Merry Mechanics
If Rudolph (mass 100 kg) accelerates Santa’s sleigh from rest to 10 m/s in 4 seconds, what net force is required?
250 N
With the sleigh overflowing with infinite holiday gifts, Rudolph simply channels all his Christmas spirit to get Santa soaring through the winter sky—no number can capture the magic he musters!
Identify the missing component that would allow a string of Christmas lights to shine at half brightness.
A resistor in series
It’s missing a little “Holiday Elf Resistor”! Rumor has it that this tiny helper sneaks in between the wires to make the lights twinkle softly, perfect for that cozy half-brightness glow!
Santa’s workshop is at -20°C. If the elves heat the workshop to 20°C, by what factor does the average kinetic energy of air molecules change?
1.16
Those air molecules aren’t just warming up—they’re doing a merry little jig, dancing from a frosty North Pole chill to a toasty workshop waltz! It’s all part of the elves’ holiday magic.
If holiday lights have a wavelength of 600 nm in air, what happens to this wavelength when they pass into water (n = 1.33)
450 nm
Once those festive rays take a polar plunge beneath the surface, they tighten up their winter scarves and glow with a slightly crisper holiday hue—still cheerful, just a bit more snug under the waves!
If Santa traveled close to the speed of light, which effect explains why less time passes for him than for observers on Earth?
time dilation
Santa’s sleigh doesn’t just fly—it bends time! While Earthlings wait for midnight, Santa zips through the night so fast that even the clocks can’t keep up. It’s how he delivers gifts to the whole world in just one night! 🎅✨
A 2-kg gift box slides across a frictionless ice rink. If it starts from rest and reaches 5 m/s in 5 seconds, what is its kinetic energy?
25 J
The box may only weigh a couple of kilograms, but once it’s stuffed with holiday spirit, it’s zipping across the ice like a tiny sleigh all on its own!
A strand of holiday lights draws 0.5 A from a 120 V outlet. How many 10 Ω bulbs are in series?
24
Looks like they’re “bulbing” up to match the days before Christmas—24 glowing little elves standing shoulder to shoulder, ready to brighten the holiday spirit!
If 1 kg of hot cocoa cools from 80°C to 30°C, and the specific heat is 4.2 kJ/kg·K, how much heat is lost?
210 kJ
All that festive warmth slipped away into the chilly winter air, leaving our cup of cocoa just a little less toasty and a bit more ready for marshmallows!
Which principle explains the bright holiday sparkle from thin tinsel films?
principle of interference
It’s pure holiday magic! Those thin tinsel films catch the light just right, scattering festive sparkles as if each strand were sprinkled with elf dust straight from Santa’s workshop! ✨
In a nuclear fusion reaction that powers a ‘star on top of the tree,’ if 0.003 kg of mass is converted to energy, how much energy is released?
2.7*10^14 J
That star isn’t just shining—it’s blazing with enough holiday cheer to light up every tree on Earth and maybe a few in the North Pole galaxy! 🌟