Alex and John are loading identical cabinets onto a truck. Alex lifts his cabinet straight up from the ground to the bed of the truck, whereas John slides his cabinet up a rough ramp to the truck. Which statement is correct about the work done on the cabinet Earth system? (a) Alex and John do the same amount of work. (b) Alex does more work than John. (c) John does more work than Alex. (d) None of those statements is necessarily true because the force of friction is unknown. (e) None of those statements is necessarily true because the angle of the incline is unknown.
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Textbook Solutions for Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics
Question
A 1 000-kg roller coaster car is initially at the top of a rise, at point A. It then moves 135 ft, at an angle of 40.08 below the horizontal, to a lower point B. (a) Choose the car at point B to be the zero configuration for gravitational potential energy of the roller coaster Earth system. Find the potential energy of the system when the car is at points A and B, and the change in potential energy as the car moves between these points. (b) Repeat part (a), setting the zero configuration with the car at point A.
Solution
The first step in solving 7 problem number 40 trying to solve the problem we have to refer to the textbook question: A 1 000-kg roller coaster car is initially at the top of a rise, at point A. It then moves 135 ft, at an angle of 40.08 below the horizontal, to a lower point B. (a) Choose the car at point B to be the zero configuration for gravitational potential energy of the roller coaster Earth system. Find the potential energy of the system when the car is at points A and B, and the change in potential energy as the car moves between these points. (b) Repeat part (a), setting the zero configuration with the car at point A.
From the textbook chapter Energy of a System you will find a few key concepts needed to solve this.
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