Problem 1:

When you switch on a flashlight, current flows through the batteries from their

(A) negative ends to their positive ends and through the bulb from higher voltage to lower voltage.

(B) positive ends to their negative ends and through the bulb from lower voltage to higher voltage.

(D) negative ends to their positive ends and through the bulb from lower voltage to higher voltage.

Problem 2:

When a flashlight experiences a short circuit, the current in the flashlight bypasses

(A) the batteries.

(B) the coil.

(D) the lightbulb.

Problem 3:

You are in a bicycle race and your friend is right beside you. You reach over and push her forward with your hand. She responds by

(A) pushing you backward, but less hard than you push her forward.

(B) yelling at you, but she doesn't push on you at all.

(D) pushing you backward equally hard.

Problem 4:

You are making popcorn on the stove and one of the popped kernels zooms straight up into air. At the moment it reaches its peak height, its velocity is

(A) zero and its acceleration is zero.

(B) downward and its acceleration is downward.

(D) upward but its acceleration is downward.

Problem 5:

You have a negatively charged plastic rod. If you hold that rod near an electrically neutral balloon,

(A) it will electrically polarize the balloon and they will repel one another.

(B) it will electrically polarize the balloon and they will attract one another.

(D) it will exert no electrostatic forces on the balloon because the balloon has equal numbers of positive and negative charges.

Problem 6:

Two of your friends are pulling on opposite ends of a rope in the game of "tug of war". At this moment, your friend on the left is winning: both of them are moving to the left at constant velocity. The net force on the rope

(A) is zero.

(B) points toward the left.

(D) points straight down.

Problem 7:

A popular fundraising toy is a "wishing well" — a funnel-shaped plastic device in which coins roll around many times before eventually dropping through the hole at the bottom of the funnel. While a coin is circling the well, it is accelerating

(A) backward, in the direction opposite its velocity.

(B) forward, in the direction of its velocity.

(D) in the direction that reduces its total potential energy as quickly as possible.

Problem 8:

Two billiard balls are rolling forward on a horizontal table, but the red ball is traveling twice as fast as the green ball. The two balls roll off the edge of the table simultaneously. The red ball hits the ground

(A) before the green ball.

(B) at the same time as the green ball, but the red ball lands four times as far from the table as the green ball.

(D) at the same time as the green ball, but the red ball lands twice as far from the table as the green ball.

Problem 9:

You have two electrically neutral objects: a cotton shirt and a plastic box. You touch them together without rubbing and then carefully separate them. As a result of this contact,

(A) both objects will remain electrically neutral because there was no static friction.

(B) one object will have a positive charge and the other will have a negative charge.

(D) both objects will remain electrically neutral because there was no sliding friction.

Problem 10:

When you toss your basketball onto a bookshelf, it bounces off the wall at the back of the shelf and soon falls to the floor. Getting the ball to stay on the shelf is almost impossible because the ball is unable to transfer

(A) momentum to the wall or shelf.

(B) velocity to the wall or shelf.

(D) mass to the wall or shelf.

Problem 11:

You and your friends are riding street luges — essentially sit-down skateboards — down a hill. There are two paths from the top of the hill to the bottom: both are smooth ramps, but one is twice as long as the other. You take the short ramp and your friend takes the long ramp. Neglecting friction and air resistance,

(A) you accelerate twice as quickly as your friend, but your speeds are the same at the bottom of the hill.

(B) you and your friend accelerate equally, but when you are both at the bottom of the hill, your speed is greater than your friend's speed.

(C) you accelerate slightly less than twice as quickly as your friend, but your speeds are the same at the bottom of the hill.

(D) you accelerate slightly less than twice as quickly as your friend, but when you are both at the bottom of the hill, your speed is greater than your friend's speed.

Problem 12:

Your hairdryer is designed to operate properly on 120 V electric power. If you mistakenly plug it into a 230 V electric power outlet in Europe, it will carry

(A) about twice as much electric current and receive about twice as much power.

(B) about twice as much electric current and receive about four times as much power.

(D) about four times as much electric current and receive about four times as much power.

Problem 13:

You walk on a carpet and accumulate a large static charge. You touch a metal pot that's resting on an insulating plastic countertop and transfer some of your charge to the pot. When you remove your hand from the pot, the pot's charge is

(A) on its outer surface.

