Answer:
The answer to the question is
At the instant she loses contact with the snowball, the angle (alpha) a radial line from the center of the snowball to the skier make with the vertical is 48.2 °
Explanation:
At the point where the skier loses contact with the snpwball we have the centripetal force given by
m·g·cos θ - N =
Where N = 0 at the point the skier leaves the snowball
That is
m·g·cos θ =
The height from which the skier drops from the snowball is given by
h = r - r·cosθ
Therefore the potential energy of the skier just before leaveing the snowball is
m·g·h = m·g·r·(1-cosθ)
From conservation of energy, the total energy of the skier is constant which means that is the potential energy is transformed to kinetic energy of the form
PE = KE That is
= m·g·r·(1-cosθ) or
= 2·m·g·(1-cosθ) Howerver since
m·g·cos θ = then we have
m·g·cos θ = 2·m·g·(1-cosθ) which gives
cosθ = 2·(1-cosθ) or 3·cosθ = 2
or cosθ = and θ = = 48.1896851 °
≈48.2 °