KINEMATICS ASSIGNMENT I
X−axis from the origin with initial velocity u1 =
IITIANS PACE
Session 2019-21
Faculty SMP
Batches NAPJC 4,5
Andheri Flagship
NDPJC 2,3
1. Problems
(1) A car travels at a constant speed v1 = 80 km · h−1
during the rst half of its run time and at v2 =
40 km · h−1 during the other half. Find the average
speed of the car over the whole time of motion.
Figure 1.1.
(2) Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson, while in a train,
decide decide to measure the speed with the aid
of a pair of excellent stop-watches. Dr. Watson
decides to do so by the click of the wheels passing
over the junctions between rails while knowing that
the length of each rail is 10 m. Sherlock decides to
do the same by counting the number of telegraph
poles passing the window while knowing that the
distance between them is 50 m. Dr. Watson starts
his stop-watch on the rst click and stops it on
the 156th . He nds that 3 min have passed. Sher-
lock starts his stop-watch when the rst telegraph-
pole appears in the window and stops it when
the 32nd pole appears. He too nds 3 min have
passed. Dr. Watson calculates that the train's
speed to be 32.2 km · h−1 , and Sherlock calculates
it at 32 km · h−1 . Which of them has.made a mis-
take and how? What is the real speed of the train?
(3) A small body A begins to move rectilinearly on
2 m · s−1 and a constant acceleration a. T = 10 s
after the body A begins to move, another body
B departs from the origin with the initial velocity
u2 = 12 m · s−1 and with the same acceleration a.
What is the maximum value of the acceleration a
for which the body B can overtake the body A?
(4) A body starting from rest, travels rectilinearly,
with uniform acceleration a1 for time t1 and with
uniform acceleration a2 for time t2 . What is the
average acceleration of this body during the whole
interval?
(5) If a small body moves rectilinearly with uniform
acceleration and covers successive equal distances
in times t1 , t2 , t3 , then show that t11 − t12 + t12 =
t1 +t2 +t3 .
3
(6) The driver of a car moving at a speed v1 sights an-
other car at a distance d ahead of him on the same
road moving in the same direction with a slower
speed v2 . He puts on the brakes and gives his car a
constant retardation of magnitude a. How should
these four variables be related so as to avoid colli-
sion?
(7) Ball A is dropped from rest from a building of
height H exactly as ball B is thrown up vertically
from the ground. When they collide A has twice
the speed of B and B is till moving upwards. If
the collision occurs at height h, what is Hh ?
(8) A bird ies rectilinearly for 4 s such that its ve-
locity v varies with time t as v = (t − 2) m · s−1
, where t is measured in seconds. Calculate the
displacement and distance covered by the bird.
(9) The position x of a particle moving rectilinearly on
the X−axis depends on time t as x = t3 − 6t2 + 9t,
where t is measured in seconds and x in metres.
The particle starts moving at t = 0.
(a) Find the velocity v at time t.
(b) What is the velocity at t = 2 s? At t = 4 s?
(c) When is the particle at rest?
(d) When is the particle moving in the positive
direction of X−axis?
(e) Find the distance travelled by the particle
during the rst ve seconds.
(10) The acceleration a of a particle moving rectilin-
early on the X−axis depends on time t as a =
− cos t, where a is measured in m·s−2 and t in s.
The particle started moving at t = 1 s from rest.
1
 What is the distance travelled by the particle from
t = 0 to t = 2π s?
(11) A particle moves in XY −plane such that its ve-
locity ~v depends on time t as ~v = (8t − 2) î + 2ĵ ,
where ~v is measured in m/s and t in s. If it passes
through the point (14, 4) m at t = 2 s, then nd
equation of the path of the particle.
(12) A particle moving with an initial velocity ~u =
50ĵ m · s−1 undergoes an acceleration


35 + 2t3 î + 4 − t2 ĵ m · s−2


~a =
What are the particle's position and velocity after
3 s, assuming that it starts at the origin?
