OPEN QA 14

#$&*

course PHY 121

3.30.11 at 9:41pm

If your solution to stated problem does not match the given solution, you should self-critique per instructions at

http://vhcc2.vhcc.edu/dsmith/geninfo/labrynth_created_fall_05/levl1_22/levl2_81/file3_259.h

tm.

Your solution, attempt at solution.

If you are unable to attempt a solution, give a phrase-by-phrase interpretation of the

problem along with a statement of what you do or do not understand about it. This response

should be given, based on the work you did in completing the assignment, before you look at

the given solution.

014. Potential energy; conservative and non-conservative forces.

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Question: `q001. An automobile of mass 1500 kg coasts from rest through a displacement of

200 meters down a 3% incline. How much work is done on the automobile by its weight

component parallel to the incline?

If no other forces act in the direction of motion (this assumes frictionless motion, which

is of course not realistic but we assume it anyway because this ideal situation often gives

us valuable insights which can then be modified to situations involving friction), what

will be the final velocity of the automobile?

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Your solution:

Parallel weight component = weight * slope

weight = m* 9.8

= 1500kg * 9.8

= 14,700 N

weight * slope = 14700 * 0.03 = 441 N

v0=0

'ds = 200m

vf^2 = v0^2 + 2a'ds

vf^2 = 2(a)200m

@& Had you divided the 441 N force by the mass of the car, you would have gotten its acceleration. Then you would have had enough information to finish your solution.*@

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

The weight of the automobile is 1500 kg * 9.8 m/s^2 = 14,700 Newtons. The weight component

parallel to the incline is therefore very close to the small-slope approximation

weight * slope = 14700 Newtons * .03 = 441 Newtons (small-slope approximation).

If no other forces act parallel to the incline then the net force will be just before 441

Newtons and the work done by the net force will be

`dWnet = 441 Newtons * 200 meters = 88200 Joules.

[ Note that this work was done by a component of the gravitational force, and that it is

the work done on the automobile by gravity. ]

The net work on a system is equal to its change in KE. Since the automobile started from

rest, the final KE will equal the change in KE and will therefore be 88200 Joules, and the

final velocity is found from 1/2 m vf^2 = KEf to be

vf = +_`sqrt(2 * KEf / m) = +-`sqrt(2 * 88200 Joules / (1500 kg) ) = +-`sqrt(2 * 88200 kg

m^2/s^2 / (1500 kg) ) = +- 10.9 m/s (approx.).

Since the displacement down the ramp is regarded as positive and the automotive will end up

with a velocity in this direction, we choose the +10.9 m/s alternative.

STUDENT QUESTION: I assume the perpendicular force is balanced beause of the normal force

downward of gravity and mass and then upward from the road.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE:

Good, but there's a little more to it:

The normal force balances the component of the gravitational force which is perpendicular

to the road. The component of the gravitational force parallel to the incline is the for

that tends to accelerated objects downhill.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

I got to a point above where I had two unknown values in my equation and I didn't know hwo

to proceed. Obviously, there was another route. I did not see it at the time but your

explanation is helping clarify some things for me.

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q002. If the automobile in the preceding problem is given an initial velocity

of 10.9 m/s up the ramp, then if the only force acting in the direction of motion is the

force of gravity down the incline, how much work must be done by the gravitational force in

order to stop the automobile?

How can this result be used, without invoking the equations of motion, to determine how far

the automobile travels up the incline before stopping?

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Your solution:

Vf= 0

v0 = -10.9m/sec

Gravitational force to stop the car will be less if it's going uphill than if it were going

down the slope. I'm not sure how to calculate it, but I'm pretty sure this is the case.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

This is an application of the work-kinetic energy theorem.

In words, this theorem says that

the change in KE is equal to the work done by the net force acting ON the system

In symbols, this is expressed

`dW_net = `d(KE).

KE is kinetic energy, equal to 1/2 m v^2.

The automobile starts out with kinetic energy

KEinit = 1/2 m v0^2 = 1/2 (1500 kg) ( 10.9 m/s)^2 = 88000 kg m^2/s^2 = 88000 Joules.

