2015 Cedar Point Packet
Honors Physics B-2nd Trimester
Name_____________________
Score
/ 107pts
Complete all questions. Hand in Individually. Show Work for Credit!!
1. Go to : http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everydaymyths/question483.htm
a. What part of your body senses your orientation and if you are in motion? (1 pt)
b. Astronauts and scuba divers experience “weightlessness” just like you do at an
amusement park when the normal force acting on you is zero. Why can this make you
feel dizzy? (1pt)
Wave Swinger
The wave swinger consists of a rotating circular platform from which seats are suspended at the
end of four massless chains. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aEqePqnR4U to see a
video of the wave swinger in action.
A 40 kg child is on the swing ride. The chair is moving at 6m/s in a circle of radius 12 m.
2. Draw a freebody diagram of a 40 kg child riding in a seat when it is moving and tilted
(1pt)
3. Write the two Newton’s 2nd Law equations for when the seat is moving and tilted (2 pts).
2015 Cedar Point Packet
4. What angle do the chains holding the chair make with the vertical? ( 2pts)
5. Find the tension in one of the four chains. (1 pt)
6. Arlo, a 80 kg teenager, is on the swing just behind the child in the previous problem. The
chair is moving at the same 6 m/s and is also making a circle of radius 12 m.
a. What angle do his chair’s chains make with the vertical? (1pt)
b. What is the tension in one of the four chains? ( 1pt)
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Skyhawk
The maximum height reached by people on the Skyhawk is 125 feet and the length of the
swinging arm is 86 feet.
Show Work for Credit
7. Draw a picture of what skyhawk looks like at maximum height. Go to :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgB4k7gk9Vs to watch a video of it. (2pts)
8. Convert the maximum height reached by the people on Skyhawk to meters. Also convert
the length of the swinging arm to meters. (1pt)
9. Find the potential energy at the top of the swing if 20 people are on the swing with ten
people Alice’s mass (60 kg) and ten people Arlo’s (70 kg) mass. The car the people sit in
has a mass of 4000 kg (1pt)
10. Calculate how fast the arm is moving at the bottom of the swing given the maximum
height (2pts).
11. Cedar Point says that the maximum speed is 60mph, how does your calculated speed
compare? (1pt)
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12. Using the formula for a simple pendulum, calculate the period for the longest swing back
and forth (2pts). (Notice this will not be an accurate time)
13. Given the period you calculated, what is the frequency of this ride? (1pt)
Go to : http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/pendulum.html
14. Why do riders experience high g-forces on pendulum rides? (2pts)
15. Draw the freebody diagram for a passenger at the bottom of the swing. Write your
Newton’s 2nd Law equation for your freebody diagram. (2pts)
2015 Cedar Point Packet
Giant Wheel
16. Arlo rides a Ferris wheel with a diameter of 150 feet. Draw a free body diagram for Arlo
when he is in the following positions on the ride. ( 2pts)
a
d
a
b
c
d
b
c
17. If Arlo is 160 pounds, what is his mass in kilograms? ( 1pt)
18. If the period of the Ferris Wheel is 2 minutes, what is Arlo’s tangential velocity? ( 1pt)
19. What is the direction and magnitude of the centripetal acceleration at:
i. the top of the wheel? ( 1pt)
ii. the bottom of the wheel? ( 1pt)
20. What is the normal force (magnitude and direction) on Arlo at location a? ( 1pt)
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21. What is the normal force on (magnitude and direction) Arlo at locations b and d? (1pt)
22. What is the normal force on (magnitude and direction) Arlo at location c? (1pt)
23. At what position on the ride does Arlo feel the “heaviest” and the “lightest”? (1pt)
24. Express the force that Arlo experiences in terms of g’s, where a g is the normal force
divided by the weight. Find the g’s for each of the positions. ( 3pts)
a.
c.
b and d
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Cedar Downs Racing Derby
25. Go to http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/carousel.html. How do you tell
the lead horse on a carousel? (1pt)
Alice and Arlo decide to pick two horses next to each other. Alice is on the outside horse and
Arlo is on the inside horse (closer to the point of rotation). The radius of the outside horse is
6.24 meters and the minimum period is 20 seconds. The inside horse has a radius of 4.48 m. .
26. What is the outermost circumference of this ride? ( 1pt)
27. What is the maximum linear speed of the ride if you are on the outside (1pt)?
28. Given the maximum speed, what is the maximum angular velocity? Does Alice or Arlo
have this maximum angular velocity? ( 2pts)
29. Draw a freebody diagram for Alice and Arlo (the horses are tilted 4 degrees) at maximum
velocity (your freebody is only normal and weight). ( 2pts)
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30. Write Newon’s 2nd Law equations given your freebody diagram (2pts)
31. Why are the horses tilted? (1pt) Use your Freebody to answer this question.
If it takes the ride 30 seconds to reach maximum speed from rest.
