NUMS — Medical & Dental Entry Test

NUMS Physics — Mechanics: Motion, Force, Work and Energy (Set 1)

Take the NUMS Physics — Mechanics: Motion, Force, Work and Energy (Set 1): 30 multiple-choice questions (40 minutes) with instant scoring and a full…

What this test covers

30 NUMS Physics

Sample questions with answers

The first 5 questions of this test, with the correct answer and explanation.

Q1. A physiotherapist pulls a patient's leg with a traction force of 3 N horizontally and 4 N vertically at the same point. What is the magnitude of the resultant force?
- A. 7 N
- B. 1 N
- C. 5 N ✓
- D. 12 N
Answer: C. 5 N
Explanation: The forces are perpendicular, so R = √(3² + 4²) = √25 = 5 N.
Q2. A javelin thrower wants maximum horizontal range on level ground (ignoring air resistance). At what angle above the horizontal should the javelin be released?
- A. 30°
- B. 90°
- C. 45° ✓
- D. 60°
Answer: C. 45°
Explanation: Range R = v² sin 2θ / g is greatest when sin 2θ = 1, i.e. θ = 45°.
Q3. A stone is dropped from rest from a bridge 20 m above a river. How long does it take to reach the water? (g = 10 m s⁻²)
- A. 4 s
- B. 1.4 s
- C. √2 s
- D. 2 s ✓
Answer: D. 2 s
Explanation: h = ½gt², so t = √(2h/g) = √(2 × 20/10) = √4 = 2 s.
Q4. On a velocity–time graph of a moving ambulance, what does the area enclosed between the graph line and the time axis represent?
- A. Momentum
- B. Acceleration
- C. Average force
- D. Displacement ✓
Answer: D. Displacement
Explanation: Area under v–t = ∫v dt = displacement; the slope of the graph gives acceleration.
Q5. A car moving at 20 m s⁻¹ brakes with a uniform deceleration of 5 m s⁻². What distance does it travel before stopping?
- A. 20 m
- B. 80 m
- C. 100 m
- D. 40 m ✓
Answer: D. 40 m
Explanation: v² = u² − 2as gives 0 = 400 − 10s, so s = 40 m.

