CUMULATIVE SAT - RELATIVE MOTION - JUNIOR STAR & SPARK

1) To a man walking at 5 kilometres per hour (kph) rain appears to fall vertically, and when he doubles his speed it
appears to make an angle of 300 with the vertical. Find the actual velocity of the rain. In what direction will rain
appear to fall if the man suddenly turns about in the first case?

2) A man wants to cross a river 500 m wide. His rowing speed in still water is 3 kph. the river flows at a speed of
2 kph. If the man's walking speed on the shore is 5 kph, (a) find the path he should take to get to the point directly
opposite to his starting point in the shortest time. (b) How long does it take?
3) Find the speed of two objects f, when they move uniformly towards each other, they get 4 m closer in every
second, and , when they move uniformly in the same direction with the original speeds, they get 4 mcloser in every
10 s.

4) Two bodies were thrown simultaneously from the same point: One, straight up, and, the other, at an angle of
1
  60 0 to the horizontal. The initial velocity of each body is equal to  o  25ms . Neglecting the air drag, find
the distance between the bodies t = 1.7 s later.
5) Two particles, 1 and 2, move with constant velocities 1 and  2 along two mutually perpendicular straight lines
towards the intersection 0. At the moment t = 0 the particles were located at the distances x1 and x 2 from the
point 0. How soon will the distance between the particles become the smallest? What is it equal to?

6) A pilot flies due east from A to B. The velocity of the aeroplane in air is  and the velocity of the air relative to the
ground is u. the distance between A and B is l and the aeroplane's air speed  is constant. In still air the time for
2l
the round trip is, obviously, t0  . Calculate the time for round trip in terms of t 0 , u and  if (a) the air velocity

is due east and (b) the air velocity is due north.
7) A ship is travelling due east at 10 km/hr. A ship heading 30° east of north is always due north fromthe first ship. The
speed of the second ship in km/hr is -
(A) 20 2 (B) 20 3 / 2 (C) 20 (D) 20/ 2

8) A car is going eastwards with a velocity of 8 m s–1. To the passengers in the car, a train appears to be moving north
wards with a velocity 15 m s–1. What is the actual velocity of the train?
(A) 7 ms–1 (B) 17 ms–1 (C) 23 ms–1 (D) None of the above

9) Shown in the figure are displacement time graphs of two particles P1 and P2. Their relative velocity:
(A) is zero (B) is non zero but constant
(C) continuously decreases. (D) continuously increases

10) Shown in the figure are the velocity time graphs of the two particles P1 and P2. Which of the
following statements about their relative motion is true?
Their relative velocity :
(A) is zero (B) is non-zero but constant
(C) continuously decreases (D) continuously increases

11) Two bodies move towards each other in a straight line at initial velocities v1 and v2 and
with constant accelerations a1 and a2 directed against the corresponding velocities at the
initial instant. What must be the maximum initial separation  max between the bodies for
which they meet during the motion?
12) The driver of a car travelling at a speed of 20 m/s, wishes to pass a truck that is moving with a constant speed
of 20 ms -1. The car’s maximum acceleration is 0.5 ms -2. Initially the vehicles are separated by 40m, and the
car pulls back into the truck’s lane after it is 40m ahead of the truck. the car is 3 m long and the truck 17 m.
a) How much time is required for the car to pass the truck?
b) What distance does the car travel during this time?
c) What is the final speed of the car, assuming its acceleration while passing the truck is constant?

13) A man is swimming in a lake in a direction of 30° East of North with a speed of 5 km/hr and a cyclist is going
on a road along the lake shore towards East at a speed of 10 km/hr. In what direction and with what speed
would the man appear to swim to the cyclist.

14) A motor boat has 2 throttle position on its engine. The high speed position propels the boat at 10 km hr-1 in
still water and the low position gives half the higher speed. The boat travels from its dock downstream on a
river with the throttle at low position and returns to its dock with throttle at high position. The return trip took
15 % longer

15) A motorboat is observed to travel 10 km hr–1 relative to the earth in the direction 37º north of east. If the velocity
of the boat due to the wind only is 2 km hr–1 westward and that due to the current only is 4 km hr–1 southward,
what is the magnitude and direction of the velocity of the boat due to its own power ?

16) A sailor in a boat, which is going due east with a speed of 8 m/s, observes that a submarine is heading
towards north at the speed of 12 m/s and sinking at a rate of 2 m/s. The commander of submarine observes
a helicopter ascending at a rate of 5 m/s and heading towards west with 4 m/s. Find the actual speed of the
helicopter and its speed with respect to boat.

17) A bomber plane moves due east at 60 km/h over a town X at a cetrain time. Five minutes later an interceptor
plane sets off from the station Y which is 40 km due south of x and files 370 east of north. If both maintain
their courses, find the velocity with which the interceptor must fly in order to strike the bomber.