32. What is the angular acceleration of Alice and Arlo? (1pt)
33. What distance (arc length) do Alice and Arlo respectively travel through during the time
of acceleration? ( 1pt)
34. What are the tangential accelerations of Alice and Arlo? (1pt)
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Ring Toss
35. Draw a freebody diagram of a ring in the air (ignore air resistance) (1pt)
36. What is the path of a ring through the air? Draw a diagram to illustrate. ( 1pt)
37. If the y displacement of the ring is approximately one meter down with an initial velocity
of 2 m/s at an angle of 29 degrees, determine the time that the ring is in the air. (2pts)
38. Determine the horizontal displacement of the ring. ( 1pt)
2015 Cedar Point Packet
Dodgem
Go to: http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/parkphysics.html
Click on the bumper cars and Enter. If this doesn’t work on your computer then go to :
http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/bumpercars/
State the correct answer for the outcome of each type of collision (3pts)
Collision 1: One Car at Rest
Collision 2: Glancing collision
Collision 3: Equal Masses
39. Arlo with his car has a mass of 1170 kg and gets his car up to 5 m/s. Find his momentum
(1pt)
40. Alice with her car has a mass of 1130 kg and gets her car up to 3 m/s. Find her
momentum. (1pt)
41. If Arlo runs into a wall, approximate it as an elastic collision and find the impulse Arlo
would experience (2pts)
42. If Arlo’s collision lasts 2 ms find the force he would experience ( 1pt).
2015 Cedar Point Packet
43. Find the force Arlo would have experienced if his collision with the wall had been
perfectly inelastic so he sticks to the wall and stops. (1pt)
44. If Arlo and Alice experience a head on elastic collision find Arlo’s final velocity (3pts)
45. In a head on collision of a fast and slow car, which driver experiences the great force?
Why ( 1pt)?
46. If the cars had rigid bumpers instead of rubber bumpers, would the force of impact
increase, decrease, or remain the same? Why? (1pt)
2015 Cedar Point Packet
Roller Coaster
Go to: http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/coaster.html
47. (1pt) Why do some people prefer wooden roller coasters? (what is the advantage of
wood over steel?)
48. Design your own roller coaster. (5pts)
List your choice
Safety Inspection: Was it a good
choice? Why? Why not?
Height of 1st hill
Shape of 1st hill
Exit Path
Height of the Second
hill
Loop
Height of first hill: 80 m (262 ft)
Height of second hill: 70 m (230 ft)
Elliptical Loop height: 35 m
Answer the following questions based on my roller coaster design above.
49. If the mass of the loaded car is 4500 kg. What is the potential energy of the loaded car at
the top of the ride? (2pts)
2015 Cedar Point Packet
50. What is the speed at the bottom of the second hill (height = 0 m) just before it enters the
loop? (2pts)
51. What is the centripetal acceleration at the bottom of the loop (assume circular with
diameter of 35 m)? (2pts)
52. What is the normal force on Arlo (mass=70 kg) at the bottom of the loop (assume
circular with diameter of 35 m)? (Use a freebody diagram to help you:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/mmedia/circmot/rcd.cfm ) (2pts)
53. How many g's do the riders feel? Divide the normal force by the weight. (1pt)
54. What is the speed of the train at the top of the loop? (2pts)
2015 Cedar Point Packet
55. Draw the freebody diagram for a rider at the top of the loop (assume a circle with radius
of 7 m here). Check your freebody here:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/mmedia/circmot/rcd.cfm (1pt)
56. What is the normal force on Arlo (mass=70 kg) at the top of the loop? (1pt)
57. How many g's does Arlo feel at the top of the loop (divide normal by the weight)? (1pt)
58. What would you feel riding this coaster? (1pt)
At the entry to the loop, do you feel lighter, heavier, or the same as your weight?
At the top of the loop, do you feel lighter, heavier, or the same as your weight?
59. What is the speed at the top of the second hill? (2pts)
2015 Cedar Point Packet
60. If the radius of the second hill is 15 meters, what is the maximum speed that Alice can
have and still remain in the car without a lap bar? (2pts)
61. If a rider dropped their shoe from the top of the loop, how long does it take the shoe to
reach the ground? (1pt)
62. An electric motor that is 30 percent efficient lifts a fully loaded roller coaster up the first
hill with a time of 1minute (mass=4500kg). Calculate the power necessary to raise the
train.(2pts)
63. If the electric company charges 12.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, determine the cost of the
electricity used to power this ride for one hour. (2pts)
2015 Cedar Point Packet
64. Suppose the roller coaster has a banked turn. (Hint: In your notes!!!)
i. Draw a free body diagram for the car moving very fast around a banked
turn. (2pts)
ii. Write Newton’s 2nd law equations for your free body diagram. (2pts)
65. Check out http://ojhsrides.weebly.com/millennium-force.html and explain how the
Millennium force uses magnetism to brake. (2pts)
66. GateKeeper is 4,164 feet long. One sheet of toilet paper in the park is 4.5" x 4.5" and
there are 500 sheets in the roll. The park will use 700 cases of toilet paper a year. Each
case contains 96 rolls. How many times could we cover GateKeper’s track with all this
toilet paper? (2pts)
2015 Cedar Point Packet
67. For extra credit check out the poster in the classroom with acceleration vs time graphs
for each ride. 1 pt per ride so a total of 8 pts. For credit give reasoning for your choices.