AP Physics 1

Unit 1 Practice Exercises

Directions: Show the steps required to arrive at the answer (if applicable). For all problems, g = 9.80 m/s2.
Work out the problems on separate page.

1.1 – Kinematics
1. Describe a situation where speed increases but velocity decreases.
A negative velocity getting more negative (ex: -10 m/s to -20 m/s).

2. Link walks 5 miles east, then 7 miles north, than 2 miles south.
a) What distance did he travel? What is his displacement?
b) Suppose Link made the whole journey in 4 hours. What was his average speed and
average velocity during his journey?

a) Distance: 14 miles Displacement: 5√2 miles

5√2
b) 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑: 7/2 mph 𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦: mph
4

3. In each figure below, a car’s velocity is shown before and after a short time interval.

Rank the magnitude of the change in velocity during the time interval. Explain your reasoning.
Change means the absolute value of the change in velocity, so
A: |(20-10)| = 10
B: |(0-10)| = 10
C: |(-10-10)|=20
D: |(20-30)|=10
C>A=B=D
4. A car whose initial velocity is 25 m/s is accelerated uniformly at the rate of 2.2 m/s2 for 4.5 s.
a) What is the final velocity of the car?
b) What is the displacement of the car during the 4.5 s?
5. A plane travels a distance of 600 m while being accelerated uniformly from rest at the rate of 4.5 m/s2
a) How long does the plane take to travel the 600 m?
b) What is the final speed of the plane?

6. A bullet leaves the barrel of a rifle with a speed of 550 m/s. The barrel of the rifle is .80 m long.
a) What is the acceleration of the bullet while it is in the barrel of the rifle?
b) For how long is the bullet in the barrel?

7. Sonic the Hedgehog travels 80 m while accelerating from 0 m/s to 40 m/s.

a) What was Sonic’s acceleration?
b) How long did it take Sonic to go 80 m?
8. A car starts from rest and covers a distance D while accelerating. The final velocity of the car is V.
Determine an expression for the car’s acceleration.

9. A race car’s initial velocity is 44 m/s. The car slows down at a constant rate to a velocity of
33 m/s over an 11 s interval.
a) What is the car’s acceleration?
b) What is the car’s displacement during the interval?

1.2 – Kinematic Graphs

1. A car accelerates downhill from rest. Sketch graphs for the position, velocity, and acceleration of the car if it
always traveling in the positive direction.

2. A ball is rolling along a flat surface at constant speed in the positive direction when it encounters a hill. It
goes up the hill, then rolls back down. Sketch graphs for the position, velocity, and acceleration of the car if it
always traveling in the positive direction.
3. Use the velocity vs. time to answer questions a) through m).

a) At what two times is the object at rest?

The velocity is zero at t = 5 s and t = 17 s.
b) At what times is the object not accelerating?
There is no change in velocity from t = 7 s until t = 15 s.
c) What is the acceleration at t= 4 s?
The slope of line at this point is -4 m/s2.
d) What is the acceleration at t= 16 s?
The slope of line at this point is 4 m/s2.
e) At what two times is the acceleration undefined?
There are sharp turns(undefined slopes) at t = 7 s and t = 15 s.
f) At what times is the acceleration defined and changing?
The slope is changing at t = 17 s until t = 20 s.
g) What is the instantaneous speed at t= 10 s?
The absolute value of the velocity is 8 m/s.
h) At what time does the object return to the position it had at t= 0?
The positive area from t = 0 until t = 5 s is A = 0.5(5)(20) = 50. From t = 5 until t = 7, the negative area is
8. So we need 42 more units (meters) of negative area to cancel out the positive area. This occurs at t = 13
s.
i) How far does the object travel from t= 2 s to t= 4 s?
The area under the graph is 1 square and a triangle. Area = 2(4)+0.5(2)(8) = 16 m.

j) What is the average velocity for t= 0 to t= 14 s?