(B) distributed throughout the metal.

(D) on both its outer and inner surfaces.

Problem 14:

A transformer has 100 turns in its primary coil and 50 turns in its secondary coil. If you plug the primary coil into a 120 volt AC electrical outlet, the secondary coil will supply

(A) 70 volt AC electric power

(B) 170 volt AC electric power

(D) 60 volt AC electric power.

Problem 15:

You walk on a carpet and accumulate a large static charge. If you reach out to a doorknob with your finger, you'll receive a strong shock. Instead, you reach out to the doorknob with a sharp metal needle in your hand, pointing that needle toward the doorknob. As the needle moves toward the doorknob, you

(A) an extra-strong shock.

(B) receive no shock at all.

(D) a weak shock.

Problem 16:

To transmit electric power through extremely long transmission lines with maximum energy efficiency, you should send that power as

(A) a small electric current at a small voltage difference.

(B) a small electric current at a large voltage difference.

(D) a large electric current at a large voltage difference.

Problem 17:

Your heavy backpack hangs from a hook in the middle of your closet door and it affects the door's motion. The backpack

(A) makes it easier to change the door's angular velocity.

(B) increases the door's angular velocity.

(D) makes it harder to change the door's angular velocity.

Problem 18:

Which of the following has/have a magnetic field?

(A) An electron and an electric current.

(B) An electrically polarized ball.

(D) An electric charge and an electric current.

Problem 19:

You watch your friend ride upward in a glass elevator at constant velocity. He is holding a heavy package in his hands. From your perspective, he is doing

(A) positive work on the package.

(B) negative work on the package.

(D) zero work on the package because the package is stationary in his hands.

Problem 20:

The car you are driving skids off the road in bad weather and collides with a tree head on. Fortunately, the airbag inflates and protects your head from injury. By coming to a stop in the airbag instead of on the steering wheel, your head transferred

(A) the same amount of momentum to the car but over a longer period of time and with a smaller force.

(B) more momentum to the car but with a smaller force.

(D) the same amount of momentum to the car in the same period of time but with a smaller force

Problem 21:

You're doing laundry and there is a positively charged sock stuck to a negatively charge shirt. As you pull them apart, the voltage difference between them

(A) increases.

(B) stays the same because voltage is conserved.

(D) stays the same because electric charge is conserved.

Problem 22:

You're sitting still on a bale of hay at the back of a motionless wagon. A tractor suddenly jerks the wagon forward and you find yourself on the ground behind it. You're no longer on the wagon because

(A) of your weight--you are not as heavy as the wagon, so you accelerated more quickly than it.

(B) of your momentum--the wagon pushed you backward and gave you backward momentum.

(D) of your inertia--the wagon accelerated out from under you.

Problem 23:

You are riding an escalator in a store and are moving uphill from the 3rd floor to the 4th floor at constant velocity. The force that the escalator is exerting on your feet is directed

(A) straight up and is equal in amount to your weight.

(B) uphill and is equal in amount to your weight.

(D) uphill and is smaller in amount than your weight.

Problem 24:

When you connect an electromagnet to a source of alternating current, its magnetization reverses direction repeatedly. An electric charge near that AC electromagnet

(A) experiences zero force because the AC electromagnet's magnetic field averages to zero.

(B) experiences zero force because it is not affected by magnetic fields.

(D) experiences a force because the AC electromagnet's changing magnetic field produces an electric field.

Problem 25:

A skateboarder rolls swiftly up the side of a giant bowl and flies high into the air. While the skateboarder is the air above the bowl and neglecting any effects due to the air, the skateboarder's

(A) momentum is constant.

(B) velocity is constant.

(D) angular momentum is constant.

Problem 26:

If you put a magnetic compass in a uniform magnetic field, the compass needle will experience a

(A) force in the direction opposite the magnetic field.

(B) force in the direction of the magnetic field.

(D) torque unless the needle is aligned with the magnetic field or aligned opposite the magnetic field.

Problem 27:

In contrast to a permanent magnet, a piece of pure iron

(A) is non-magnetic and cannot be magnetized.

(B) can be magnetized by external influences but will spontaneously demagnetize when it's left alone.

(D) can only have north poles.

