Question

Need held understanding wording in a physics question, not sure what they are asking.

Answer 1

So there is a skier going down a slope at constant velocity. I know that there are four forces acting on the skier: weight, air drag, friction and the normal force from the ground. All the net forces acting on the skier must be zero since they are moving at constant velocity. In the problem only the angle and the coefficient of kinetic friction are given. The question is this: What fraction of the skier's gravitational force Mg is the air drag? I came up with this equation so far:

D = Mg( sin theta - u*cos theta),

where D is air drag, M is the skiers mass, g is gravity, u is the coefficient of kinetic friction and theta is the angle of the slope.

So would I just have to get D/Mg to answer the question or is it something else? Thanks.

Answer 2

That looks right. We want D/Mg

Answer 3

I will, thanks for the help.