AAPT Quiz
PhysicsBowl 2023 (Part 1)
All Division I students, START HERE.
All Division II students – skip the first 10 questions, begin on #11.
*** Treat g = 10 m/s
2
in ALL problems, #1-#50.
1. Earth satellites such as the International Space Station orbit at altitudes that are mainly above Earth’s atmosphere. A simple and accurate way to comprehend the orbit of these satellites is to view them as
a. balanced between gravitational and centripetal forces.
b. beyond the main pull of Earth’s gravity.
c. in mechanical equilibrium with a net force of zero.
d. having sufficient tangential velocities to fall around rather than into Earth.
e. All of the above.
2. To break a board, a typical karate chop delivers 3000 N of force to the board. The force that the board exerts on the hand during the chop is
a. less than 3000 N.
b. 3000 N.
c. greater than 3000 N.
d. dependent upon the type of wood.
e. dependent upon the speed of the karate chop.
3. All of the following are base units of the SI system except:
a. kilogram
b. kelvin
c. meter
d. volt
e. candela
4. The speed of sound in air depends upon
a. frequency
b. wavelength
c. amplitude
d. speed of the sound source
e. temperature of the air
5. There are 6.02 X 10
23
carbon atoms (Avogadro’s number) in 12.0 g of carbon. If you could count one atom each second, how much time would it take to count the atoms in 1.0 g of carbon?
a. 1.59 X 10
15
days
b. 1.59 X 10
15
weeks
c. 1.59 X 10
15
years
d. 1.59 X 10
18
weeks
e. 1.59 X 10
18
years
6. Consider one horizontal circular path that a ball makes on the inside surface of a cone. In this situation, the normal force on the ball
a. is mg.
b. is always greater than mg.
c. may be greater or less than mg.
d. is always less than mg.
e. depends upon the speed of the ball.
7. A Boeing 737 jet is landing with a speed of 69 m/s. The jet touches down and has 750 m of runway in which to reduce its speed to 6.1 m/s. What is the average acceleration, assumed to be uniform, of the plane during landing?
a. −0.32 𝑚/𝑠
2
b. −3.2 𝑚/𝑠
2
c. −6.3 𝑚/𝑠
2
d. −32 𝑚/𝑠
2
e. −63 𝑚/𝑠
2
8. What does a Venturi meter measure?
a. fluid pressure
b. fluid density
c. fluid speed
d. fluid flow
e. fluid temperature
9. A force applied to a rocket gives it an upward acceleration equal to 2 times the acceleration of gravity. The magnitude of the force is equal to:
a. One-half the weight of the rocket
b. The weight of the rocket
c. Two times the weight of the rocket
d. Three times the weight of the rocket
e. Four times the weight of the rocket
10. A 0.200 kg mass attached to the end of a spring moves up and down through 10 cycles in 6.50 s. What is the force constant of the spring?
a. 18.7 N/m
b. 4.67 N/m
c. 22.8 N/m
d. 5.95 N/m
e. 12.0 N
11. A block of wood is floating on water. If you push down on the block until it is completely submerged, the buoyant force acting on it
a. increases.
b. decreases.
c. stays the same.
d. is dependent upon the type of wood.
e. is dependent upon the depth to which the block is pushed.
12. On December 21, 1968, NASA launched Apollo 8. This was the first manned mission to the moon, and after 68 hours, went into orbit around the moon but never landed on the surface. That was reserved for Apollo 11. During one five-minute portion of the launch, Apollo 8 increased its speed from 7,600 to 10,800 meters per second. What was the acceleration of Apollo 8 during this time period?
a. 8.92 𝑚/𝑠
2
b. 53.3 𝑚/𝑠
2
c. 64.0 𝑚/𝑠
2
d. 10.7 𝑚/𝑠
2
e. 18.7 𝑚/𝑠
2
13. An older and heavier sister can balance on a seesaw with her younger and lighter brother. This can happen because of balanced
a. forces.
b. torques.
c. momenta.
d. energies.
e. inertia.
14. Any atom that emits an alpha particle or a beta particle
a. always becomes an atom of a different element.
b. may become an atom of a different element.
c. becomes a different isotope of the same element.
d. increases its mass.
e. becomes highly reactive.
15. If the sun collapsed suddenly to become a black hole, the Earth would
a. continue in its present orbit.
b. fly off tangential to the current orbital path.
c. likely be pulled into the black hole.
d. be pulled apart by tidal forces.
e. Both C and D
16. On October 4, the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three individuals, Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger, for experiments with entangled photons. In how many other categories are Nobel Prizes awarded?
a. One
b. Two
c. Three
d. Four
e. Five
17. A person has a height 1.8 m. Beginning directly under a streetlight that is 6 m above the ground, they walk away from their starting position at 7 m/s. Find the speed at which the top of the person’s shadow moves.
a. 6 m/s.
b. 8 m/s
c. 10 m/s
d. 12 m/s
e. 14 m/s
18. A curious physics student drops a rock from a cliff that is 5.0 m above a pond. The rock hits the water with velocity
v
and then sinks to the bottom with the constant velocity
v
. It reaches the bottom of the pond 5.0 s after it is dropped. Find the depth of the lake
a. 10 m
b. 20 m
c. 30 m
d. 40 m
e. 50 m
19. A hot air balloon is moving up at 10 m/s. At a height of 100 m above the ground, a
package is released from the balloon. How much time does it take the package to reach
the ground after being released?
a. 4.58 s
b. 5.58 s
c. 4.24 s
d. 5.24 s
e. 4.64 s
20. Three vector forces F
1
, F
2
, and F
3
act on a particle that has a mass of 3.00 kg as shown in in the diagram below. What is the particle’s acceleration?
a. 9.49 m/s
2
b. 9.59 m/s
2
c. 9.69 m/s
2
d. 9.79 m/s
2
e. 9.89 m/s
2
21. A crate slides down a ramp with a rough surface that is inclined to the horizontal at 30
o
. If 70% of the initial potential energy is dissipated during the descent, find the coefficient of sliding friction
a. 0.20
b. 0.30
c. 0.40
d. 0.50
e. 0.60
22. LaGrange Point 2 is a location in space where the gravitational attraction of the sun is equal to the gravitational attraction of the Earth. The sun is 1.5 X 10
8
km from Earth, and it has a mass that is 3.24 X 10
5
times that of Earth. How far from Earth, along a line to the sun, must an object be located to be in this location?
a. 1.50 X 10
6
km
b. 1.83 X 10
6
km
c. 1.53 X 10
6
km
d. 3.26 X 10
6
km
e. 3.06 X 10
6
km
23. A pendulum clock has a period of 1.0 s and gives the correct time on the ground at a
certain location. It is then moved to the top of a building that is 320 m high. How much
time will the pendulum lose in 1 day at this height?
a. 2.25 s
b. 2.88 s
c. 3.42 s
d. 3.94 s
e. 4.32 s
24. An M-80 (BIG firecracker) is detonated in a valley formed between two parallel mountains. The first echo is heard 2.0 s after the detonation and the second echo is heard 2.0 s after the first one. What is the width of the valley?
a. 340 m
b. 740 m
c. 1080 m
d. 1360 m
e. 1700 m
25. A spark is produced between two insulated surfaces, maintained at a constant potential difference of 5.0 X 10
6
V. The energy output is 10
-5
J. How many electrons have been transferred in the spark?
a. 1.25 X 10
7
b. 1.20 X 10
7
c. 1.35 X 10
7
d. 1.25 X 10
6
e. 1.25 X 10
8
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