The gravitational force component parallel to the incline is in this case opposite to the

direction of motion so that gravity does negative work on the automobile. Since the change

in KE is equal to the work done by the net force acting ON the system, if the gravitational

force component parallel to the incline does negative work the KE of the object will

decrease. This will continue until the object reaches zero KE.

As found previously the gravitational force component along the incline has magnitude 441

Newtons. In this case the forces directed opposite to the direction motion, so if the

direction up the incline is taken to be positive this force component must be -441 N. By

the assumptions of the problem this is the net force exerted on the object.

Acting through displacement `ds this force will therefore do work `dWnet = Fnet * `ds =

-441 N * `ds. Since this force must reduce the KE from 88,000 Joules to 0, `dWnet must be

-88,000 Joules. Thus

`dW_net = -441 N * `ds = -88,000 Joules

and

`ds = -88,000 J / (-441 N) = 200 meters (approx.).

Had the arithmetic been done precisely, using the precise final velocity found in the

previous exercise instead of the 10.9 m/s approximation, we would have found that the

displacement is exactly 200 meters.

STUDENT QUESTION

I set `dKE = Fnet * `ds and had `dKE as negative so I came up with the correct solution

but just above you say that work is negative.

I don’t understand how work is negative, especially going by the equation because I thought

work was opposite `dKE.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

You're thinking about exactly the right things.

The specific statement of the work-KE theorem is that the work done by the net force acting

ON the system is equal to the change in the kinetic energy of the system. This is

abbreviated

`dW_ON_net = `dKE.

Rather that talking about 'the work', it's very important to get into the habit of labeling

'the work' very specifically. You have two basic choices. You can think in terms of

the work done on the system or object by a force

the work done by the system or object against a force

The two are equal and opposite.

Note that the words 'on' and 'by' modify the word 'system', not the word 'force'.

The key phrases are 'on the system' and 'by the system'.

In the present case if you were to choose to think in terms of the work done by the net

force exerted by object, then this force would be labeled `dW_BY_net and would be equal and

opposite to `dW_ON_net, the work exerted by the net force acting on the object. Formally we

would have

`dW_BY_net = - `dW_ON_net so that

`dW_BY_net = - `dKE.

This last equation is often written

`dW_BY_net + `dKE = 0,

and is another equivalent formulation of the work-kinetic energy theorem.

STUDENT COMMENT

I am getting all the equations mixed up is there any way you can just send the different

equations? I understand the 4 from the major quiz. I can do the algebra I just don’t know

which equation to plug it in for.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

Physics is about more than figuring out what to plug into what equation. It's necessary to

understand the words and the concepts to know which equation to plug into. In other words,

the concepts are what keep us from getting the equations mixed up.

However I have observed in your work that you do very well with the algebra. So the

equations might well be your most appropriate starting point. You can use the equations to

understand the words and the concepts, just as less algebraically adept students might use

the words and concepts to understand the equations.

The relevant relationships here are

`dW_net = `dKE and

KE = 1/2 m v^2.

The relationship

`dW_BY_net = - `dW_ON_net

is also invoked in the additional comments at the end, which mention an alternative

formulation of the work-kinetic energy theorem. However this relationship is not used in

solving this particular problem.

STUDENT COMMENT

OK, I understand the solution and will use _on and _by descriptors in my

answers from now on.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

Good.

Remember that ON and BY are adjectives applied to the word 'system', not to the word

'force'.

That is, you have to determine whether the force is acting ON the system, or is exerted BY

the system.

Your choice of point of view will determine whether you use the equation

`dW_NC_ON = `dPE + `dKE

or

`dW_NC_BY + `dPE + `dKE = 0.

STUDENT COMMENT

Ok. I see why my ‘ds was negative. The F is negative in this system because it is working

against the positive motion of the car UP the ramp. For every force, there is an equal and

OPPOSITE force.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

Good. If you assume the positive direction to be up the incline, F_net is negative, as you

say, but the specific reason is slightly different than the one you give. It's good to

think in terms of equal and opposite forces, but the motion of the car is not a force.

