Question

A 55 kg softball player slides into second base, generating 950 Jof thermal energy in her legs and the ground. How fast was sherunning?

Answer 1

We know that energy is conserved, this means that the energy has transform to one form to another. In this case, this means that all the kinetic energy of the player is converted into thermal energy which in turns means that the kineitc energy of the player when he started sliding is 950 J.

The kinetic energy is given by:

`K=(1)/(2)mv^2`

We know the mass of the player, 55 kg, and the kinetic energy from our discussion above. Plugging these values and solving for the velocity we have:

`\begin{gathered} (1)/(2)(55)v^2=950 \\ v^2=((2)(950))/(55) \\ v=\sqrt{((2)(950))/(55)} \\ v=5.88 \end{gathered}`

Therefore, the velocity of the player was 5.88 m/s