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Physics Homework Help?
A 21.0-kg child descends a slide 2.10 m high and reaches the bottom with a speed of 1.50 m/s .
How much thermal energy due to friction was generated in this process?
1 Answer
- Anonymous6 years ago
The thermal energy due to friction is going to be the potential energy at the top of the slide minus the kinetic energy at the bottom of the slide*:
ΔE = PE(top) - KE(bottom) = mgh - (1/2)mv² = (21.0)(9.80)(2.10) - (1/2)(21.0)(1.50)² = 409 J
* In reality, there are other sources of energy loss, but you can assume they're negligible for the purposes of this problem.