In this case it really just comes down to signs:

The force used to calculate `dW_net was the net force acting on the car. That force acts

down the incline, in the direction opposite motion. Therefore F_net and `ds are of opposite

sign, and the net force acting on the car does negative work. This decreases the KE, as

your solution indicates.

The question of whether `ds is positive or negative depends on which direction you choose

for the positive direction. In your solution you apparently thought of upward as the

positive direction; you should have explicitly stated this. Relative to this choice F_net

is negative.

As I mentioned, you should have declared the positive direction in your solution. You could

have chosen either upward (which is the direction of the displacement, and is the direction

you implicity chose) or downward (which is the direction of the net force) to be the

positive direction.

Either choice of positive direction would have been perfectly natural. If you had chosen

'down the incline' to be the positive direction, then `ds would have been negative

(therefore opposite to the downward direction, so up the incline). In either case, `ds

would have been up the incline.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

The solution is clear but I still don't quite feel comfortable with the thinking

process/ideas here. I've written notes on this solution to refer to as needed in hopes of

making things clearer.

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Self-critique rating:

@& As on the preceding problem, you need to find the net force (as you have done), the divide the net force by the mass to get the acceleration. That's the only thing you're missing at this point.*@

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Question: `q003. If the automobile in the previous example rolls from its maximum

displacement back to its original position, without the intervention of any forces in the

direction of motion other than the parallel component of the gravitational force, how much

of its original 88200 Joules of KE will it have when it again returns to this position?

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Your solution:

There will be 0 J of KE remaining once it rolls from max displacement back to the original

position.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

In the first exercise in the present series of problems related to this ramp, we found that

when the automobile coasts 200 meters down the incline its KE increases by an amount equal

to the work done on it by the gravitational force, or by 88200 Joules. Thus the automobile

will regain all of its 88200 Joules of kinetic energy.

To summarize the situation here, if the automobile is given a kinetic energy of 88200

Joules at the bottom of the ramp then if it coasts up the ramp it will coast until gravity

has done -88200 Joules of work on it, leaving it with 0 KE. Coasting back down the ramp,

gravity works in the direction of motion and therefore does +88200 Joules of work on it,

thereby increasing its KE back to its original 88200 Joules.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

That makes perfect sense. My logic was that it would lose KE on the trip up and on the

trip down. Although, it makes much more sense that it would gain KE on the trip back to

original position.

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q004. Explain why, in the absence of friction or other forces other than the

gravitational component parallel to incline, whenever an object is given a kinetic energy

in the form of a velocity up the incline, and is then allowed to coast to its maximum

displacement up the incline before coasting back down, that object will return to its

original position with the same KE it previously had at this position.

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Your solution:

KE is lost all the way up the ramp until KE reaches zero. At that point, the object begins

a trip downward, regaining KE along the way.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

The car initially had some KE. The gravitational component parallel to the incline is in

the direction opposite to the direction of motion up the incline and therefore does

negative work ON the object as it travels up the incline.

The gravitational component is the net force on the object, so the work done by this net

force on the system causes a negative change in KE, which eventually decreases the KE to

zero so that the object stops for an instant. This happens at the position where the work

done BY the net force is equal to the negative of the original KE.

The gravitational component parallel to the incline immediately causes the object to begin

accelerating down the incline, so that now the parallel gravitational component is in the

same direction as the motion and does positive work ON the system.

At any position on the incline, the negative work done by the gravitational component as

the object traveled up the incline from that point, and the positive work done by this

force as the object returns back down the incline, must be equal and opposite.

This is because the displacement up the incline and the displacement down the incline are

equal and opposite, while the parallel gravitational force component remains the same. Thus

the Fnet * `ds products for the motion up and the motion down equal and opposite.

When the object reaches its original point, the work that was done on it by the net force,

as it rolled up the incline, must be equal and opposite to the work done on it while

coasting down the incline. Since the work done on the object while coasting up the incline

was the negative of the original KE, the work done while coasting down, being the negative

of this quantity, must be equal to the original KE. Thus the KE must return to its

original value.

