Solving Frictionless Snow Physics Problem - How Far from Ramp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter feedmeister
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Frictionless
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
1 reply · 9K views
feedmeister
Messages
22
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


It's been a great day of new, frictionless snow. Julie starts at the top of the 60 ^\circ slope shown in the figure. View Figure At the bottom, a circular arc carries her through a 90 ^\circ turn, and she then launches off a 3.0-m-high ramp.
How far is her touchdown point from the base of the ramp?

knight_Figure_10_50.jpg

Homework Equations


[tex](1/2)mv_i^2 + mgh_i = (1/2)mv_f^2 + mgh_f[/tex]

The Attempt at a Solution



I set mgh = 1/2 mv^2 + mgh
m(9.8)(25)=.5m(v^2) + m(9.8)(3)
I then got 4.08 m/s as the final velocity. But how do I figure out how far it goes if I don't know the acceleration or time?

Thanks,
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Once the skier leaves the ramp, the rest is a ballistics problem. You found the speed at which they fly off; what is the angle to the horizontal at which they are launched? How do you figure out what happens to the skier after that?