Ok...so I'm doing a physics problem for homewrk and a part of this question I can't figure out.

A professional skier reaches a speed of 37 m/s on a 24 degree ski slope. Ignoring friction, what was the minimum distance along the slope the skier would have had to travel, starting from rest?

How do I get acceleration with gravity and the 24 degree slope?

 

Instead of a skier going down a slope, turn the problem into a box down a ramp at 24 degrees. The box has one force acting on it, gravity straight down. Change your coordinate system for ths problem. The X-axis should be parallel to the ramp and the Y-axis should be perpendicular to the ramp. The force of gravity will be between the new X and Y axis. Split this force up into two components, one along the X and one along the Y. Do the trig to solve for the acceleration in the X direction. I think the answer is ax = 9.8*sin(24) but its been a year since I've been in Physics.

 

whats the skiiers mass?

 

F = m*a

If you only need the acceleration, the mass does not matter. Every body feels the same acceleration regardless of its mass.

 

Thanks for the help, btw....you got nice hand writing

 

Alot of people say that , but I don't think its true. No problem. Is the answer correct?

 

Lets keep on subject tiger.

 

U = K

mgy = 1/2mv^2

y = 1/2(37^2)/(9.8)

The angle of the slope doesnt matter with the conservation of energy formula.

 

There are often many ways to solve a problem. I didn't think of using the conservation of energy. You will need to do mgh1 = mgh2 + .5mv^2. You will have to solve for h2 than use trig to find the distance. Probably the easier/faster way to solve the problem, but thats the first solution I came up with.