STUDENT QUESTION

I still really don’t understand how it can return back to its original position because of

what we saw

in class It never returned back to its original position.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

There are a number of situations in which an object doesn't return to its original

position.

The one that's relevant to this situation:

When you rolled the ball up the single incline, it slowed, came to rest for an instant, and

then rolled back down. It did return to its initial position. Of course when it got there

is was moving pretty fast so if you didn't stop it, it kept going until something else did.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q005. As the object travels up the incline, does gravity do positive or

negative work on it? Answer the same question for the case when the object travels down

the incline.

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Your solution:

When traveling up, gravity does negative work on the object.

When traveling down, gravity does positive work on the object.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

As the object travels up the incline the net force is directed opposite its direction of

motion, so that Fnet_ON and `ds have opposite signs and as a result `dWnet = Fnet_ON * `ds

must be negative.

As the object travels down the incline the net force is in the direction of its motion so

that Fnet_ON and `ds have identical signs and is a result `dWnet = Fnet_ON * `ds must be

positive.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q006. If positive work is done on the object by gravity, will it increase or

decrease kinetic energy of the object?

Answer the same question if negative work is done on the object by gravity.

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Your solution:

Positive work on a system causes an increase in KE because the relationship 'dKE =

'dWnet(on).

Negative work on a system causes a decrease in KE because of that same relationship.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

The KE change of an object must be equal to the work done ON the system by the net force.

Therefore if positive work is done on an object by the net force its KE must increase, and

if negative work is done by the net force the KE must decrease.

STUDENT QUESTION (instructor comments in parentheses)

Ok, after reading a couple of time I get it dw will be equal to KE. If dw is - Ke will be

- .

KE can't be negative; `dW is not equal to KE, but to `dKE, the change in KE.

`dKE can certainly be positive or negative (or zero), depending on the situation.

I am still a little unclear about if the dw done on an object is negative then what

direction is it

moving??

The sign of `dW by the net force does not determine the direction of motion of the object.

It determines only the change in its kinetic energy.

In the present case, the net force is the component of gravity along the incline. The

direction of motion of the object determines whether this force is in the direction of

motion or opposite that direction, and so determines whether the displacement is in the

direction of motion (implying positive work) or opposite the direction of motion (implying

negative work).

The direction of motion thus determines, for this situation, whether `dW_net is positive or

negative.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q007. While traveling up the incline, does the object do positive or negative

work against gravity?

Answer the same question for motion down the incline.

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Your solution:

While traveling up, the object does positive work on gravity. While traveling downwards,

the object does negative work on gravity.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

If the object ends up in the same position as it began, the work done on the object by

gravity and work done by the object against gravity must be equal and opposite. Thus when

the object does positive work against gravity, as when it travels up the incline, gravity

is doing negative work against the object, which therefore tends to lose kinetic energy.

When the object does negative work against gravity, as when traveling down the incline,

gravity is doing positive work against the object, which therefore tends to gain kinetic

energy.

STUDENT COMMENT:

A little shaky on this problem because I feel its easy to get confused on the positive and

negative.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

This is the most common point of confusion at this stage of the course.

To sort out positive and negative, you would answer the following questions:

Are you thinking about the work done ON the system or BY the system (i.e., are you thinking

about the forces acting ON the system or a forces exerted BY the system)? The ON and the BY

are equal and opposite.

Whichever force you are thinking about, it does positive work when it is in the direction

of motion and negative work when it is opposite the direction of motion.

STUDENT QUESTION

Ok, so i get his really mixed up. The work done BY the object is positve, against gravity

which is doing negative work ON

the object going up the inlcine. When going down the incline work done BY the object is

negative as work done ON the object by gravity is positive.

Is this right?

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

Your statement is correct.

And, until it 'clicks', this is certainly confusing. It takes most students a few

assignments before this becomes clear. You are progressing nicely.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

It is very confusing!