𝒗𝒊 + 𝒗𝒇 𝟐𝟎 + (−𝟖)
𝒗𝒂𝒗𝒈 = = = 𝟔 𝒎/𝒔
𝟐 𝟐
k) For what values of time is the object’s instantaneous speed increasing?
For instantaneous speed to increase, either a positive velocity gets more positive or a negative velocity gets
more negative. This occurs from t = 5 s to t = 7 s and t = 17 s until t = 20 s.
l) At what time is the object furthest left (left is the negative direction)?
t = 17 s, since this is when it stops moving in the negative direction, and starts to have positive velocity
again.
m) What is the average acceleration of the object between t= 2 s and t= 6 s?
slope = -4 m/s2

4. Match each description to a point on the graph (or none of

these).

a) At which point is the object at the origin? D

b) At which point is the acceleration positive? None
c) At which point is the acceleration negative? A
d) At which point is the instantaneous velocity not defined C
e) At which point is the object at rest? B
f) At which point is the velocity constant and positive? E
g) At which point is the object moving to the left (the negative
direction)? D
h) At which point is the instantaneous speed greatest? D
i) At which point is the speed of the object decreasing? E
5. Match each description to a point on the graph (or none of these).
i) At which point is the acceleration defined but not constant? C
ii) At which point is the acceleration undefined? B
iii) Name three points at which the instantaneous speed is
decreasing. C, D, G
iv) Name two points at which the instantaneous speed is increasing.
A, F
v) At which point is the object at rest? E
vi) At which point is the object’s speed constant? H
vii) At which point is the acceleration defined and largest in
magnitude? G
viii) At which point is the acceleration negative and the instantaneous speed increasing? F
ix) At which points is the acceleration positive? A, G

6. Use the position vs. time to answer questions a) through k).

a) What is the position of the object at t= 10 s?
0m
b) At what two times is the position of the object x= +8 m?
t = 6sih s and t = 11 s
c) What is the object’s displacement from t= 0 to t= 16 s?
-5 m
d) What total distance does the object travel from t= 0 to t= 16 s?
35m(20 to -15) +30m (-15 to 15) = 65 m
d) What is the instantaneous velocity of the object at t= 6 s?
𝟑𝟓
𝒎 = − 𝟑 = −𝟏𝟏. 𝟕 𝒎/𝒔 ; absolute value = 11.7 m/s
e) At what times is the instantaneous speed of the object greatest?
Steepest slope: t = 8 s to t = 12 s
f) At what times is the object at rest?
No change in position: t = 0 s to =5 s and t = 12 s to t = 20 s
g) At what times other than t= 8 s is the instantaneous velocity not defined?
t = 12 s
h) What is the average velocity over the interval from t= 5 s to t= 15 s
𝒙𝒇 − 𝒙𝒊 𝟏𝟓 𝒎 − 𝟐𝟎 𝒎
𝒗𝒂𝒗𝒈 = = = −𝟎. 𝟓 𝒎/𝒔
𝒕𝒇 − 𝒕𝒊 𝟏𝟓 𝒔 − 𝟓 𝒔
i) What is the average speed over the interval from t= 5 s to t= 15 s
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝟔𝟓 𝒎
Speed = = = 𝟔. 𝟓 𝒎/𝒔
𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝟏𝟎𝒔

7. A jet lands on a runway going at 180 m/s. It decelerates at a constant rate of -9 m/s2 until is stops.
a) Calculate the stopping distance of the plane
b) Calculate the time for the plane to stop.
c) Graph the acceleration, velocity, and position of the jet vs. time as it rolls down the runway.
*8. Two trains collide in a messy train wreck to commemorate the year 2020. At time t = 0, the two train cars
are initially 200m apart , with B east of A. Train A heads east at 20 m/s, and Train B is initially at rest. Train A
continues at constant speed and Train B starts moving west with a constant acceleration of 4 m/s2 at t = 0.
a) When do the train cars collide?
b) How fast is car B moving when the trains collide?
c) Graph the velocity of trains A and B vs. time on the same graph from t = 0 until they collide.
d) Graph the positions of trains A and B vs. time on the same graph from t = 0 until they collide.
1.3 – Free Fall
1. A beet is dropped of a cliff. Sketch graphs of the position, velocity, and acceleration of the beat.

2. Ball A is thrown straight down at 10 m/s outside a window. Ball B is thrown directly upwards at 10 m/s out
the same window. Call C is dropped out the window.
a) Rank the speed at which the balls hit the ground. Justify your answer.
b) Rank the time the balls are in the air. Justify your answer.

a) (Ball A = Ball B) > Ball C. Both Ball A and B are traveling straight down at 10 m/s when they reach
the window (B goes up, but then gains speed again). C starts from rest, so it doesn’t get as fast.
b) Ball B > Ball C > Ball A

