We are given the following information
A skier is at rest on a hill sloped at 40°
The coefficient of kinetic friction between the snow and the skis is 0.12
How fast is the skier going after six seconds?
Let us first draw a free body diagram to better understand the problem
The sum of forces in the vertical direction is given by
The sum of forces in the horizontal direction is given by
The force due to friction is equal to
Where μk is the coefficient of kinetic friction between the snow and the ski.
Substituting F = mg
Mass cancels out
Finally, since we have acceleration, we can find the velocity using the following equation of motion
Where vf is the final velocity that we need to find out, vi is the initial velocity that is 0 since the skier was at rest initially and t is the time.
Therefore, the skier is going at 32.4 m/s