Solutions to Problem Set 4 (in Phys 241X)

John Hauptman
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA (Dated: 15 September 2010) The solutions to Phys 241X Problem Set 4 (2.7, 2.9, 2.12, 2.13 and 2.15) are shown here. Problem 2.7 is tricky.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The assigned problems will dene the content of the course, and these problems are always open for discussion with me or your recitation instructor. You are encouraged to talk and work with your fellow students on these problems. Probably one of the assigned problems will be graded in detail by your recitation instructor, while the remaining problems will just be noted. All problems will be taken from the text by Kleppner and Kolenkow. You will see other problems in recitation for group solution. Of course, be completely free to call or email me to talk about any of these problems, or other problems, at any time.
II. SOLUTIONS

the friction force on M2 is f pointing to the left ( i). The corresponding friction force f on M1 is to the right (+ i). The friction force is the same as in part (a), f = M1 g , and the F=ma equations are [+f ] = M1 a1 and [F f ] = M2 a2 , but a1 = a2 a, and solving for F , I get F = M1 g [1 + M2 /M1 ]. It is easy to check if this is correct in part (b): when M1 sticks to M2 , it is like one mass (M1 + M2 ) pushed by one force F = M1 g + M2 g = (M1 + M2 )g . Then the acceleration is a = g . Prob 2.9 This is a dicult problem, primarily because the insight is to see that the normal force of the cone wall can be broken into two components: a horizontal component that provides the horizontal acceleration v 2 /r that keeps the mass m in a circle, and a vertical component that equals mg (i.e., no vertical acceleration). The only actual physical force in the problem is mg j, down. For the half-cone angle , the component of mg i is mg sin which must equal the normal force of the cone pushing on the mass m. This normal force, call it N , has a horizontal component Nx that points to the center of the cone, and a vertical component Ny that must equal mg to provide not vertical acceleration. Then, Ny = mg , and from geometry, Nx = Ny / tan = mg/ tan which must equal mv 2 /r to keep the mass on the circle of radius r, m or v2 = mg/ tan , r v 2 tan . g

Prob 2.7 I will use the gure in the text for this problem. The force F will push to the right + i on either the upper mass M1 or the lower mass M2 , and there is a coecient of friction at the contact surface between them (but no friction with table that M2 rests on). The condition, or constraint, is that these do not slip with respect to each other, which means their accelerations will be the same. (a) First, push on the upper mass M1 . If M1 were to slip with respect to M2 , its velocity would be to the right with respect to M1 . Therefore, the friction force f is back, to the left i, on M1 . Since this is a contact force, we can immediately say that the friction force on M2 is to the right, + i. We can also gure this out from the relative (potential) velocity of M2 with respect to M1 , which is to the left, so f on M2 is to the right. The friction force itself is f = M1 g , and the two F=ma equations are [+F f ] = M1 a1 and [+f ] = M2 a2 .

r= Since a1 = a2 (no slipping between the masses), we call this acceleration a, and solve for F , F = M1 g [1 + M1 /M2 ]. This is the maximum force before the accelerating force F exceeds the friction force f . (b) Second, push with force F on the lower mass M2 . Since M2 would move to the right with respect to M1 ,

I dont see any easy checks of this result, except that the units are OK. Prob 2.12 Physically, the glass will be accelerated by the friction force f = mg of the tablecloth on the glass, mass m. If the tablecloth is pulled out in t seconds, the friction force is on for a time t, the acceleration

2 is f /m = g , and the velocity and position of the glass become v = (g )t and x = (1/2)(g )(t)2 . After the tablecloth is free of the glass, the glass slides on the table under a friction force (which happens to be the same) f = mg . Since the acceleration and deceleration are the same magnitude, the total distance traveled is x = (1/2)at2 , or x = (1/2)(g )(t)2 2 = 0.5 ft, or t = 0.5ft/(0.5 32ft/s ) =
2

There is one more detail. The string with tension T1 pulls up on the right pulley, and two T2 tensions pull down, so T1 = 2T2 . I substituted 2T2 for T1 , then eliminated T1 from the motion equations, getting a1 = [ 2M2 M1 ]g. M1 + 4 M2

1 1/32 = s 0.19s 4 2

The answer clue is that if M1 = M2 , then a = g/5, which checks. Prob 2.15 This is another complicated problem, but we will plod through it as usual. In the gure, there are three masses, so there will be three F=ma equations, and one string connecting them all, so I am going to guess there will be one constraint equation. Thats four equations and, at rst glance, there are four unknowns: a1 , a2 , a3 and the tension T (which is the same everywhere since the pulleys are massless and frictionless). Just for fun, I am going to take a very convenient coordinate system. M1 and M2 will move into the center as M3 falls. I am going to take the x-axis, i, to be positive for both even though they are pointing in opposite directions! And, for good measure, I will take i to be pointing down at M3 , so that all three masses move in the + i direction. There is nothing wrong with this unusual coordinate system. We could, alternatively and more conventionally, dene x and y axes, then related movements in x to movements in y for each mass. The tension T moves M1 and M2 , and a total tension of 2T pulls up ( i) on M3 , so the F=ma equations are [+T f1 ] = M1 a1 and [+T f2 ] = M2 a2 and [+M3 g 2T ] = M3 a3 . When the mass M3 moves by +1 cm, both M1 and M2 move by +1 cm, a3 = (a1 + a2 )/2. Maybe we should be more careful here, but I leave it to you to dene the length of the string, , in terms of x1 , x2 , and x3 . Solving for the tension, T , I get T = 1+ . 2/m3 + 1/2m1 + 1/2M2

Prob 2.13 From the gure, this is a problem with two masses and two massless strings around two massless pulleys, so we can expect two F=ma equations and two constraint equations. The string connected to M1 has tension T1 and the string connected to M2 has tension T2 . The F=ma equations are [+T1 M1 g ] = M1 a1 and [+T2 M2 g ] = M2 a2 . By looking at the pulleys, a movement of M2 by = +1cm results in a movement of M1 by (1/2)cm. Lets be more careful with this and use the dierentials technique introduced in the text. Dene y1 to be the height of M1 , y2 to be the height of M2 , and y3 to be the height of the lower pulley. The radius of each pulley is R, and the height of the upper pulley (up to its axis) is L. The length of the M1 string is
1

= (L y1 ) + 2R + (L y3 ),

and the length of the M2 string is

2

= y3 + 2R + (y3 y2 ).

It would be good if I could draw a gure for you, but I am not good with gures in LaTeX. Taking dierentials of the s, which must be zero since the s are constants, 0 = y1 y3 , and 0 = y3 + y3 y2 , and eliminating y3 we get y1 = (1/2)y2 . This means that a1 = (1/2)a2 .