What is causing motion?
A 30 kg child slides down a playground slide that makes an angle of 45 degrees with the horizontal. She starts 2 m vertically above the bottom of the slide and ends up with a velocity of 3 m/s at the bottom. What is the work done by friction?
I think I have figured this out, but I was wondering something. Since gravity points downwards and friction is against motion, what is pushing the kid forward? Is it just because gravity can't pull the child straight down because of the slide?
Answer
Remember that the force of friction is always going against the motion of the object. In this case, gravity is making the child go downward, therefore you should consider that the force of friction up the slide. This means, it would be pulling the child back unfortunately.
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Remember that the force of friction is always going against the motion of the object. In this case, gravity is making the child go downward, therefore you should consider that the force of friction up the slide. This means, it would be pulling the child back unfortunately.