Question

In the sport of skeleton a participant jumps onto a sled (known as a skeleton) and proceeds to slide down an icy track, belly down and head first. In the 2010 Winter Olympics, the track had sixteen turns and dropped 126 m in elevation from top to bottom. (a) In the absence of nonconservative forces, such as friction and air resistance, what would be the speed of a rider at the bottom of the track? Assume that the speed at the beginning of the run is relatively small and can be ignored. (b) In reality, the gold-medal winner (Canadian Jon Montgomery) reached the bottom in one heat with a speed of 40.5 m/s (about 91 mi/h). How much work was done on him and his sled (assuming a total mass of 118 kg) by nonconservative forces during this heat?

(a) vf = (b) Wnc =

Answer 1