BDPhO National Preparatory Session 2025

Saidpur Cantonment Public School & College

Problem Set 01: Mechanics

Problem 01: Inclined Rod

A rod with a mass of M and length L is positioned near a wall at an angle of θ with the ground.
The coefficient of static friction between the rod and the ground is µ, and the friction between the
rod and the wall can be neglected.
A ball of mass m is moving upward along the rod with initial velocity u from point A without
any friction.

In part (a) to (c), we are assuming that µ is sufficiently large enough so that the rod does not
slide

(a) What is the acceleration of the ball along the rod?

(b) What is the minimum initial velocity u such that the ball can reach the point B?

(c) How long does the ball take to reach the point B?

Now, we would like to find the minimum value of the coefficient of static friction such that the
rod does not slide during the motion of the ball. We consider the moment when the ball is moving
upward and located at a distance of d from point A.

(d) What is the normal force acting on the ball?

(e) What is the normal force acting on the rod at point A?

(f) What is the normal force acting on the rod at point B?

(g) What is the friction force acting on the rod at point A?

(h) Find the minimum value of µ such that the rod does not slide during the motion of the ball.

1
Problem 02: Bullet Motion
A bullet with mass 10 g was fired against a stationary and fixed wooden block with mass 1 kg. It
has an initial velocity of 800 m/s and penetrated the block into depth 10 cm. Assume the wood
resists the movement of the bullet steadily.

(a) What is the resistance force in the wooden block against the bullet?

Now the wooden block is movable freely on a table with negligible friction between the block and
the table and the bullet is now fired horizontally to the wooden block and is finally stopped inside
the block.

(b) What is the final speed of the wooden block with bullet?

(c) What is the depth into which the bullet has penetrated when the block is movable?

(d) How long does the bullet take to be stopped after it has entered the block?

Problem 03: Satellite Motion

A space station orbits around the Earth at the height h above the Earth’s surface. A small satellite
of mass m is launched from the space station to arrive at a geosynchronous orbit, such that the
satellite is constantly above a fixed location on Earth’s surface.
Find the energy required to launch the satellite. The Earth has mass M , radius R, and
angular velocity ω. The gravitational constant is G.

2
Problem 04: A Bungee Jumper
Bungee jump is a sport for adventurous people. As shown in Fig. 1(a), a bungee jumper of mass
m = 60 kg is initially standing on a bridge with a rope of mass M = 120 kg, length L = 30 m and
of uniform density. One end of the rope is fastened to the bridge and the other end is tied to the
jumper’s body, and the rope is hanging freely below the bridge, with its midpoint furthest down.

In the following calculations, you may assume that friction and air resistance are negligible,
and the gravitational acceleration is g = 9.8 m/s2 . You may further assume that the rope has
no stretching until the entire rope becomes hanging downward.

(a)-(b) Consider the instant that the jumper has fallen a distance L/3.

(a) What is the change in the potential energy of the rope compared with the initial state?

(b) Calculate the speed of the jumper when the jumper has fallen a distance L/3.

(c) Calculate the speed of the jumper when the entire rope becomes hanging downward.

(d) Jumpers claim that they enjoy the thrill of reaching a speed faster than free fall. Calculate
the speed of the jumper if the jumper falls from the bridge through the same distance as in
part (c) during a free fall.

(e)-(f ) After the entire rope becomes hanging downward, the jumper remains tied to the rope but
continues to fall further downward due to the elastic nature of the rope. Let the force constant
of the rope be k = 500 N/m.

(e) Calculate the maximum distance the jumper falls as measured from the bridge.

(f) After the motion of the jumper stops, what is the distance of the jumper below the
bridge?

3
Problem 05: Three Balls
Three identical steel balls A, B, and C are connected by two light, hard rods AB and BC, each of
length l. A and C lie on a horizontal surface along the x-axis, and B is supported by the rods to
stand in a vertical direction parallel to the y-axis.
As shown in Figure I, there is a vertical wall at a distance a = √12 l from the rod. Due to small
disturbance, two rods slide to two sides and ball B falls (Figure II).
In this problem, all friction is negligible, and the diameter of each ball is much smaller
than l.

(a) What is the horizontal distance of the center of mass (CM) of the system from the
origin O when ∠ACB = α?

(b) What is the ratio of the speed vA /vC of two balls A and C when ∠ACB = α?

(c) What is the angle α when ball A hits the wall?

(d) What is the ratio vB /vC immediately before this instant?

(e) What are the velocities of three balls at this moment?

4
Problem 06: Sliding Ball
The figure below shows a small bead with mass m located on the surface of a semi-circular block
with mass M and radius R. The surface of the block is smooth and there are no frictional forces
between the two objects. The bead is initially put at the top of the block (θ = 0◦ ) and is given
a very small initial push to the right so that it starts to slide down the block with negligible initial
speed.

(a) If the block is fixed on the ground.

(ai) Draw the free-body diagram of the bead indicating all the force vectors and the acceleration
vector.

(aii) Find the angle θ at which the bead will leave the surface of the block.

(aiii) Find the distance of the bead from the center of the block when it hits the ground.

(b) If the block is free to slide on the ground under no friction and given that the bead
does not leave the surface of the block, find the speed of the bead at angle θ.