Force and acceleration on a waterslide

[Alex no Sekai]

Homework Statement

I am investigating how much force (F) a person of a certain mass (m) would need to go down one of the world's tallest waterslides, "Killimanjaro" for an important maths project.

Waterslide height: 49 m
Maximum speed: 25.28 m/s

Homework Equations

I feel like I am not taking enough factors into account. Should I look at the water's drag force, using the equation:

R = 0.5 p C A v^2
R = drag force
p = density
C = coefficient of drag
A = acceleration
v = velocity

The Attempt at a Solution

I am sorry that this is messy however, I tried to find the acceleration by rearranging the "suvat" equation v=u+at. I got 6.52 ms^-2.

Next, I placed my value for a (6.52) in the equaiton F=ma (force = mass x acceleration). So that I can find any force, I just need to add the mass of the person within the equation. I think that I need to also take the drag force from the water into account though.

 

[person123]

how much force (F) a person of a certain mass (m) would need

What exactly do you mean by this?

 

[Alex no Sekai]

What exactly do you mean by this?

I am sorry that I was unclear. I am trying to see how much force a person would exert whilst going down the slide, taking into account their mass.

 

[person123]

how much force a person would exert

How much force a person would exert or the net force exerted on the person?

 

[Alex no Sekai]

How much force a person would exert or the net force exerted on the person?

How much force a person would exert is what I am looking for.

 

[person123]

How much force a person would exert is what I am looking for.

Exert on what?

 

[Alex no Sekai]

Exert on what?

Oh I forgot to mention that, sorry! It would be how much force that person exerts on the slide.

 

[person123]

Oh I forgot to mention that, sorry! It would be how much force that person exerts on the slide.

In which direction—normal to the slide?

 

[Alex no Sekai]

In which direction—normal to the slide?

Yes. Thank you for trying to help me!

 

[person123]

Yes. Thank you for trying to help me!

All right. In that case, the person's final velocity wouldn't be much help because that's affected by friction, which acts parallel to the slide.

It's very easy to find the force applied on the slide due to gravity as long as you have the slide's slope.

 

[Alex no Sekai]

All right. In that case, the person's final velocity wouldn't be much help because that's affected by friction, which acts parallel to the slide.

It's very easy to find the force applied on the slide due to gravity as long as you have the slide's slope.

Thank you very much, this problem makes much more sense now!