Problem 28:

The voltage difference between the two ends of a metal wire is proportional to

(A) 1 divided by the current passing through that wire.

(B) the net charge of that wire.

(D) 1 divided by the net charge of that wire.

Problem 29:

A wind turbine is spinning clockwise at a constant angular velocity and its generator is producing electric power. The wind exerts a clockwise torque on the turbine

(A) and the turbine exerts a torque half that large on the generator.

(B) so the net torque on the turbine is clockwise.

(D) and the turbine exerts a torque twice that large on the generator.

Problem 30:

You are building a decorative mobile — a complicated sculpture that hangs from a single string — and you want it to balance. You should attach the string to the sculpture's center of gravity so that the sculpture will

(A) have a constant angular acceleration.

(B) have as large a rotational mass as possible.

(D) experience zero torque due to gravity.

Problem 31:

A battery charger recharges a battery by

(A) removing positive charges from the battery's positive terminal and negative charges from its negative terminal.

(B) connecting a wire between the battery's positive terminal and its negative terminal.

(D) pushing current through the battery from its positive terminal to its negative terminal.

Problem 32:

You insert the two-pronged plug a toaster into an ordinary AC electrical outlet and turn the toaster on. As the toaster is operating, the voltage difference between the two prongs

(A) alternates between positive and negative, but the current flowing through the toaster remains constant.

(B) remains constant and the current flowing through the toaster remains constant.

(D) alternates between positive and negative, and the current flowing through the toaster reverses directions repeatedly.

Problem 33:

When the wheel of a bicycle is rolling on the pavement, it is experiencing

(A) sliding friction and the pavement may be exerting a horizontal force on the wheel.

(B) static friction and the pavement is exerting zero horizontal force on the wheel.

(D) sliding friction and the pavement is exerting zero horizontal force on the wheel.

Problem 34:

Running on soft dry sand is exhausting, so you switch to running on hard wet sand. The hard wet sand takes less energy from you because

(A) it doesn't move downward as you push downward on it, so you do almost zero work on it.

(B) it stops the downward motion of your foot faster and thus absorbs less of your momentum.

(D) it pushes up on your foot just as hard as your foot pushes on it, unlike the soft dry sand.

Problem 35:

In a famous ice skating trick, a skater begins spinning with her arms out and then pulls her arms tightly against her body. She is then spinning extremely fast on the tip of one skate. Her angular velocity increases because her angular momentum

(A) is constant but her rotational mass decreases.

(B) is constant but her momentum decreases.

(D) increases but her rotational mass remains constant.

Problem 36:

If you carry positive charge from a region of high voltage to a region of low voltage, that charge will

(A) become a smaller positive charge as a result of that move.

(B) become negative charge as a result of that move.

(D) do negative work on you during that move.

Problem 37:

A man climbs out of his car just as his wife is about to insert the gasoline pump nozzle into its tank. The car had been electrically neutral, but the man walks away with a huge amount of positive charge on his wool sweater. The nozzle is electrically connected to the entire earth. The electric field in the space between the car and the gasoline nozzle points toward

(A) the nozzle's left.

(B) the nozzle's right.

(D) the car.

Problem 38:

When you supply the primary coil of a transformer with alternating current from the power company and connect the secondary coil of that transformer to a lightbulb, the lightbulb lights up. The transformer is transferring

(A) electric charge from the primary circuit to the secondary circuit.

(B) power from the primary circuit to the secondary circuit.

(D) both current and voltage from the primary circuit to the secondary circuit.

Problem 39:

You've just finished the eighth 300-page book for your anthropology class and you toss it across your dorm room to the bookshelf. After the book leaves your hand and neglecting any effects due to the air, the net force on the book while it is in the air is

(A) downward and forward (toward the bottom of the bookshelf).

(B) directly downward.

(D) directly forward (toward the bookshelf).

Problem 40:

You have two "alkaline" batteries, one is a small AAA battery and the other is a large D battery. Compared to the AAA battery, the D battery provides

(A) a larger voltage difference between its terminals and it can pump more charge before it runs out of energy.

(B) a larger voltage difference between its terminals but it can pump the same amount of charge before it runs out of energy.

(D) the same voltage difference between its terminals but it can pump more charge before it runs out of energy.