(13) A sh swimming
 in a horizontal plane has a velo-
city ~v0 = 4î + ĵ m · s−1 at a point in the ocean
 
whose position vector is ~r0 = 10î − 4ĵ m relat-
ive to a stationary rock at the shore. After the
sh swims with constant acceleration for 20 s, its
velocity is ~v = 20î − 5ĵ m · s−1
(a) What is the acceleration of the sh?
(b) Where is the sh at t = 25 s and in what
direction is it moving?
(14) An ant moves along the parabolic path y = kx2 ,
where k is a positive constant, in such a way that
the X−component of the velocity of the particle
remains constant at v0 . Find the acceleration of
the particle.
(15) A ghter plane ying horizontally at an altitude
of H = 1.5 km with speed v = 720 km · h−1 passes
directly overhead an anti-aircraft gun. At what
angle from the vertical should the gun be red for
the shell with muzzle speed u = 600 km · h−1 to
hit the plane? At what minimum altitude should
the pilot y the plane to avoid being hit?
(16) The projection speed of a certain projectile is ve
times the speed it has at its maximum height. Cal-
culate the projection angle.
(17) A small stone is projected from ground in such
a way that its horizontal range is equal to three
times its maximum height. What is the angle of
projection?
(18) Consider a small body thrown obliquely from the
surface of Earth. Let R be its horizontal range
and H be the maximum height reached above the
ground. What is the farthest from the projection
point that the body can be thrown with the same
speed from the same projection point?
(19) A bullet with muzzle speed u = 100 m · s−1 is to
be shot at a target d = 30 m away in the horizontal
line. How high above the target must the gun be
aimed so that the bullet will hit the target?
(20) Consider a Earth like planet on which a vertical
XY −plane is constructed such that the positive
Y −axis is directed vertically upward and X−axis
horizontal. Let a small body be projected from the
origin of at some angle from the surface. Assume
the distances involved to be small enough as com-
pared to the planet's radius so that variations in
acceleration due to gravity can be neglected. If the
motion of the particle is described by the equation
x = t and y = t − t2 , nd
(a) the projection speed,
(b) the acceleration due to gravity at this planet,
(c) the time of ight of the body, and
(d) the maximum height attained by the body
above the surface.
(21) An aeroplane ies horizontally at a height h at a
speed v . An anti-air craft gun on ground res a
shell at the plane when it is vertically above the
gun. Find
(a) the minimum muzzle speed required to hit the
plane, and
(b) the angle with the horizontal at which the
barrel of the cannon points for this.
(22) A stone is thrown obliquely from ground with speed
u so that it achieves the maximum horizontal range
on the ground. While in air, it passes through
two points both of which are at the same height h
above the horizontal. What is the distance between
the two points?
Figure 1.2.
(23) A gun is mounted on a plateau 960 m away from
its edge as shown in Fig.1.2. The height of plateau
is 960 m. The gun can re shells with a speed of
100 m · s−1 at any angle. What is the minimum
horizontal distance, on ground, from the edge of
plateau where a shell of the gun can reach?
(24) An enemy ghter jet is ying in a straight line at
a constant height of 250 m with a constant speed
of 500 m · s−1 (Fig.1.3). The ghter jet passes over
an anti-aircraft gun that can re at any time and

Figure 1.3.
in any direction with a speed of 100 m · s−1 . De-
termine the time interval during which the ghter
jet is in danger of being hit by the gun.
(25) A particle is projected horizontally with a speed
u from the top of a plane inclined at an angle α
with the horizontal. How far from the point of
projection will the particle strike the plane?
Figure 1.4.
(26) A cannon res from under a shelter inclined at an
angle a to the horizontal (Fig. 1.4). The cannon
is at point A at a distance l from the base of the
shelter (point B ). The initial speed of the shell
is u, and its path lies in the plane of the gure.
Determine the maximum range of the shell.
(27) A bucket is left out in the rain. Will the speed at
which the bucket is lled with water be altered if
a horizontal wind starts to blow?
(28) A boat in a river goes upstream from A to B at
v1 = 3 km · h−1 and then downstream from B to
A at v2 = 9 km · h−1 . Find:
(a) the average speed of the boat, and
(b) the the river ow speed.
