Mechanical and Spatial Aptitude Flashcards
7 cards from real Texas Civil Service Exam practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Mechanical and Spatial Aptitude flashcards as text
A lever has a fulcrum placed 2 feet from a 100-pound load and 8 feet from the applied force. How much force is needed to lift the load?
Answer: 25 pounds
Using the lever principle: Force × 8 = 100 × 2, so Force = 200/8 = 25 pounds.
Which type of gear arrangement reverses the direction of rotation between the input and output shaft?
Answer: Spur gear pair
A spur gear pair (two meshing spur gears) causes the output gear to rotate in the opposite direction from the input gear.
A cube is painted red on all sides and then cut into 27 equal smaller cubes. How many small cubes have exactly two red faces?
Answer: 12
Edge cubes (not corners) have exactly two painted faces; a 3×3×3 cube has 12 edge positions.
Water flows through a pipe at 4 gallons per minute. If the pipe narrows so its cross-section is halved, what happens to the flow velocity?
Answer: It doubles
By the continuity equation, if area is halved and flow rate is constant, velocity must double.
A flat piece of metal is bent as shown: top view looks like an 'L'. When viewed from the front, what shape would you see?
Answer: A rectangle
Viewed from the front, the bent L-shape appears as a flat rectangle because the bend goes away from you.
A pulley system uses one fixed and one movable pulley. If you pull the rope 4 feet, how far does the load rise?
Answer: 2 feet
A single movable pulley provides a mechanical advantage of 2, so the load rises half the distance the rope is pulled.
Which of the following best describes how a torque wrench works?
Answer: It applies and measures rotational force
A torque wrench measures and limits the rotational force (torque) applied to a fastener to prevent over-tightening.