You are watching one of the Red Bull extreme sport competitions on tv, where a s

Question

You are watching one of the Red Bull extreme sport competitions on tv, where a stunt person planes to ride their motorcycle up a 2.0 m high, 20° ramp, sail across a 10 m wide pool filled with hungry crocodiles, and land at ground level on the other side. During the pre-stunt interview, the stunt person brags about all of the practice runs where things went super well. Unfortunately during the televised stunt, the motorcycle engine dies just as they start up the ramp. The motorcycle is going 10.4 m/s at that instant, and the rolling friction of the rubber tires (coefficient 0.02) is not negligible.

Does the stunt person survive, or are they crocodile food?

Justify your answer by calculating the distance they travel through the air after leaving the end of the ramp.

Explanation / Answer

perpendicular to the ramp ,

N - mgcos@ = 0

N = mgcos20

friction force = uk N = 0.02 x mgcos20

along the incline,

- f -mgsin20 = ma

a = (0.02gcos20 + gsin20) = - 3.54 m/s^2

length of ramp = 2/sin20 = 5.85 m

using vf^2 - vi^2 =2 a d

vf^2 - 10.4^2 = 2(-3.54) (5.85)

vf = 8.17 m/s

This will be initial projectile launch velocity at an angle of 20 deg with horizontal,

In vertical:

initial velocity: uy = 8.17sin20 = 2.79 m/s

a = -9.81m/s^2

y = -2 m

using y =ut + at^2 / 2 in vertical

-2 = 2.79t - 4.905t^2

4.90t^2 - 2.79t - 2 = 0

t = 0.983 s

horizontal distance traveled:

X = (8.17 cos20) 0.983 = 6.86 m

it is less than 10m. (width of pool_)
Stunt person will not make it.

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