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q008. Suppose that the gravitational force component exerted parallel to a

certain incline on an automobile is 400 Newtons and that the frictional force on the

incline is 100 Newtons. The automobile is given an initial KE of 10,000 Joules up the

incline. How far does the automobile coast up the incline before starting to coast back

down, and how much KE does it have when it returns to its starting point?

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Your solution:

Will have 10,000 J KE once it returns to the initial position.

There are 500 J of force exerted on the system. Determining 'ds is unclear to me here.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

The net force ON the automobile as it climbs the incline is the sum of the 400 Newton

parallel component of the gravitational force, which is exerted down the incline, and the

100 Newton frictional force, which while the automobile is moving up the incline is also

exerted down the incline. Thus the net force is 500 Newtons down the incline.

This force will be in the direction opposite to the displacement of the automobile up the

incline, and will therefore result in negative work being done on the automobile.

When the work done by this force is equal to -10,000 Joules (the negative of the original

KE) the automobile will stop for an instant before beginning to coast back down the

incline. If we take the upward direction to be positive the 500 Newton force must be

negative, so we see that

-500 Newtons * `ds = -10,000 Joules

so

`ds = -10,000 Joules / -500 Newtons = 20 Newtons meters / Newtons = 20 meters.

After coasting 20 meters up the incline, the automobile will have lost its original 10,000

Joules of kinetic energy and will for an instant be at rest.

The automobile will then coast 20 meters back down the incline, this time with a 400 Newton

parallel gravitational component in its direction of motion and a 100 Newton frictional

force resisting, and therefore in the direction opposite to, its motion. The net force ON

the automobile will thus be 300 Newtons down the incline.

The work done by the 300 Newton force acting parallel to the 20 m downward displacement

will be 300 Newtons * 20 meters = 6,000 Joules. This is 4,000 Joules less than the when

the car started.

This 4,000 Joules is the work done during the entire 40-meter round trip against a force of

100 Newtons which every instant was opposed to the direction of motion (100 Newtons * 40

meters = 4,000 Newtons). As the car coasted up the hill the frictional force was downhill

and while the car coasted down friction was acting in the upward direction.

Had there been no force other than the parallel gravitational component, there would have

been no friction or other nongravitational force and the KE on return would have been

10,000 Joules.

STUDENT QUESTION

I’m still not sure how I would find the final KE with all the other forces. I read the

given

solution multiple times but I am still really confused.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

Your solution was fine for motion up the incline, and agreed with the given solution to

that point.

The first line of the given solution that you didn't address in your solution begins

'The automobile will then coast 20 meters back down the incline, ... '

The point you need to understand is that the 400 N gravitational component is still there,

but since the car is moving down the incline the 100 N frictional force is now directed up

the incline. So the net force on the car is 300 N down the incline.

You therefore know the net force acting on the system, and you know the displacement, so

you can easily calculate the work `dW_ON done by this net force. This is equal to the

change in KE as the car travels down the ramp.

The car began with 0 KE at the top (it came to rest for an instant), so you can figure out

its final KE.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

My hang-up here was thinking that KE went to zero at the resting point. You state that is

goes to -10,000. Are we talking about the same thing? My thinking is that it 'uses up'

the 10,000J on the trip up until it reaches zero.

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Self-critique rating:

@& The KE doesn't go to -10 000 Joules, it changes by -10 000 Joules.

It starts with 10 000 Joules and ends with 0 Joules, as you say. It does 'use up' the 10 000 Joules working against gravity and friction.*@

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Question: `q009. The 1500 kg automobile in the original problem of this section coasted

200 meters, starting from rest, down a 3% incline. Thus its vertical displacement was

approximately 3% of 200 meters, or 6 meters, in the downward direction.

Recall from the first few problems in this q_a_ that the parallel component of the

gravitational force did 88200 Joules of work on the automobile. This, in the absence of

other forces in the direction of motion, constituted the work done by the net force and

therefore gave the automobile a final KE of 88200 Joules.

How much KE would be automobile gain if it was dropped 6 meters, falling freely through

this displacement?

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Your solution:

??

