Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 6: ENERGY, WORK & POWER

ANSWERS
Name: ________________________( )Class : ______ Date : ___________

Exercise 6A: Gravitational Potential Energy

1. A window of mass 2 kg fell from an apartment at the 10 storey. What is the

potential energy of the window at that height? (Take 1 storey height as 4 m)

PE  mgh
 2 kg  10 m / s 2  ( 10  4 m )
 800 J

2. A ball of mass 0.12 kg falls from rest from a height of 20 m to the ground. What
is its loss in gravitational potential energy? (Take g = 10 ms-2)

PE at height 20 m  mgh
 0.12 kg  10 m / s 2  20 m
 24 J
PE at ground  0 J
loss in PE  24 J  0 J  24 J

3. The diagram shows a set of five steps. A student, of mass 50 kg, runs up the
steps. What is the student’s gain in gravitational potential energy?
(Take g = 10 ms-2)

Gain in PE  mgh
 50 kg  10 m / s 2  ( 5  0.15 m )
 375 J

15 cm

30 cm

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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Science Department

4. A block of mass 2 kg slides down a curved incline and reaches the bottom with a
velocity of 5 ms-1.

A
6.25 m
5m

(a) What is the gravitational potential energy of the block at the top of the
incline?
PE  mgh
 2 kg  10 m / s 2  6.25 m
 125 J

(b) Calculate the loss in gravitational potential energy by the block when it is
at point A.

PE at A  mgh
 2 kg  10 m / s 2  5 m
 100 J
loss in PE  125 J  100 J  25 J

5. A 20 kg trolley is at the top of an incline as shown below. What is the loss in

gravitational potential energy when the trolley reaches the bottom of the incline?

h  5 2  4 2  3m
loss in PE  mgh
5m
 20 kg  10 m / s 2  3 m
 600 J

4m

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 6: ENERGY, WORK & POWER

ANSWERS
Name: ________________________( )Class : ______ Date : ___________

Exercise 6B: Kinetic Energy

1. A bird of mass 0.2 kg is flying at a speed of 8 ms-1. Calculate the kinetic energy
of the bird.

1
KE  mv 2
2
1
  0.2 kg  ( 8 m / s )2
2
 6 .4 J

2. A car of mass 800 kg is moving at a constant speed. If its kinetic energy is 10 kJ,
what is its speed?
1
KE  mv 2
2
1
10 ,000 J   800 kg  v 2
2
10 ,000  2
v  5m / s
800

3. A bullet of mass 20 g travels at a speed of 1200 ms-1. Calculate its kinetic

energy.

1
KE  mv 2
2
1
  0.02 kg  ( 1200 m / s ) 2
2
 14 ,400 J

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 6: ENERGY, WORK & POWER

ANSWERS
Name: ________________________( )Class : ______ Date : ___________

Exercise 6C: Conservation of Energy

1. State the Principle of Conservation of Energy.

Energy cannot be destroyed or created but can be transformed from one form to
________________________________________________________________
another.
________________________________________________________________

2. The bob of a pendulum of mass 0.2 kg is displaced to position X and then

released.

Y 20 cm

What is the speed of the bob when it reaches position Y?

At X, At Y,
KE  0 1
KE  mv 2
PE  mgh  0.2 kg  10 m / s  0.2 m 2
2
 0 .4 J PE  0

1
By COE, KE X  PE X  KE Y  PE Y ( 0.2 kg )v 2  0.4
2
PE X  KE Y
0 .4  2
1 v  2m / s
0 .4 
mv 2 0 .2
2
3. A 2 kg brick is raised 1.8 m vertically. If the brick is released,

(a) What would be its kinetic energy just before it hits the ground?
KE at ground  PE at top
 mgh
 2 kg  10 m / s 2  1.8 m  36 J

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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Science Department

(b) What would be its speed at that instant? (Take g = 10 ms-2)

KE at ground  36 J
1
mv 2  36 J
2
36  2
v  6m / s
2
4. A man picks up an object of mass 400 g from the floor and lifts it to a certain
height. He then releases it and it hits the floor after falling for 0.6 s. Assume that
air resistance is negligible and acceleration of free fall is 10 m/s2, calculate:

(a) the kinetic energy gained by the object just before it hits the floor,
v  u  at 1
KE at ground  mv 2
 0  10  0.6 2
1
 6m / s  ( 0.4 kg )( 6 m / s )2
2
 7 .2 J
(b) the height to which the object had been lifted.
PE at top  KE at ground
mgh  7.2 J
7 .2 J
h  1 .8 m
0.4 kg  10 m / s 2
5. A toy car slides down a track from rest as shown below. Determine the speed 0f
the toy car at B and C.
A