The other 25 questions

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Q6. A 0.05 kg bullet leaves a 4 kg rifle with a speed of 400 m s⁻¹. What is the recoil speed of the rifle?
- A. 50 m s⁻¹
- B. 8 m s⁻¹
- C. 5 m s⁻¹
- D. 0.5 m s⁻¹
Q7. A 0.2 kg cricket ball hits a bat at 10 m s⁻¹ and rebounds along the same line at 10 m s⁻¹. What impulse does the bat give the ball?
- A. 0 N s
- B. 2 N s
- C. 20 N s
- D. 4 N s
Q8. A moving snooker ball makes a head-on perfectly elastic collision with an identical ball at rest. What happens immediately afterwards?
- A. Both balls move together with half the initial velocity
- B. The first ball stops and the second moves off with the first ball's velocity
- C. The first ball rebounds with the same speed
- D. Both balls move forward with equal speeds
Q9. A box is at rest on a ramp. As the angle of the ramp is slowly increased (before the box slides), how does the static friction force on the box change?
- A. It increases, since it equals mg sin θ
- B. It becomes zero
- C. It decreases, since it equals mg cos θ
- D. It stays constant at μmg
Q10. A nurse pushes a trolley 4 m along a corridor with a force of 10 N directed at 60° to the floor. How much work is done by this force?
- A. 40 J
- B. 34.6 J
- C. 10 J
- D. 20 J
Q11. If the speed of a runner doubles, what happens to her kinetic energy?
- A. It becomes eight times
- B. It becomes four times
- C. It stays the same
- D. It doubles
Q12. A hospital lift raises a 60 kg patient through 10 m in 20 s at steady speed. What is the minimum power delivered? (g = 10 m s⁻²)
- A. 600 W
- B. 300 W
- C. 120 W
- D. 6000 W
Q13. A 50 kg student climbs a staircase 3 m high. By how much does her gravitational potential energy increase? (g = 10 m s⁻²)
- A. 150 J
- B. 500 J
- C. 1500 J
- D. 15000 J
Q14. Skeletal muscle converts chemical energy to mechanical work with about 25% efficiency. How much chemical energy must be used to do 100 J of useful work?
- A. 125 J
- B. 75 J
- C. 400 J
- D. 25 J
Q15. A laboratory centrifuge spins a sample at an angular speed of 100 rad s⁻¹ at a radius of 0.1 m. What is the centripetal acceleration of the sample?
- A. 10 m s⁻²
- B. 10000 m s⁻²
- C. 100 m s⁻²
- D. 1000 m s⁻²
Q16. A dental drill turbine rotates at 600 revolutions per minute. What is its angular velocity?
- A. 60 rad s⁻¹
- B. 20π rad s⁻¹
- C. 600π rad s⁻¹
- D. 10π rad s⁻¹
Q17. A force applied to a door produces the greatest turning effect when it is applied:
- A. At the hinge, in any direction
- B. Near the hinge, perpendicular to the door
- C. At the edge farthest from the hinge, perpendicular to the door
- D. At the edge, parallel to the door's surface
Q18. A body is in complete (translational and rotational) equilibrium. Which condition must hold?
- A. Both the net force and the net torque on it are zero
- B. Its velocity must be zero
- C. Only the net torque is zero
- D. Only the net force is zero
Q19. A figure skater spinning with arms outstretched pulls her arms in close to her body and spins faster. Which principle explains this?
- A. Newton's first law of linear motion
- B. Conservation of angular momentum
- C. Conservation of linear momentum
- D. Conservation of mechanical energy only
Q20. A planet has twice the mass and twice the radius of Earth. What is the acceleration due to gravity at its surface? (g = Earth's value)
- A. 2g
- B. g/4
- C. g
- D. g/2
Q21. How is the escape velocity from Earth's surface related to the orbital speed of a satellite skimming just above the surface?
- A. They are equal
- B. Escape velocity = √2 × orbital speed
- C. Escape velocity = ½ × orbital speed
- D. Escape velocity = 2 × orbital speed
Q22. Astronauts in an orbiting space station feel weightless. What is the correct explanation?
- A. They are beyond the pull of Earth's gravity
- B. Earth's gravity is zero at that height
- C. They and the station are falling freely together around the Earth
- D. The station's engines cancel gravity
Q23. A red blood cell sinks slowly through plasma at a constant terminal velocity. According to Stokes' law, the viscous drag on a sphere is F = 6πηrv. If the radius were doubled (same density), the terminal velocity would:
- A. Halve
- B. Become four times as large
- C. Double
- D. Stay the same
Q24. Blood flows through an artery that narrows to half its original diameter because of plaque. Assuming steady incompressible flow, by what factor does the blood speed increase in the narrow region?
- A. 8
- B. 2
- C. 16
- D. 4
Q25. Blood (density 1060 kg m⁻³) in a standing person's foot is 0.5 m below the level of the heart. How much greater is the blood pressure in the foot because of this height difference? (g = 10 m s⁻²)
- A. 5300 Pa
- B. 53000 Pa
- C. 2120 Pa
- D. 530 Pa
Q26. A fast-moving fluid has lower pressure than slower-moving fluid at the same height. This explains how a perfume atomiser draws liquid up the tube. Which principle is this?
- A. Hooke's law
- B. Pascal's principle
- C. Archimedes' principle
- D. Bernoulli's principle
Q27. A physical quantity has the dimensional formula [ML²T⁻³]. Which quantity is it?
- A. Impulse
- B. Pressure
- C. Energy
- D. Power
Q28. A blood sample's mass is recorded as 0.00450 kg. How many significant figures does this reading have?
- A. 3
- B. 5
- C. 2
- D. 6
Q29. The radius of a spherical cell is measured with an uncertainty of 2%. What is the percentage uncertainty in its calculated volume?
- A. 4%
- B. 8%
- C. 2%
- D. 6%
Q30. A 2 kg trolley initially at rest is acted on by forces that do 9 J of net work on it. What is its final speed?
- A. 4.5 m s⁻¹
- B. 3 m s⁻¹
- C. 9 m s⁻¹
- D. 1.5 m s⁻¹