Nonconservative work and a slide

[pttest]

Homework Statement

At a playground, a 21kg child plays on a slide that drops through a height of 2.4m . The child starts at rest at the top of the slide. On the way down, the slide does a nonconservative work of -376J on the child. What is the child's speed at the bottom of the slide?

Homework Equations

Change in Kinetic energy + change in potential energy = nonconservative work

The Attempt at a Solution

[0.5(21)(v^2 - 0)] + [(21) (9.8) (0 - 2.4^2)] = -376
Therefore v = 8.77m/s
But the answer is wrong. Could someone help ??/

Thanks in advance

 

[cepheid]

Your equation is wrong. It should be:

change in potential energy - nonconservative work = change in kinetic energy.

Can you see why? If there were no friction, ALL of the gravitational potential energy would be converted into kinetic energy. Since there is some friction, not all of the potential energy is converted. Some of it is wasted.

 

[JazzFusion]

You also have your calculations for 'change' wrong -

Should not be an ^2 in the PE term.

One more suggestion: Try doing the calculation once assuming there is no friction at all - then ALL the PE would be changed into KE. Now think: should the speed you calculate with friction be more or less than this value? This should help bracket your answer.