C
h1 = 2 m
h2 = 1 m
B
ground
KE A  PE A  KE C  PE C
KE A  PE A  KE B  PE B
1
1 0  mgh A  mv 2  mghc
0  mgh  mv 2  0 2
2 1 2
v  2 gh v  ghA  ghc
2
 2  10  2 v  2 g ( hA  hc )
 6.32 m / s  2  10  ( 2  1 )
 4.47 m / s

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 6: ENERGY, WORK & POWER

ANSWERS
Name: ________________________( )Class : ______ Date : ___________

Exercise 6D: Work Done

1. A load of mass 3 kg is h
2. auled up vertically by a cable to a height of 10 m at a uniform speed. What is
the work done by the tension in hauling the load?

WD  F  d
T
 30 N  10 m
10 m
 300 J

2. A box of mass 5 kg is pulled along a level floor by a horizontal force of 10 N for a

distance of 2 m. The box is then raised vertically onto a table 1 m high. What is
the total work done on the box?

1m
10 N

2m
WD  F  d WD  F  d Total WD  20 J  50 J
 10 N  2 m  50 N  1m  70 J
 20 J  50 J

3. A block of wood is placed on a rough horizontal plane. If the friction between the
block and the plane is 6 N, how much work has to be done in order to move the
block through a distance of 1.5 m at a constant speed?
6N

friction  6 N
1.5 m

WD  F  d
 6 N  1 .5 m
 9J

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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Science Department

4. A man pushed a box across the floor at a constant speed of 0.5 m/s by applying
a horizontal force of 200 N. How much work did he do in 5 seconds?
dist travelled in 5 s  0.5m/s  5s
 2 .5 m
WD  200 N  2.5 m
 500 J

5. John pushed a trolley across a distance of 2 m using a force of 30 N. What is the

speed of the trolley the moment he lets go if the trolley has a mass of 40 kg?
WD  30 N  2 m  60 J
KE  WD
1
mv 2  60 J
2
2  60
v  1.73 m / s
40

*6. A box is pushed 10 m along a horizontal surface by a force of 8 N. The frictional

force opposing the motion is 6 N. How much of the work done is converted to
thermal energy and kinetic energy of the box respectively?

Total WD  8N  10m  80J

Energy converted to thermal enegy  6N  10m  60J
Energy converter to KE  80J - 60J  20J

*7. (a) Calculate the kinetic energy of a car of mass 1400 kg that is moving at
20 m/s along a straight horizontal road.

1
KE  mv 2
2
1
  1400 kg  ( 20 m / s ) 2  280 ,000 J
2
(b) The car is stopped by a constant braking force in a distance of 50 m. By
considering the work done in stopping the car, calculate the size of the
braking force.
WD  F  d  KE
F  50 m  280 ,000 J
280 ,000
F  5 ,600 N
50

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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Science Department

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL

PHYSICS

CHAPTER 6: ENERGY, WORK & POWER

ANSWERS
Name: ________________________( )Class : ______ Date : ___________

Exercise 6E: Power

1. A student runs up a flight of stairs in 10 s. If the work done by him is 900 J, what
is the power generated?
WD
P
t
900

10
 90W

2. An electric heater is rated at 250 W. Calculate the quantity of heat generated in

10 minutes.

E
P
t
E  Pt
 250W  10  60 s
 150 ,000 J

3. A lift of mass 5 000 kg takes 1.0 minute to rise through a height of 120 m. What
is the power output of the motor driving the lift?

WD
P
t
50 ,000 N  120 m

60 s
 100 ,000W
 100 kW

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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Science Department

4. A mass of 20 000 kg of rice is raised in a grain elevator through a vertical

distance of 10 m in 80 s. What is the power developed by the elevator?

WD
P
t
200 ,000 N  10 m

80 s
 25 ,000W
 25 kW

5. Ten 60 W light bulbs are used in a ballroom for 5 hours. Calculate the total
amount of electrical energy consumed or converted by the ten bulbs.

E
P
t
E  Pt
 60W  5  3600 s  10
 10 ,800 ,000 J
 10.8 MJ

6. Eunice conducted an experiment to measure her body power by running up a

flight of steps. If each step has a height of 0.20 m and there are 10 steps
altogether, what is her body power if she runs up the flight steps in 5 s given that
her weight is 450 N?

WD
P
t
450 N  10  0.20 m

5s
 180W

Chapter 6: Energy, Work and Power

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