Question

From her maximum angle of 30.0 degrees, the child swings back to the bottom of the arc. while swinging back, a gust of wind hits the child causing her to return to the bottom with a speed of 3.89 m/s m / s . if the child has a mass of 30.0 kg k g , how much work was done by the wind during this motion?

Answer 1

The work done by the wind on the child while swinging can be found by calculating the change in kinetic energy, which in this case, is solely attributed to the wind's work as the child starts swinging from rest.

Step-by-step explanation:

The work done by the wind on the swinging child can be calculated using the Work-Energy Principle which states that the work done by all the forces acting on an object is equal to the change in kinetic energy of the object. The child starts from the maximum angle with initially zero kinetic energy and gains speed due to the work done by both gravity and the wind.

The kinetic energy (KE) at the bottom is given by:

KE = 0.5 * m * v^2

Where m is mass and v is velocity. Substituting the provided mass (30.0 kg) and speed (3.89 m/s), we find:

KE = 0.5 * 30.0 kg * (3.89 m/s)^2

The work done by the wind is equal to this kinetic energy because the initial kinetic energy was zero (at the height of the swing).