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

Gravity exerts a force of

gravitational force = 1500 kg * 9.8 m/s^2 = 14700 N

on the automobile. This force acting parallel to the 6 meter displacement would do

`dW by gravitational force = 14700 N * 6 meters = 88200 Joules of work on the automobile.

This is the work done by the entire gravitational force, not just by its component parallel

to the incline. It is multiplied by the 6 meter vertical displacement of the automobile,

since it acts along the same line as that displacement.

However this is identical to the work done on the automobile by the parallel component of

the gravitational force in the original problem. In that problem the parallel component

was multiplied by the displacement along the incline (which was much more than 6 meters),

since it acts along the same line as that displacement.

STUDENT QUESTION

I do not see how it’s the same amount of work? 88200 Joules

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

The first few problems in this qa obtained KE = 88200 Joules.

They also obtained the result that the work done by the parallel component of the

gravitational force acting on the system was 88200 Joules.

In this problem we see that in a straight 6 meter drop the work done by gravity is the

same, 88200 Joules.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

I was hanging in here throughout this entire assignment until this point. I can't seem to

reason through this. So 6m is 6m, whether it is straight down or down via an incline?

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Self-critique rating:

@& Not quite. 6 m of vertical change in position, whether straight down or along an incline, entails the same amount of work by gravity. On an incline, though, you would have to travel more than 6 meters to descend 6 meters in the vertical direction.*@

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Question: `q010. When the automobile was 200 meters 'up the incline' from the lower end

of the 3% incline, it was in a position to gain 88200 Joules of energy. An automobile

positioned in such a way that it may fall freely through a distance of 6 meters, is also in

a position to gain 88200 Joules of energy. The 6 meters is the difference in vertical

position between start and finish for both cases.

How might we therefore be justified in a conjecture that the work done on an object by

gravity between two points depends only on the difference in the vertical position between

those two points?

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Your solution:

'ds is the same in both instances and gravity exerts the same force on each object.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

This is only one example, but there is no reason to expect that the conclusion would be

different for any other small incline. Whether the same would be true for a non-constant

incline or for more complex situations would require some more proof. However, it can in

fact be proved that gravitational forces do in fact have the property that only change in

altitude (or a change in distance from the source, which in this example amounts to the

same thing) affects the work done by the gravitational force between points.

STUDENT QUESTION

I am not sure about this concept could you elaborate? I am not really even sure what the

question is asking in the first

place.

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

Subsequent questions will also reinforce this idea.

It was shown in previous problems that an automobile at the top of the ramp is in a

position to gain about 88000 J

of kinetic energy, by rolling without friction down the incline.

It was also shown that an automobile that falls freely from the top of the ramp to the

level of the bottom of the ramp will gain the same amount of kinetic energy.

In both cases the vertical position of the automobile changed by the same amount.

We therefore conjecture that there's something in the change in the vertical position of

the automobile that determines

how much energy it can gain or lose to gravity.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique rating:

@& You could say that `ds_y, the displacement in the vertical direction, is the same for both.

The actual distance traveled along the incline is much greater than the change in vertical position (i.e., it does go 6 meters higher, but it has to travel 200 meters along the incline in order to do so).*@

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Question: `q011. If an object has a way to move from a higher altitude to a lower

altitude then it has the potential to increase its kinetic energy as gravity does positive

work on it. We therefore say that such an object has a certain amount of potential energy

at the higher altitude, relative to the lower altitude. As the object descends, this

potential energy decreases. If no nongravitational force opposes the motion, there will be

a kinetic energy increase, and the amount of this increase will be the same as the

potential energy decrease. The potential energy at the higher position relative to the

lower position will be equal to the work that would be done by gravity as the object

dropped directly from the higher altitude to the lower.

A person holds a 7-kg bowling ball at the top of a 90-meter tower, and drops the ball to a

friend halfway down the tower. What is the potential energy of the ball at the top of the

tower relative to the person to whom it will be dropped?

How much kinetic energy will a bowling ball have when it reaches the person at the lower

position, assuming that no force acts to oppose the effect of gravity?

