Work, Energy, and Power unit test
A test on this unit alone, marked as a percentage and a letter grade — for the test your class is actually sitting, rather than for May. Answer everything, then submit once: seeing the answer to question 3 before attempting question 4 makes the final percentage meaningless.
Kinetic energy
Reading a turning point off a U curve
Energy accounting with friction
Where ½kx² comes from
Choosing the reference height
Conservative vs non-conservative forces
Work from a force–displacement graph
Conservative vs nonconservative force
Choosing energy or kinematics
Energy in a pendulum
Energy in a spring launcher
Why mass cancels in energy problems
Short answer 1. Define or explain: Power at constant speed
3 ptsShort answer 2. Define or explain: Force is the negative slope of U(x)
3 ptsShort answer 3. Define or explain: Efficiency
3 ptsShort answer 4. Define or explain: Power in terms of velocity
3 ptsFree response
9 ptsA 0.40 kg block is pressed against a spring of stiffness k = 500 N/m, compressing it 0.20 m on a horizontal surface. The spring is released. The block leaves the spring at point A, slides across a rough horizontal patch of length 1.5 m (μk = 0.25) to point B, then travels up a smooth curved ramp. Use g = 10 m/s² and ignore air resistance.
Calculate the energy stored in the compressed spring and the speed of the block at point A.
Calculate the energy dissipated by friction between A and B.
Calculate the maximum vertical height the block reaches on the ramp.
The experiment is repeated with a 0.80 kg block and the same spring compression. State whether the maximum height increases, decreases, or stays the same, and justify with equations.
Explain why an energy bar chart drawn for A, for B, and for the highest point must have the same total height in every column.