Question

Cole is riding a sled with initial speed of 5 m/s from west to east. the frictional force of 50 n exists due west. the mass of the sled and cole together is 100 kg. how far does the sled go before stopping? use the formula: a= (vf2-vi2)/2d regarding the relation among acceleration a, final velocity vf, initial velocity vi and the traveled distance of an object
d.

Answer 1

We can calculate the acceleration of Cole due to friction using Newton's second law of motion:
$F=ma$
where $F=-50 N$ is the frictional force (with a negative sign, since the force acts against the direction of motion) and m=100 kg is the mass of Cole and the sled. By rearranging the equation, we find
$a= \frac{F}{m}= \frac{-50 N}{100 kg}=-0.5 m/s^2$

Now we can use the following formula to calculate the distance covered by Cole and the sled before stopping:
$a= \frac{v_f^2-v_i^2}{2d}$
where
$v_f=0$ is the final speed of the sled
$v_i=5 m/s$ is the initial speed
$d$ is the distance covered

By rearranging the equation, we find d:
$d= \frac{v_f^2-v_i^2}{2a}= \frac{-(5 m/s)^2}{2 \cdot (-0.5 m/s^2)}=25 m$