(29) A passenger on a train moving at a speed of 40 km · h−1
sees a 75 m long train passing from the opposite
direction in 3 s. What is the velocity of the second
train? Assume both the trains to be moving on
straight parallel tracks.
(30) Consider a collection of a large number of particles
in gravity free space each moving with speed v .
The direction of velocity is randomly distributed
in the collection. Show that the magnitude of the
relative velocity between a pair of particles aver-
aged over all the pairs in the collection is greater
than v .
(31) An aeroplane has to go from a point A to another
point B , 500 km away due 30◦ east of north. A
wind is blowing due north at a speed of 20 m · s .−1
The air-speed of the plane is 150 m · s1 . Find
(a) the direction, relative to the line AB , in which
the pilot should head the plane to reach the
point B ,
(b) the time taken by plane to go from A to B .
(32) To nd the speed of a river's current, a boatman
decides to carry out the following experiment: He
lowers a wooden bucket into the water and him-
self sets o downstream, rowing. After 40 min he
reaches a point A, 1 km from his starting-point and
turns back. He picks up the bucket, turns round
again and, rowing downstream once more, reaches
A for the second time 24 min later. What is the
speed of the current, assuming that the speeds of
both current and boat are constant, and also that
no time is wasted on turning round? How long
does the oarsman spend on rowing upstream to
meet the bucket? What is the boat's speed relat-
ive to the water?
(33) Consider a river of width d with straight parallel
banks with water owing parallel to the banks.
Due to viscosity, the current speed of a river grows
in proportional to the distance from the bank and
reaches its maximum u0 in the middle. Near the
banks, the speed is almost zero. A boat is moving
along the river in such a manner that it is always
perpendicular to the current and the speed of the
boat in still water is v . Find
(a) the equation of the path of the boat,
(b) and the distance through which the boat will
be carried away by the current.
Figure 1.5.
(34) At the instant t = 0, the distance between two
moving particles is a. Let v~r be the relative ve-
locity between them and (vr )k and (vr )⊥ be the
components of ~vr along and perpendicular to the
initial joining line (Fig. 1.5). If ~vr remains con-
stant in time, then nd
(a) the minimum distance between them., and
(b) the time when they are closest to each other.
(35) A small stone is thrown vertically upwards from
a balloon at a speed of 18 m · s−1 relative to the
ground. The balloon descends at a constant speed
of 2 m · s−1 .
(a) Determine the distance between the balloon
and the stone at the instant when the latter
reaches the highest point of its ascent.
 (b) How long will it take the falling load to pass
by the balloon?
(36) Three small identical bodies are located at the ver-
tices of an equilateral triangle whose side equals
l. They all start moving simultaneously with con-
stant speed v , with rst body heading continuously
for the second, the second for the third, and the
third for the rst.
(a) Where do the bodies meet?
(b) When do they meet each other?
(c) What is the distance travelled by each body
till meeting with the other?
(d) What is the displacement of each body till
meeting with the other?
(e) What is the magnitude of average velocity of
each of the bodies?
(f) What is the average speed of each of the bod-
ies?
(g) What is the magnitude of the initial acceler-
ation of each of the bodies?
(h) What is the magnitude of acceleration of each
of the bodies when the edge of the triangle has
reduced to a2 ?
(i) Taking the centroid as the pole and the line
joining the centroid and the initial position
of a body as the reference line, nd the polar
equation of path of the body.
(j) In the frame of one of the bodies, take the
initial joining line to another body as the ref-
erence line. Find the polar equation of path
of the other body in this frame.
(37) A small body having velocity u along the positive
X−axis and located at x = x0 at t = 0 experiences
a linear retarding force f = −kv where k is a pos-
itive constant and v is the instantaneous velocity
of the body. Find the velocity and position of the
body as a function of time t.
(38) A small body of mass m is thrown straight up with
a speed u. If the air drag force equals −kv~v , where
k is a positive constant and ~v is the velocity of the
body, nd
(a) the maximum height reached by the body,
and
(b) the speed with which the body comes down.