Question

Occasionally, people can survive falling large distances if the surface they land on is soft enough. During a traverse of Eiger's infamous Nordvand, mountaineer Carlos Ragone's rock anchor gave way and he plummeted 516 feet to land in snow. Amazingly, he suffered only a few bruises and a wrenched shoulder. Assuming that his impact left a hole in the snow 3.6 ft deep, estimate the magnitude of his average acceleration as he slowed to a stop (that is while he was impacting the snow).

Answer 1

Answer:

4611.58 ft/s²

Explanation:

t = Time taken

u = Initial velocity

v = Final velocity

s = Displacement

a = Acceleration due to gravity = 32.174 ft/s²

Equation of motion

$v^2-u^2=2as\\\Rightarrow v=\sqrt{2as+u^2}\\\Rightarrow v=\sqrt{2\times 32.174\times 516+0^2}\\\Rightarrow v=182.218\ ft/s$

$v^2-u^2=2as\\\Rightarrow a=\frac{v^2-u^2}{2s}\\\Rightarrow a=\frac{0^2-182.218^2}{2\times 3.6}\\\Rightarrow a=-4611.58\ ft/s^2$

Magnitude of acceleration while stopping is 4611.58 ft/s²