Match That Free-Body Diagram

The Match That Free-Body Diagram Concept Builder is comprised of 12 situations in which a free-body diagram must be identified for a given physical situation. Learners give particular attention to the force type, the direction, and the relative strength of opposing forces in order to select the correct free-body diagram from a set of five choices. There are two levels of difficulty by which the student can progress through the Concept Builder. Those difficulty levels are differentiated as follows:
 

• Masters Level: Situations 1-6
• Wizard Level: Situations 1-12

There was no intent to include less complex situations among the Masters Level compared to the Wizard Level. The individual question difficulty is the same for each level. The added "difficulty" of the Wizard level is that it contains twice as many situations to analyze. The situations are shown below - complete with the five graph options.

The Physics Classroom grants teachers and other users the right to print these questions for private use. Users are also granted the right to copy the text and modify it for their own use. However, this document nor its graphics should not be uploaded to other servers for distribution to and/or display by others. The Physics Classroom website should remain the only website or server from which the document  and its graphics is distributed or displayed. We also provide a PDF that teachers can use under the same conditions. We have included a link to the PDF near the bottom of this page.

 

 
Read the description of the physical situation and tap on the diagram to select the free-body diagram that shows the correct type, direction, and relative strength of individual forces.
 
Question Group 1:
Question 1:
A book is at rest on a table.
 
 
 
Question 2:
A student is sitting in his chair watching a slide presentation.

 

 
Question Group 2:
Question 3:
A rope is used to pull a bucket of water upward out of a well at a constant speed.
 

 
 
Question 4:
A rope is used to lower a bucket of water downward into of a well at a constant speed.
 

 

 
Question Group 3:
Question 5:
A rightward-moving car skids to a stop (with locked wheels).
 

 
                                                                                                                                     
Question 6:
A leftward-moving car skids to a stop (with locked wheels).
 


 
Question Group 4:
Question 7:
A bundle of hay, attached to a truck by a rope, is moved across the dirt to the right at a constant speed.
 

 
 
 
Question 8:
A bundle of hay, attached to a truck by a rope, is moved across the dirt to the left at a constant speed.
 

 
 
 
Question Group 5:
Question 9:
A custodian pushes a crate to the right across the gym floor at a constant speed.
 

 
 
 
Question 10:
A custodian pushes a crate to the left across the gym floor at a constant speed.



 
Question Group 6:
Question 11:
A skydiver (with an un-opened parachute) is falling downward through the air at a constant speed.
 

 
 
Question 12:
A skydiver (with an un-opened parachute) is falling downward through the air at a constant speed.
 

 
 
 
 

 
Question Group 7:
Question 13:
A baseball is moving through the air, upward and rightward towards the peak of its trajectory. (Assume there is negligible air resistance.)
 


 
Question 14:
A baseball is moving through the air, upward and leftward towards the peak of its trajectory. (Assume there is negligible air resistance.)
   
 
 

 
Question Group 8:
Question 15:
A rightward moving sledder is slowing down as she glides across a patch of loosley-packed snow.  
 
 
Question 16:
A leftward moving sledder is slowing down as she glides across a patch of loosley-packed snow.

   


 
 
 
 

 
Question Group 9:
Question 17:
A ball is suspended motionless from the end of a string.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Question 18:
A book is suspended motionless from the end of a string.
 

 
 
Question Group 10:
Question 19:
A student pushes a box of books to the right across the bookstore floor at a constant speed.
 
 
 
 
 
Question 20:
A student pushes a box of books to the left across the bookstore floor at a constant speed.
 
 
 
 

 
Question Group 11:
Question 21:
A downward-moving skydiver maneuvers into a spread eagle position and momentarily slows down.
 

 
 
 
Question 22:
A downward-moving skydiver maneuvers into a pike position and momentarily speeds up.
 

 
 
 

 
Question Group 12:
Question 23:
A rightward-moving baseball player slows to a stop while sliding across the infield dirt.
   
 
 


Question 24:
A leftward-moving baseball player slows to a stop while sliding across the infield dirt.