Name-___________________________ Unit 3 Free Response Practice Answers

1) Two objects are connected by a very light flexible string as shown in the figure, where M = 0.60
kg and m = 0.40 kg. You can ignore friction and the mass of the pulley.

(a) Draw free-body diagrams for each object.

(b) Calculate the magnitude of the acceleration of each object.
(c) Calculate the tension in the string.
Answer:
(a) The force of gravity acts downward and tension acts upward on each object.
(b) 2.0 m/s2
(c) 4.7 N

2) Three boxes in contact rest side-by-side on a smooth, horizontal floor. Their masses are 5.0-kg,
3.0-kg, and 2.0-kg, with the 3.0-kg box in the center. A force of 50 N pushes on the 5.0-kg box,
which pushes against the other two boxes.
(a) Draw the free-body diagrams for each of the boxes.
(b) What magnitude force does the 3.0-kg box exert on the 5.0-kg box?
(c) What magnitude force does the 3.0-kg box exert on the 2.0-kg box?
Answer:
(a) The following forces act on the 5.0-kg box: the force due to gravity, normal force, contact force
between 5.0-kg mass and 3.0-kg mass, the force of 50 N pushing on the box. The following forces
act on the 3.0-kg box: the force due to gravity, normal force, contact force between the 5.0-kg box
and the 3.0-kg box, the contact force between the 3.0-kg box and the 2.0-kg box. The following
forces act on the 2.0-kg box: the force due to gravity, normal force, contact force between the 3.0-
kg box and the 2.0-kg box.
(b) 25 N
(c) 10 N
3) The figure shows a graph of the acceleration of a 125-g object as a function of the net force
acting on it. What is the acceleration at points A and B?

Answer: A: 16 m/s2, B: 4.0 m/s2

4) The graph in the figure shows the x component of the acceleration of a 2.4-kg object as a
function of time (in ms).
(a) At what time(s) does the x component of the net force on the object reach its maximum
magnitude, and what is that maximum magnitude?
(b) What is the x component of the net force on the object at time t = 0.0 ms and at t = 4.0 ms?
Answer: (a) At 3.0 ms, 48 N (b) 12 N, -24 N

4) The graph in the figure shows the net force acting on a 3.0-kg object as a function of time.
(a) What is the acceleration of this object at time t = 2.0 s?
(b) Draw, to scale, a graph of the acceleration of this object as a function of time over the range t =
0.00 s to t = 7.0 s.
Answer:
(a) 2.0 m/s2
(b) The acceleration-time graph looks the same as the force-time graph except on the vertical axis
the numbers (starting at 2.0) are replaced by 0.67, 1.3, 2.0, 2.7, 3.3, and 4.0.

5) A time-varying horizontal force F(t) = At4 + Bt2 acts for 0.500 s on a 12.25-kg object, starting at
time
t = 1.00 s. In the SI system, A has the numerical value 4.50 and B has the numerical value 8.75.
(a) What are the SI units of A and B?
(b) What impulse does this force impart to the object?
Answer: (a) A: N/s4 = kg m/s6 , B: N/s2 = kg m/s4 (b) 12.9 N s, horizontally