Sample Problems:

1. An unbalanced force of 80 N acts on an object weighing 100 N. What is its acceleration?

2. A constant horizontal force of 40 N acts on a body on a smooth horizontal surface. The body starts
from rest and is observed to move 100 m in 5 s. (a) What is the mass of the body? (b) if the force
ceases to act at the end of 5 s, how far will the body move in the next 5 s?
3. A gymnast with mass mG = 50.0 kg suspends herself from the lower end of a hanging rope. The
upper end of the rope is attached to the gymnasium ceiling (figure below). What is the gymnast’s
weight? What force (magnitude and direction) does the rope exert on her? What is the tension at
the top of the rope? Assume that the mass of the rope itself is negligible.

4. Suppose that in example 1, the weight of the rope is not negligible but is 120 N. Find the tension at
each of the rope.

5. In the figure below, a car engine with weight w hangs from a chain that is linked at ring O to two
other chains, one fastened to the ceiling and the other to the wall. Find the tensions in each of these
three chains, assuming that w is given and the weights of the ring and chains are negligible.
6. A car of weight w rests on a slanted ramp attached to a trailer (figure below). Only a cable running
from the trailer to the car prevents the car from rolling off the ramp. (The car’s brakes are off and
its transmission is in neutral.) Find the tension in the cable and the force that the ramp exerts on the
car’s tires.

7. An iceboat is at rest on a perfectly frictionless horizontal surface. A steady wind is blowing (along
the direction of the runners) so that 4.0 s after the iceboat is released, it attains a velocity of 6.0 m/s
(about 22 km/h, or 13 mi/h). What constant horizontal force Fw does the wind exert on the iceboat?
The mass of iceboat and rider is 200 kg.

8. Consider the iceboat moving on a frictionless surface, as in example 5. But now let’s suppose that
once the iceboat starts to move, its position as a function of time is

𝑥 = (1.2 𝑚/𝑠2 )𝑡 2 − (0.20 𝑚/𝑠3 ) 𝑡 3

 Find the force Fw exerted by the wind as a function of time in this case. What is this force at time
t = 3.0 s? For what times is the force zero? Positive? Negative?
9. Suppose the wind is once again blowing steadily in the +x – direction as in example 5, so that the
iceboat has a constant acceleration ax = 1.5 m/s2. Now, however, there is a constant horizontal
friction force with magnitude 100 N that opposes the motion of the iceboat. In this case, what force
Fw must the wind exert on the iceboat?

10. An elevator and its load have a total mass of 800 kg. The elevator is originally moving downward
at 10.0 m/s; it slows to a stop with constant acceleration in a distance of 25.0 m. Find the tension T
in the supporting cable while the elevator is being brought to rest.

11. A 50 kg woman stands on a bathroom scale while riding in the elevator in example 8. What is the
reading on the scale?

12. A toboggan loaded with vacationing students (total weight w) slides down a long, snow-covered
slope. The hill slopes at a constant angle α and the toboggan is so well waxed that there is virtually
no friction. What is its acceleration?