2 This question is about 'kart gravity racing' in which, after an initial push, unpowered home-made karts race down a sloping track.
The moving karts have only the following resistive forces and these both act in the direction opposite to the motion.
- A force \(R\), called rolling friction, with magnitude \(0.01 M g \cos \theta \mathrm {~N}\) where \(M \mathrm {~kg}\) is the mass of the kart and driver and \(\theta\) is the angle of the track with the horizontal
- A force \(F\) of varying magnitude, due to air resistance
A kart with its driver has a mass of 80 kg .
One stretch of track slopes uniformly downwards at \(4 ^ { \circ }\) to the horizontal. The kart travels 12 m down this stretch of track. The total work done by the kart against both rolling friction and air resistance is 455 J .
- Calculate the work done against air resistance.
- During this motion, the kart's speed increases from \(2 \mathrm {~ms} ^ { - 1 }\) to \(v \mathrm {~ms} ^ { - 1 }\). Use an energy method to calculate \(v\).
To reach the starting line, the kart (with the driver seated) is pushed up a slope against rolling friction and air resistance.
At one point the slope is at \(5 ^ { \circ }\) to the horizontal, the air resistance is 15 N , the acceleration of the kart is \(1.5 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 2 }\) up the slope and the power of the pushing force is 405 W .
- Calculate the speed of the kart at this point.