3. A ball is thrown upward. The total time the ball remains in the air is 14 s.
a) With what speed was the ball thrown upward?
b) What is the maximum height reached by the ball?
𝒎
a) Taking, up as positive: 𝒂 = −𝟗. 𝟖 𝒔𝟐 t = 14 s d = 0 m*
*Remember, displacement is the change in position! When considering only the height of the ball, it starts
from the ground and ends at the ground. Therefore, it has no displacement even though it travels some
distance. Don’t overthink the kinematics equations, they’re designed to work regardless of path!
𝒗𝒊 =?
𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝒎
𝒅 = 𝒗𝒊 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕𝟐 → −𝒗𝒊 𝒕 = 𝒂𝒕𝟐 → 𝒗𝒊 = − 𝒂𝒕 = − (−𝟗. 𝟖 𝟐 ) (𝟏𝟒 𝒔) = 𝟔𝟗 𝒎/𝒔
𝟐 𝟐 𝟐 𝟐 𝒔
b) Using the velocity from 69 m/s and the fact that velocity at max height is 0 m/s:
𝒎
𝒗𝟐𝒊 −(𝟔𝟗 𝒔 )𝟐
𝒅=− = = 𝟐𝟒𝟑 𝒎
𝟐𝒂 𝟐 (−𝟗. 𝟖 𝒎)
𝒔𝟐

4. A stone is dropped from a tower 150 m high. The stone’s initial velocity is zero.
a) With what speed does the stone strike the ground?
b) How long is the stone in the air?
5. You are on a 5 m high rook and throw a ball upwards at 10 m/s. It lands on the ground below the roof.
a) How long was the rock in the air?
b) What was the final velocity?

6. A piano falls off a helicopter that is hovering at a constant height. The piano strikes the ground with a
velocity of -8𝟎 m/s.
a) What is the height of the helicopter?
b) For how long did the piano fall?
7. A rocket accelerates from rest at 8.00 m/s2 for 60.0 s. The engine is then shut off.
a) What is the rocket’s height when the engine is shut off?
b) What is the rocket’s velocity when the engine is shut off?
c) What is the rocket’s maximum height?
d) How long after the engine is shut off does the rocket strike the ground?
e) With what speed does the rocket strike the ground?
f) Sketch a graph of the rocket’s acceleration for the 60 s.
g) Sketch a graph of the rocket’s velocity for the 60 s.

This problem is pretty righteous. There are 2 phases of acceleration:

Phase I: The rocket accelerates from rest from ground level and has a velocity increase until the engine
shuts off.
Phase II: The engine shuts off. The rocket continues to climb with decreasing velocity as the only
acceleration is gravity, which acts downward. As a result, the velocity the rocket has from the engine will
decay to zero, then the rocket will start having negative velocity, and continue downward in free-fall.

A majestic picture of this scenario, is given below:

(a-b) Timeframe: Launch(initial) to engine shut-off(final)

𝒗𝒊 = 𝟎
a = 8.00 m/s2
t = 60 s
vf = ?
d=?
 𝟏 𝟏 𝒎
a) No vf equation: 𝒅 = 𝒗𝒊 𝒕 + 𝟐 𝒂𝒕𝟐 −> d = 0 + 𝟐 (𝟖. 𝟎 )(𝟔𝟎 𝒔)𝟐 = 𝟏𝟒𝟒𝟎𝟎 𝒎
𝒔𝟐
𝒎 𝒎
b) 𝒗𝒇 = 𝒗𝒊 + 𝒂𝒕 = 0 + (𝟖. 𝟎 ) (𝟔𝟎 𝒔) = 𝟒𝟖𝟎
𝒔𝟐 𝒔

c) New Timeframe! Engine shut-off (initial) to maximum height (final)

vi = 480 m/s (from part b)
a = g = -9.8 m/s2
vf = 0 m/s (at max height)
d=?
𝒎
𝒗𝟐𝒇 −𝒗𝟐𝒊 𝟎𝟐 −(𝟒𝟖𝟎 )𝟐
No time equation: 𝒗𝟐𝒇 = 𝒗𝟐𝒊 + 𝟐𝒂𝒅 → 𝒅 = = 𝒎
𝒔
=11755 m
𝟐𝒂 𝟐(−𝟗.𝟖 𝟐 )
𝒔
Remember, this is the height in the timeframe from engine shut-off until the rocket starts going
down. It had already gone up 14400 feet before this, so the height of the rocket is:
14400 + 11755 = 26155 m

(d-e) New Timeframe: Engine shut-off (initial) to ground (final)

*this problem could also be solved by using maximum height to ground as the time-frame, but would
involve extra steps
d)
vi = 480 m/s (from part b)
a = g = -9.8 m/s2
d = -14400 (it is this high at engine shutoff and needs to reach the ground. If we use the formulas
correctly, we don’t have to worry about the fact that it goes up and then down, as the formulas
merely use displacement.)
t=?
vf = ?

