AP Physics Multiple Choice Practice – Kinematics

Questions 1 – 3 relate to two objects that start at x = 0 at t = 0 and move in one dimension independently of one
another. Graphs, of the velocity of each object versus time are shown below

Object A Object B

1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0

1. Which object is farthest from the origin at t = 2 seconds.

2. Which object moves with constant non-zero acceleration?

3. Which object is in its initial position at t = 2 seconds?

4. The graph above shows the velocity versus time for an object moving in a straight line. At what time after
t = 0 does the object again pass through its initial position?
(A) 1 s (B) Between 1 and 2 s (C) 2 s (D) Between 2 and 3 s

5. A body moving in the positive x direction passes the origin at time t = 0. Between t = 0 and t = 1 second, the
body has a constant speed of 24 meters per second. At t = 1 second, the body is given a constant acceleration of
6 meters per second squared in the negative x direction. The position x of the body at t = 11 seconds is
(A) + 99m (B) + 36m (C) – 36 m (E) – 99 m

6. A diver initially moving horizontally with speed v dives off the edge of a vertical cliff and lands in the water a
distance d from the base of the cliff. How far from the base of the cliff would the diver have landed if the diver
initially had been moving horizontally with speed 2v?
(A) d (B) 2 d (C) 2d (D) 4d

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7. A projectile is fired with initial velocity vo at an angle 0 with the horizontal and follows the trajectory shown
above. Which of the following pairs of graphs best represents the vertical components of the velocity and
acceleration, v and a, respectively, of the projectile as functions of time t?

Questions 8-9

A ball is thrown and follows the parabolic path shown above. Air friction is negligible. Point Q is the highest
point on the path. Points P and R are the same height above the ground.

8. How do the speeds of the ball at the three points compare?

9. Which of the following diagrams best shows the direction of the acceleration of the ball at point P?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

10. The graph above represents position x versus time t for an object being acted on by a constant force. The
average speed during the interval between 1 s and 2 s is most nearly
(A) 2 m/s (B) 4 m/s (C) 5 m/s (D) 6 m/s

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Questions 11 – 12

At time t = 0, car X traveling with speed v0 passes car Y which is just starting to move. Both cars then travel on
two parallel lanes of the same straight road. The graphs of speed v versus time t for both cars are shown above.

11. Which of the following is true at time t = 20 seconds?

12. From time t = 0 to time t = 40 seconds, the areas under both curves are equal. Therefore, which of the
following is true at time t = 40 seconds?
(A) Car Y is behind car X. (B) Car Y is passing car X. (C) Car Y is in front of car X.
(d) Car X is accelerating faster than car Y.

13. Which of the following pairs of graphs shows the distance traveled versus time and the speed versus time for an
object uniformly accelerated from rest?
Distance Speed Distance Speed
Distance Speed
(A) (B)
(C)

t t t t
o o o o t
o
t
o
Distance Speed
(E)
(D)

t t
o o

14. Vectors V1 and V2 shown above have equal magnitudes. The vectors represent the velocities of an object at
times t1, and t2, respectively. The average acceleration of the object between time t1 and t2 was
(A) directed north (B) directed west (C) directed north of east (D) directed north of west

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15. The velocity of a projectile at launch has a horizontal component vh and a vertical component vv. Air resistance
is negligible. When the projectile is at the highest point of its trajectory, which of the following shows the
vertical and horizontal components of its velocity and the vertical component of its acceleration?
Vertical Horizontal Vertical
Velocity Velocity Acceleration
(A) vv vh 0
(B) 0 vh 0
(C) 0 0 g
(D) 0 vh g

16. The graph above shows the velocity v as a function of time t for an object moving in a straight line. Which of
the following graphs shows the corresponding displacement x as a function of time t for the same time interval?

