Thursday, November 8, 2012

Chapter 5 Energy Conceptual Questions

(4) (a) Can the kinetic energy of a system be negative? (b) Can the gravitational potential energy of a system be negative? Explain.

(8) Discuss whether any work is being done by each of the following agents and, if so, whether the work is positive or negative: (a) a chicken scratching the ground, (b) a person studying, (c) a crane lifting a bucket of concrete, (d) the force of gravity on the bucket in part (c), (e) the leg muscles of a person in the act of sitting down.

(10) The driver of a car slams on her brakes to avoid colliding with a deer crossing the highway.  What happens to the car's kinetic energy as it comes to rest?

(12) In most situations we have encountered in this chapter, frictional forces tend to reduce  the kinetic energy of an object.  However, frictional forces can sometimes increase an object's kinetic energy.  Describe a few situations in which friction causes an increase in kinetic energy.

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