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Your solution:

PE is twice as high at the top of the tower than it is halfway down. KE at the bottom will equal the PE at the highest altitude.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

The potential energy of the ball at the top of the tower is equal to the work that would be

done by gravity on the ball in dropping from the 90-meter altitude at the top to the

45-meter altitude at the middle of the tower. This work is equal to product of the

downward force exerted by gravity on the ball, which is 7 kg * 9.8 m/s^2 = 68.6 Newtons,

and the 45-meter downward displacement of the ball. Both force and displacement are in the

same direction so the work would be

work done by gravity if ball dropped 45 meters: 68.6 Newtons * 45 meters = 3100 Joules,

approx..

Thus the potential energy of the ball at the top of the tower, relative to the position

halfway down the tower, is 3100 Joules. The ball loses 3100 Joules of PE as it drops.

If no force acts to oppose the effect of gravity, then the net force is the gravitational

force and the 3100 Joule loss of PE will imply a 3100 Joule gain in KE.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

I didn't calculate the actual numbers. I thought we were speaking in general terms of those numbers. And honestly, I wouldn't have been sure how to actually get those correct numbers.

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q012. If a force such as air resistance acts to oppose the gravitational

force, does this have an effect on the change in potential energy between the two points?

Would this force therefore have an effect on the kinetic energy gained by the ball during

its descent?

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Your solution:

There would be no effect on the change in KE or PE since net force isn't taken into consideration here.

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

The change in potential energy is determined by the work done on the object by gravity, and

is not affected by the presence or absence of any other force. However the change in the

kinetic energy of the ball depends on the net force exerted, which does in fact depend on

whether nongravitational forces in the direction of motion are present.

We can think of the situation as follows: The object loses gravitational potential energy,

which in the absence of nongravitational forces will result in a gain in kinetic energy

equal in magnitude to the loss of potential energy. If however nongravitational forces

oppose the motion, they do negative work on the object, reducing the gain in kinetic energy

by an amount equal to this negative work.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTOR COMMENT:

The PE change is the result of only conservative forces; in this case the PE change depends

only on the vertical displacement and the gravitational force.

The force of air resistance is nonconservative and has no effect on PE change.

KE change depends on net force, which includes both conservative and nonconservative

forces. So KE change is affected by both PE change and the work `dW_nc_ON done by

nonconservative forces.

In this case PE change is negative, which tends to increase KE, while nonconservative

forces do negative work on the mass, which tends to reduce KE.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

I made the mistake of lumping the two together. I thought it KE was dependent on PE and PE wasn't dependent on opposing forces, neither would KE. From former assignments, I should have known that KE does in fact depend on net force.

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Self-critique rating:

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Question: `q014. If an average force of 10 Newtons, resulting from air resistance, acts

on the bowling ball dropped from the tower, what will be the kinetic energy of the bowling

ball when it reaches the halfway point?

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Your solution:

7kg*9.8m/s^2 = 68.6 N

68.6 N - 10N = 58.6 N

KE = Fnet *'ds

= 58.6 N *45m

= 2637 J

confidence rating #$&*:

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Given Solution:

The ball still loses 3100 Joules of potential energy, which in the absence of

nongravitational forces would increase its KE by 3100 Joules. However the 10 Newton

resisting force does negative work -10 N * 45 m = -450 Joules on the object. The object

therefore ends up with KE 3100 J - 450 J = 2650 J instead of the 3100 J it would have in

the absence of a resisting force.

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Self-critique (if necessary):

Is my calculation correct? Is that an acceptable way to go about solving this?

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Self-critique rating:

@& Your solution is fine.--very good, in fact.

However you should understand that the gravitational force is conservative, so the 68.6 N multiplied by the 45 m is associated with PE. The 10 N multiplied by the 45 m is a dissipative force, which reduces the amount of KE you get from the loss of PE.*@

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique rating:

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Self-critique (if necessary):

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Self-critique rating:

#*&!

@& You are making good progress and asking excellent questions. See my notes. and let me know if you have questions.*@