Name: ___________________________

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Department of Mechanical Engineering
ME 232 Dynamics

TEST 1
Please show your work.
Partial credit will be given if you set up a problem correctly.
No credit will be given for correct answers without supporting work.
1. (30 points) A boy who has no dynamics exam on Valentines
Day consoles himself by swinging in a park with some
dynamics textbooks. The boy has a mass of 40 kg, and each
dynamics book has a mass of 1 kg. The distance between the
boys center of mass and the pivot of the swing is 3m. The
two ropes supporting the swing can each withstand 500N of
force without breaking.
(a) While holding 10 books to his heart, which is at his center of
mass, the boy swings up to an angle =30. What is his
maximum speed during that swing cycle?
(b) If his speed at the base of a swing cycle (=0) is 4 m/s, how many books can he hold at his center of
mass without breaking the two ropes?

2. (20 points) A woman combines her love of her boyfriend with her love of Dynamics by taking him on
a Valentines Day cruise on NASAs Vomit Comet. This plane repeatedly dives to simulate gravityfree conditions, then re-climbs at a gut-wrenching rate. In the instant pictured, the planes speed v is
1000 km/hr and is decreasing at the rate of 15 km/hr each second. If the radius of curvature is 1.5
km at this point, calculate the x- and
y- components of the Vomit
Comets acceleration when =30.

3. (20 points) The joyous flutter of a dynamics

students heart upon the receipt of an exam
can be replicated with the following device,
in which N identical balls of mass m are
suspended from light, identical strings of
length l. The first ball is raised so that it has
a speed v1 before impacting the second ball.
The coefficient of restitution between any
pair of balls is e.
In terms of N, m, l, v1, and e,
(a 15 points)
(b 5 points)

What is the speed v2 of the second ball after it is hit by the first ball?
What is the speed vn of the Nth ball after it is struck?

4. (30 points) Your significant other notes that your love

of dynamics is causing your other relationships to
slide down a slippery spiral. This slippery spiral is
described parametrically by:
R = 10m = constant
= (2t2+ 2t) radians
z = - (t2 + t) m.
Coincidentally, a sled of mass m=500 kg (including
passengers) is following this same path.
(a) Determine the acceleration vector of the sled as a
function of time.
(b) Write the vector form of the force that the path exerts on the sled, as a function of time, in any
convenient coordinate system.
(c) If the coefficient of static friction between the sled and the path is =0.8, determine the time t at
which friction can no longer provide the radial force required to keep the sled on the path.