A ski slope with kinetic friction coefficient 0.21 is 200 m long in the horizontal direction. If a person were to ski on this slope and stopped 100 m (in the horizontal direction) from the starting point, find the difference in height between those points!
Assumption : The ski slope can take any shape such that every point in the ski slope is lower than the starting point
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If we take a section of the slope with length d l and angle of inclination θ , we will find that the kinetic frictional force acting on an object with mass m on that slope section is : f = μ m g cos θ .
And since the height difference is caused by potential energy that is diminished by the frictional work, we can use the work - energy theorem :
∫ 0 L f d l = m g Δ h
μ m g ∫ 0 L cos θ d l = m g Δ h
μ ∫ 0 s d x = Δ h
Δ h = μ s = 2 1 0 m