from it. The spring obeys Hooke’s law over this range. What is the extension when the load is 15 N, assuming the limit of proportionality is not exceeded?

A hand pump on a water supply is pushed with a force of 85 N through 0.40 m on each stroke. A worker makes 30 strokes. How much work does the worker do?

A pharmacist wants the density of a coated tablet. She puts 25 identical tablets into a measuring cylinder containing 40.0 cm³ of water. The water level rises to 52.5 cm³. The total mass of the 25 tablets is 31.5 g.

A beekeeper fills a jar with 0.50 litre of honey. The density of honey is 1400 kg/m³. 1 litre = 1.0 × 10⁻³ m³.
What is the mass of honey in the jar?

A Formula 1 car accelerates uniformly from rest to 50 m/s in 5.0 s. It then travels at a constant 50 m/s for a further 10 s.
What is the total distance travelled in the 15 s?

A spring extends by 4.0 cm when a 2.0 N load hangs from it. A beekeeper hangs a hive frame of weight 5.0 N from the same spring. The limit of proportionality is not exceeded.
What is the extension of the spring?

A beekeeper wants to find the thickness of one sheet of beeswax foundation. She stacks 20 identical sheets and measures the height of the stack with a millimetre ruler. The stack is 14.0 mm high.

A hospital technician finds the density of a steel surgical clamp. The mass of the clamp is 156 g. The clamp is lowered into a measuring cylinder containing 50 cm³ of water. The water level rises to 70 cm³.

A Formula 1 car leaves the pit lane. It accelerates uniformly from rest to 24 m/s in 8.0 s and then travels at a constant 24 m/s for a further 20 s. What is the total distance travelled in the 28 s?

A steel surgical tray in a hospital has a mass of 640 g and a volume of 80 cm³. What is the density of the steel?

A beekeeper uses a spring balance to weigh a feeder. A load of 2.0 N extends the spring by 3.0 cm. The spring obeys Hooke's law and its limit of proportionality is not exceeded. What is the extension when the load is 5.0 N?

A beekeeper lifts a hive box containing frames of honey. The box has a mass of 12.0 kg. The gravitational field strength is 9.8 N/kg. The base of the box is a rectangle measuring 0.30 m by 0.40 m.