Question

An escalator carries you from one level to the next in an airport terminal. the upper level is 4.3 m above the lower level, and the length of the escalator is 7.5 m . assume that your mass is 64 kg . you may want to review ( pages 289 - 292) . part a how much work does the up escalator do on you when you ride it from the lower level to the upper level?

Answer 1

2700 Joules The important value here is how high the escalator moved you. The actual length doesn't matter. All it affects is how fast the work is performed upon you. So the escalator lifted 64 kg against gravity for 4.3m. So: 4.3 m * 9.8 m/s^2 * 64 kg = 2696.96 kg*m^2/s^2 = 2696.96 Joules Rounding to 2 significant figures gives 2700 Joules