Texas Civil Service Exam Mechanical and Spatial Aptitude 2

Question 1

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?

Accepted Answer

25 pounds

Answer

Using the lever principle: Force × 8 = 100 × 2, so Force = 200/8 = 25 pounds.

Question 2

Which type of gear arrangement reverses the direction of rotation between the input and output shaft?

Accepted Answer

Spur gear pair

Answer

A spur gear pair (two meshing spur gears) causes the output gear to rotate in the opposite direction from the input gear.

Question 3

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?

Accepted Answer

12

Answer

Edge cubes (not corners) have exactly two painted faces; a 3×3×3 cube has 12 edge positions.

Question 4

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?

Accepted Answer

It doubles

Answer

By the continuity equation, if area is halved and flow rate is constant, velocity must double.

Question 5

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?

Accepted Answer

A rectangle

Answer

Viewed from the front, the bent L-shape appears as a flat rectangle because the bend goes away from you.

Texas Civil Service Exam Practice Test