𝟏 𝒎 𝒎
No vf equation: 𝒅 = 𝒗𝒊 𝒕 + 𝟐 𝒂𝒕𝟐 −> -14400 m = (𝟒𝟖𝟎 𝒔 ) 𝒕 + (−𝟒. 𝟗 𝒔𝟐 ) 𝒕𝟐
This leads to the quadratic expression: −𝟒. 𝟗𝒕𝟐 + 𝟒𝟖𝟎𝒕 + 𝟏𝟒𝟒𝟎𝟎 = 𝟎
Solving the expression leads to t = -24 s or t = 122. Since time is never negative, the answer is t = 122 s

𝒎 𝒎 𝒎
e) 𝒗𝒇 = 𝒗𝒊 + 𝒂𝒕 = 𝟒𝟖𝟎 𝒔 + (−𝟗. 𝟖 𝒔𝟐 ) (𝟏𝟐𝟐 𝒔) = ~ − 𝟏𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝒔 . Since the problem asked for speed,
which doesn’t care about direction, the answer is 1200 m/s. That’s Mach 3.5. That’s really fast.

f) g)
7. A ball is thrown vertically upward with an initial velocity of 58.8 m/s at t= 0.
a) How long does the ball take to reach its maximum height?
b) What is the ball’s maximum height?
c) How long does the ball remain in the air?
d) With what speed does the ball hit the ground?
e) At what two times the the ball have a speed of 40.0 m/s?
f) At what two times is the height of the ball 100 m?
g) What is the height of the ball at t= 8.00 s?
h) What is the velocity of the ball at t= 8.00 s?
i) How far does the ball fall from t= 8.00 s to t= 9.00 s?
For parts a) and b) we will consider only the time frame from the ball being thrown to the ball’s max
height. As always, we will define up as positive:
𝒎 𝟖𝒎 𝒎
𝒗𝒊 = 𝟓𝟖. 𝟖 𝒂 = −𝟗. 𝟐 𝒗𝒇 = 𝟎 (𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒙 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕)
𝒔 𝒔 𝒔
a) t = ?
𝒗𝒇 − 𝒗𝒊 𝟎 − 𝟓𝟖. 𝟖 𝒎/𝒔
𝒗𝒇 = 𝒗𝒊 + 𝒂𝒕 → 𝒕 = = = 𝟔. 𝟎 𝒔
𝒂 −𝟗. 𝟖 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
b) d = ?
−𝒗𝟐𝒊 −(𝟓𝟖. 𝟖 𝒎/𝒔)𝟐
𝒗𝟐𝒇 = 𝒗𝟐𝒊 + 𝟐𝒂𝒅 → 𝒅 = = 𝒎 = 𝟏𝟕𝟔 𝒎
𝟐𝒂 𝟐(−𝟗. 𝟖 𝟐 )
𝒔
c) The time to reach the ground is just double the time to reach max height, since the path up and
the path down are symmetric. 12 s
d) Since the height of launch and the height of the landing are the same, it will hit the ground with
equal speed in the opposite direction. The velocity will be -58.8 m/s, so the speed is 58.8 m/s.
e) The speed is 40.0 m/s, so the final velocity here could be 40 m/s or -40 m/s.

f) Again, because the height of the ball is modeled as a parabola, we will get two times it will have a
height of 100 m and will need to solve a quadratic:
i) For t = 8 s to t = 9.0 s, we will set the initial velocity as the velocity at t = 8 s and set the change in time
(∆𝒕) to 1 s.
𝒎
𝒗𝒊 = 𝟏𝟗. 𝟓 𝒔 (𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕 = 𝟖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒉)
a = -9.8 m/s2
t = 1 s (the change in time from t = 8 s to t = 9 s is only 1 s)
𝒅 =? (the problem is asking for displacement)
𝟏 𝒎 𝟏 𝒎
𝒅 = 𝒗𝒊 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕𝟐 = (𝟏𝟗. 𝟓 ) (𝟏 𝒔) + (−𝟗. 𝟖 𝟐 )(𝟏 𝒔)𝟐 = 𝟏𝟓 𝒎
𝟐 𝒔 𝟐 𝒔