sat II physics sample problems 1-2

Simple pendulum swinging and behavior of acceleration, kinetic energy, mass, potential energy, and velocity of the mass at the end of the pendulum.

1) Which property remains constant throughout the swinging of the mass?
2) Which property goes to 0, changes direction at the extrema of the pendulum's arc?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• pendulum swinging
• mechanics
• SAT
• physics

[vrdesk]

Wait, mass is not constant in this case. According to Einstein, an object's mass increases as its speed increases. Thus, the sphere's mass is greater at the bottom of the path than at the extremes. Is this a valid argument?

[0oNicko0]

@ashishkakar the acceleration is 9.8m/s and -9.8m/s so it changes.. do u agree? :P

[ashishkakar]

i dont completely agree with the first answer. I know the obvious answer is mass and I would go with that answer on a test. However, I think that acceleration is also a valid answer because the acceleration stays constant throughout. The reason is that the force is constant (gravitational force) and the mass is also constant (as established earlier) so the acceleration too much be constant because acceleration = Force / mass.

What do you think?

[mickeythemightymouse]

Thanks for the upload, it was good review.

If only SAT II questions were all like these.