17. A target T lies flat on the ground 3 m from the side of a building that is 10 m tall, as shown above. A student
rolls a ball off the horizontal roof of the building in the direction of the target. Air resistance is negligible. The
horizontal speed with which the ball must leave the roof if it is to strike the target is most nearly
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(A) 3/10 m/s (B) 2 m/s (C) m/s (D) 3 m/s
2

18. The graph above shows velocity v versus time t for an object in linear motion. Which of the following is a
possible graph of position x versus time t for this object?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

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19. A student is testing the kinematic equations for uniformly accelerated motion by measuring the time it takes for
light-weight plastic balls to fall to the floor from a height of 3 m in the lab. The student predicts the time to fall
using g as 9.80 m/s2 but finds the measured time to be 35% greater. Which of the following is the most likely
cause of the large percent error?
(A) The acceleration due to gravity is 70% greater than 9.80 m/s 2 at this location.
(B) The acceleration due to gravity is 70% less than 9.80 m/s 2 at this location.
(C) Air resistance increases the downward acceleration.
(D) The acceleration of the plastic balls is not uniform.

20. An object is thrown with velocity v from the edge of a cliff above level ground. Neglect air resistance. In order
for the object to travel a maximum horizontal distance from the cliff before hitting the ground, the throw should
be at an angle θ with respect to the horizontal of
(A) greater than 60° above the horizontal
(B) greater than 45° but less than 60° above the horizontal
(C) greater than zero but less than 45° above the horizontal
(D) greater than zero but less than 45° below the horizontal

21. Starting from rest at time t = 0, a car moves in a straight line with an acceleration given by the accompanying
graph. What is the speed of the car at t = 3 s?
(A) 1.0 m/s (B) 2.0 m/s (C) 6.0 m/s (D) 10.5 m/s

22. A child left her home and started walking at a constant velocity. After a time she stopped for a while and then
continued on with a velocity greater than she originally had. All of a sudden she turned around and walked very
quickly back home. Which of the following graphs best represents the distance versus time graph for her walk?

(A) (B) (C) (D)

23. A whiffle ball is tossed straight up, reaches a highest point, and falls back down. Air resistance is not negligible.
Which of the following statements are true?
I. The ball’s speed is zero at the highest point.
II. The ball’s acceleration is zero at the highest point.
III. The ball takes a longer time to travel up to the highest point than to fall back down.

(A) I only (B) II only (C) I & II only (D) I & III only

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24. Above is a graph of the distance vs. time for car moving along a road. According the graph, at which of the
following times would the automobile have been accelerating positively?
(A) 0, 20, 38, & 60 min. (B) 5, 12, 29, & 35 min. (C) 5, 29, & 57 min. (D) 12, 35, & 41 min.

25. A large beach ball is dropped from the ceiling of a school gymnasium to the floor about 10 meters below.
Which of the following graphs would best represent its velocity as a function of time? (do not neglect air
resistance)

(A) (B) (C) (D

Questions 26-27
A car starts from rest and accelerates as shown in the graph below.

26. At what time would the car be moving with the greatest velocity?
(B) 2 seconds (C) 4 seconds (D) 6 seconds (E) 8 seconds

27. At what time would the car be farthest from its original starting position?
(A) 2 seconds (B) 4 seconds (C) 6 seconds (D) 8 seconds

28. Which of the following sets of graphs might be the corresponding graphs of Position, Velocity, and
Acceleration vs. Time for a moving particle?
(A) (B) (C) (D)

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29. An object is thrown with a fixed initial speed v0 at various angles α relative to the horizon. At some constant
height h above the launch point the speed v of the object is measured as a function of the initial angle α. Which
of the following best describes the dependence of v on α? (Assume that the height h is achieved, and assume
that there is no air resistance.)
(A) v will increase monotonically with α.
(B) v will increase to some critical value vmax and then decrease.
(C) v will remain constant, independent of α.
(D) v will decrease to some critical value vmin and then increase.

30. The position vs. time graph for an object moving in a straight line is shown below. What is the instantaneous
velocity at t = 2 s?

(A) – 2 m/s (B) ½ m/s (C) 0 m/s (D) 2 m/s

31. Shown below is the velocity vs. time graph for a toy car moving along a straight line. What is the maximum
displacement from start for the toy car?

(A) 5 m (B) 6.5 m (C) 7 m (D) 7.5 m

32. An object is released from rest and falls a distance h during the first second of time. How far will it fall during
the next second of time?
(A) h (B) 2h (C) 3h (D) 4h

33. Two identical bowling balls A and B are each dropped from rest from the top of a tall tower as shown in the
diagram below. Ball A is dropped 1.0 s before ball B is dropped but both balls fall for some time before ball A
strikes the ground. Air resistance can be considered negligible during the fall. After ball B is dropped but before
ball A strikes the ground, which of the following is true?

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