Balanced forces, equilibrium and inertia
Grade 11 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer, or write your answer on the line.
Ari hauls a 20 kg crate up a 30° ramp at constant velocity with a rope parallel to the ramp. Sliding friction is 25 N. What is the rope's tension, to 0.1 N?
Bo hauls a 12 kg crate up a 25° ramp at constant velocity with a rope parallel to the ramp. Sliding friction is 18 N. What is the rope's tension, to 0.1 N?
Esme hauls a 50 kg crate up a 37° ramp at constant velocity with a rope parallel to the ramp. Sliding friction is 60 N. What is the rope's tension, to 0.1 N?
“example data” Using the diagram, which cable has the greater tension, Luz?
- Neither cable: both pull 98 N, by the symmetry of the sign
- The left cable, since 30° is the smaller angle
- The right cable, at 60°, since it carries more of the weight
- The left cable, at 30°, since a flatter cable pulls much harder
Milo says a skydiver falling at a steady speed has no forces acting. Agree or disagree?
- Disagree: gravity acts alone, so the diver speeds up
- Agree: drag appears when the diver speeds up
- Disagree: drag and weight both act, and they cancel
- Agree: a steady speed means that no force acts on the diver
Noah says a block sliding down a ramp at a steady speed must have no friction. Agree or disagree?
- Agree: sliding means gravity's part beats friction on the block
- Agree: a steady speed means no friction acts on the sliding block
- Disagree: friction up the ramp balances the weight's part down it
- Disagree: friction is larger than gravity's part, so the block slows
A 2,000 kg truck and 1,000 kg car go equally fast. Pia says the same braking force stops both in the same distance. Agree or disagree?
- Agree: braking force depends on speed, not on mass
- Agree: they start at the same speed, so both stop in the same distance
- Disagree: the car needs twice the distance, since it is lighter
- Disagree: the truck has twice the inertia and needs twice the distance
Free-body diagram (example data): a ball hanging from a train ceiling while the train speeds up of mass 0.5 kg, with arrows from its center: weight 4.9 N down; string tension ? N up and toward the front, 30° from the vertical. Free-body diagram (example data): a ball hanging from a train ceiling while the train speeds up of mass 0.5 kg, with arrows from its center: weight 4.9 N down; string tension ? N up and toward the front, 30° from the vertical. train ceiling 30° mass 0.5 kg string tension ? N weight 4.9 N front A ball hangs from a train ceiling as the train speeds up, and the string tilts. Seen from the ground, what supplies the ball's forward acceleration, Ren?
- The horizontal part of its weight, pointing toward the front
- A forward force carried over from the train's motion
- Its own inertia pushing it forward as the train speeds up
- The horizontal part of the string's tension
The string stays 30° from the vertical while the train speeds up. What is the train's acceleration, Tala?
Use the picture in question 8.
- About 8.5 m/s²
- About 4.9 m/s²
- About 5.7 m/s²
- About 17 m/s²
In a jet cruising at a steady 250 m/s, Zee drops a coin. Where does it land compared with the feet?
- Ahead of the feet, since the jet's speed adds to the coin's fall
- Several meters behind the feet, since the jet moves on
- At the feet, since it keeps the jet's forward velocity
- Behind the feet, since the air in the cabin holds it back