18) If the distance between two moving points P and Q at any time be a, if Vr be their relative velocity and u and
v be the components of Vr along PQ in the direction of PQ decreasing and perpendicular to PQ, show that
av au
the distance between them when they are nearest is Vr
and that the time taken to arrive closest is V 2 .
r

19) A person P sitting on a wooden block (which does not move relative to water) in a flowing river sees two
swimmers A and B. A and B both have constant speed vm relative to water. P observes that A starts from one
point of the river bank and appears to move perpendicular to the river flow. P also observes that B starts
from some point on the other bank at the same time and moves downstream. The width of the river is ' d ' and
it flows with velocity vr. If A and B both reach a point at the same time, than find the initial separation
between A and B.
20) An airplane has a speed of 80 km/hr, in still air. It is flying so that it is at all time directly above north-south highway.
It gets a wireless message from the ground station that a wind is blowing at a speed of 60 km/hr, without disclosing
the direction of the wind. The pilot observes that his speed continues to be 100 km/hr north, with respect to the
ground in spite of the wind. Find
(a) the direction of the wind with respect to north
(b) the angle between the axis of the plane and the highway.

21) A vertical wind screen of a car is made up of 2 parts, where the upper one A is 20 cm vertically long and
covers the top 5 cm of the lower piece B (see fig.). The upper one is hinged at the top so that it can be
 opened outward, inclining to the vertical. The car is running on the horizontal road at 60 km hr-1 in the rain
which is falling vertically at 10 3 km hr-1. Find the maximum angle, through which the upper part A can be
opened outward, such that the rain drops do not enter the car.
1
22) An airplane pilot sets a compass course due west and maintains an air speed of 240 km. hr–1. After flying for hr,,
2
he finds himself over a town that is 150 km west and 40 km south of his starting point.
(a) Find the wind velocity, in magnitude and direction.
(b) If the wind velocity were 120 km. hr–1 due south, in what direction should the pilot
set his course in order to travel due west ? Take the same air speed of 240 km. hr–1.

23) A submarine sights a steamer proceeding on a due east course. The submarine is proceeding
on a due south-west to north-east course at 20 2 km/hr and the steamer bears north-
west of the submarine all the while. The submarine stops when it is 10 2 km from the ship, and after a short
interval, fires a torpedo whose velocity is 60 km/hr in a direction due north. How long after stopping must the
torpedo be fired to make a hit ?
24) A ship A is travelling due east at 10 km/hr at 9 AM it is 20 2 km south-west of another ship B. If B travels at 50
km/hr so as to intercept A in the least possible time, calculate (a) the direction in which B must travel (b) the time
it takes when the interception takes place.

25) In the figure shown A and B are two particles which start from rest. A has constant acceleration ' a ' in the
direction shown. B also increases its speed at a constant rate ' b ', but the direction of velocity is always
towards A. Find the time after which B meets A. Also find the total distance travelled by B. (b > a)

26) A ball starts falling with zero initial velocity on to a smoothe inclined plane forming an angle a  with the horizontal.
Having fallen the distance h, the ball rebounds elastically off the inclined plane. At what distance from the impact
point will the ball rebound for the second time?

27) A cannon and a target are 5-0 km apart on the same horizontal plane. How soon will the shell launched with
velocity 240 ms 1 reach the target? g  10ms 2 .
28) A cannon fires successively two shells with velocity 250 ms 1 at angles 600 and 450 with the horizontal in the same
vertical plane one after the other. What should be the interval between the firings so that
they may hit the same target simultaneously?

29) A body projected with the same velocity at two different angles covers the same horizontal
1
distance R. If t and t' are the two times of flight, prove that R gtt ' .
2
30) A body projected vertically upwards from A, the top of a tower reaches the ground in t1 seconds. If it is projected
vertically downwards from A with the same velocity, it reaches the ground in t2 seconds. If it falls freely from rest
at A, in what time does it reach the ground?
31) A particle projected with velocity 2 ag so that it just clears two walls, of equl height a, which are at a distance 2a
from each other. Show that the velocity of projection of 600 and that the latus-rectum of the path is 2a.
Answer Key

1) 10 kph at 300 with the vertical from behind; at 4906 from the front

2) He should head the boat at 115.40 with the stream. b) 12.7 min

1
3) 2.2 ms ; 1.8 ms 1 4) s   o t 2 1  sin    22m
to to
1 x 1   2 x 2 x   x 2 1 2
;
5) t min  2 2
;s min  1 2 6) 1  u 2 1  u
2
7) c
1   2 1 2   2 2  2 2
 V  V 
 1 2 
8) b 9) b 10) d 11)
2  a 1  a 2 
 

12) a) 20 s , b) 500 m , c) 30 m/s 13) 30º N of W at 5 3 km/hr.. 14) 3km/h

15) 10 2 km/hr, 45º N of E 16) 13 m/s, 13 m/s 17) 120 k/h

18) Show 19) 2d 20) (a) 53° (b) 37° 21) 60º

22) (a) 100 km/hr, 37° W of S (b) 30° N of W 23) 5 min.

2b b2 
24) (a) 37º W of S (b) 30 min. 25) t = , 26) 8 h sin 
b2  a 2 b2  a2

27) 41. 5 s or 24 s. 28) 11 s 29) Show

30) t1 t 2 31) Show