Mechanics & Wave Motion Midterm 2

Problems

2010S Midterm 2

Solutions

2010S Midterm 2 solutions

The material in Physics 16 is inherently cumulative: it is almost impossible to write an exam that does not draw on material from the beginning of the course.  Although you may need to use material from the first midterm, I will try to focus on topics since the first midterm.  In particular, the major areas for this exam are

1. Energy (chapters 6 and 7)
   
   1. Work-energy theorem
   2. Power
   3. Potential energy, including gravity and springs
2. Momentum (chapter 8)
   
   1. Impulse-momentum theorem
   2. Conservation of momentum in closed systems, including collisions (elastic and otherwise, 1D and otherwise).
   3. Center of mass

Bring a calculator.

Crib sheet

You may bring your crib sheet from the first midterm and an additional two sides of  notes prepared by you personally.

Preamble 

This is a lot of problems.  I do not expect you to complete every one of these.  I do suggest that you attempt each one.  If you are confident you can do a problem, skip it.  Otherwise, rough out a solution by writing down a system of equations and thinking through how you would solve them.  Check against the posted solution to see if your thinking is correct, but you probably don't need to do all the algebra unless your approach is different from the solution's and you're unsure whether they concur.

Questions

Some of these may be repeats of homework problems.

Energy: 6.78, 6.81, 6.83, 6.85, 6.84, 6.100, 7.44, 7.46, 7.48, 7.55,  7.65, 7.68, 7.73, 7.79 .
The book splits the work-energy theorem (Chapter 6) from potential energy (Chapter 7), so the official solutions to problems from Chapter 6 never refer to potential energy even though many of them could be done (often more easily) by using potential energy considerations.

Momentum: 8.28, 8.36, 8.48, 8.66, 8.69, 8.76, 8.78, 8.79, 8.81, 8.84

Solutions

Midterm 2 practice problems solns

Some years the second midterm has included more Newton's laws problems than are likely this year.

Questions	Answers