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Physics Problems: Shock Waves & Gravity

A string of beads with equal mass are strung on a wire. A constant force acts on the first bead, causing it to accelerate and collide with the second bead. This collision causes a shock wave that travels down the string. The document asks several questions about the speeds of the beads before and after collisions, the time between collisions, the speed of the shock wave, and how the shock wave speed would change if collisions were perfectly inelastic. It also describes a planet where gravity increases linearly with time. It asks what horizontal distance a projectile fired at an angle would travel, and what angle would maximize that distance.

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Perry Esguerra
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20 views1 page

Physics Problems: Shock Waves & Gravity

A string of beads with equal mass are strung on a wire. A constant force acts on the first bead, causing it to accelerate and collide with the second bead. This collision causes a shock wave that travels down the string. The document asks several questions about the speeds of the beads before and after collisions, the time between collisions, the speed of the shock wave, and how the shock wave speed would change if collisions were perfectly inelastic. It also describes a planet where gravity increases linearly with time. It asks what horizontal distance a projectile fired at an angle would travel, and what angle would maximize that distance.

Uploaded by

Perry Esguerra
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Physics Questions 4

A. Shock Wave
Suppose that we have a string of equally spaced beads of mass m, their surfaces being
separated by a distance d, that are free to slide without friction on a thin wire. Suppose that a
constant force F acts on the first bead, initially at rest, causing it to accelerate along the wire
as shown. This force acts only on the first bead and might be created by a well directed,
steady stream of air. The first bead will collide with the second, which will in turn collide
with the third, and so on. Suppose that all collisions are elastic.

(a) What is the speed of the first bead immediately before and immediately after its collision
with the second bead? [2 pts]
(b) What is the speed of the second bead immediately before and immediately after its
collision with the third bead [2 pts]
(c) Remember that the constant force is always acting upon the first bead. What is the time
interval between subsequent collisions between the first and second beads? What then is
the average speed of the first bead? What is the speed of the shock wave" that travels
down the wire? [2 pts]
(d) If the whole process is repeated, but with collisions which are perfectly inelastic, what is
the terminal speed of the shock wave formed? [2 pts]
B. Increasing Gravity
At t = 0 on the planet Gravitus Increasicus, a projectile is fired with speed v0 at an angle above
the horizontal. This planet is a strange one, in that the acceleration due to gravity increases
linearly with time, starting with a value of zero when the projectile is fired. In other words, g(t) =
t, where is a given constant.
a)What horizontal distance does the projectile travel? [4 pts]
b)What should be to maximize this distance? [3 pts]

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