Chapter 5: Circular Motion; Gravitation
MCAT Study Guide



1.  

A Cadillac with mass 3 mo and a Volkswagen with mass mo go around the same unbanked circular curve on the freeway. Bumper to bumper they go with the same speed vo. The centripetal acceleration of the VW is ao and the centripetal force acting on it is Fo.

The centripetal acceleration of the Cadillac is ___ ao.
more than
less than
equal to
incomparable with

2.  

A Cadillac with mass 3 mo and a Volkswagen with mass mo go around the same unbanked circular curve on the freeway. Bumper to bumper they go with the same speed vo. The centripetal acceleration of the VW is ao and the centripetal force acting on it is Fo.

The centripetal force acting on the Cadillac is ___ Fo.
less than
more than
equal to
incomparable with

3.  

A Cadillac with mass 3 mo and a Volkswagen with mass mo go around the same unbanked circular curve on the freeway. Bumper to bumper they go with the same speed vo. The centripetal acceleration of the VW is ao and the centripetal force acting on it is Fo.

If its speed was increased to 3 vo, the centripetal acceleration of the VW would be ao x ___.
1
3
6
9
10
16

4.  

A Cadillac with mass 3 mo and a Volkswagen with mass mo go around the same unbanked circular curve on the freeway. Bumper to bumper they go with the same speed vo. The centripetal acceleration of the VW is ao and the centripetal force acting on it is Fo.

If the speed of the cars was 2 vo, the centripetal force acting on the VW would be Fo x ___.
1
2
3
4
6
8

5.  

Two spherical planets with radii R1 = 2 Ro and R2 = Ro and masses m1 = 2 mo and m2 = mo respectively are in circular orbits of radii r1 = 2 ro and r2 = ro respectively about the same star which has mass Ms mo. Much of this is depicted in the following figure.

The year for the first planet (the one with mass m1) is ___ the year for the second planet.
less than
more than
equal to
incomparable with

6.  

Two spherical planets with radii R1 = 2 Ro and R2 = Ro and masses m1 = 2 mo and m2 = mo respectively are in circular orbits of radii r1 = 2 ro and r2 = ro respectively about the same star which has mass Ms mo. Much of this is depicted in the following figure.

The speed of the first planet in its orbit is ___ the speed of the second planet in its orbit.
less than
equal to
more than
incomparable with

7.  

Two spherical planets with radii R1 = 2 Ro and R2 = Ro and masses m1 = 2 mo and m2 = mo respectively are in circular orbits of radii r1 = 2 ro and r2 = ro respectively about the same star which has mass Ms mo. Much of this is depicted in the following figure.

The magnitude of the gravitational force exerted by the star on the first planet is ___ the magnitude of the gravitational force exerted by the star on the second planet.
equal to
less than
more than
incomparable with

8.  

Two spherical planets with radii R1 = 2 Ro and R2 = Ro and masses m1 = 2 mo and m2 = mo respectively are in circular orbits of radii r1 = 2 ro and r2 = ro respectively about the same star which has mass Ms mo. Much of this is depicted in the following figure.

The acceleration of gravity on the surface of the second planet is ___ the acceleration of gravity on the surface of the first planet.
more than
equal to
less than
incomparable with

9.  

Two spherical planets with radii R1 = 2 Ro and R2 = Ro and masses m1 = 2 mo and m2 = mo respectively are in circular orbits of radii r1 = 2 ro and r2 = ro respectively about the same star which has mass Msmo. Much of this is depicted in the following figure.

The magnitude of the gravitational force exerted on the first planet by the second planet is ___ the magnitude of the gravitational force exerted on the second planet by the first planet.
more than
less than
equal to
incomparable with

10.  

The force of gravity between two bodies is:
inversely proportional to the distance between them.
directly proportional to the distance between them.
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
directly proportional to the square of the distance between them.

11.  

Two bodies of equal mass are separated by a distance of 2 meters. If the mass of one body is doubled, the force of gravity between the two bodies will
be half as great.
be twice as great.
be one fourth as great.
be four times as great.

12.  

The distance between a spaceship and the center of the Earth increases from one Earth radius to three Earth radii. What happens to the force of gravity acting on the spaceship?
It becomes 1/9 as great.
It becomes 9 times as great.
It becomes 1/3 as great.
It becomes 3 times as great.

13.  

A 100 kg astronaut lands on a planet with a radius three times that of Earth and a mass nine times that of Earth. The acceleration due to gravity, g, experienced by the astronaut will be
nine times the value of g on earth.
three times the value of g on earth
the same value as g on earth.
one third the value of g on earth.

14.  

For the system of a man in an elevator, his weight will appear to be greatest when
the elevator rises at a constant velocity.
the elevator is accelerated upward.
the elevator falls at a constant velocity.
None of the above because weight is constant.


Bosworth et al, ARCO MCAT SuperCourse (MacMillan, 1997). Copyright 1997, 1996, 1994, 1991 by Stefan Bosworth, Ronald Drucker, Edgar Schnebel, Denise Garlan, Rosie Soy and Marion Brisk. Used by permission of MacMillan, Inc.

For more information, go to http://www.novapress.net/mcat/books.html.

The Virtual Prof's Physics Study Guide for the MCAT. Copyright 1997 by Glen Terrell and RonJon Publishing, Inc. Used by permission of Glen Terrell. For more information, go to http://www.virtualprof.com.


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