Mathematical Homework Assignment for Lecture 08
For these questions, you will refer to Section 7.6 (Conservation of Energy) in the OpenStax College Physics textbook. For all your answers, please write down your calculations and explain your reasoning. Draw sketches whenever helpful, and please use your units correctly. If you are using any online resources (such as unit conversion tools) other than the OpenStax textbook, give their URL and webpage title in your answers.
[a] A person has a weight at Earth’s surface of Z pounds. What is their mass in kilograms?
[b] If that person jumps six inches into the air, they will add 1.5 joules of potential energy to their body for each kilogram of mass they are. How much potential energy will they add in total if they jump at the bottom of a staircase and land on a higher step 12 inches up?
[c] How much sugar (which is a carbohydrate) would that person’s body need to metabolize to produce that much energy? You can estimate that stair-jumping is about as efficient as climbing.
[d] A typical fun-size (not full-size) candy bar has, in addition to other ingredients, 10 grams of sugar. How many 12-inch stair-jumps would this person need to do to use up the food energy stored in the sugar of such a candy bar? Does that seem like a reasonable number of stair-jumps to do in a typical exercise session?
Mathematical Homework Assignment for Lecture 08
For these questions, you will refer to Section 7.6 (Conservation of Energy) in the OpenStax College Physics textbook. For all your answers, write down your calculations and explain your reasoning. Draw sketches whenever helpful, and please use your units correctly. If you are using any online resources (such as unit conversion tools) other than the OpenStax textbook, give their URL and webpage title in your answers.
[a] A person has a weight at Earth’s surface of Z pounds. What is their mass in kilograms?
[b] If that person jumps six inches into the air, they will add 1.5 joules of potential energy to their body for each kilogram of mass they are. How much potential energy will they add in total if they jump at the bottom of a staircase and land on a higher step 12 inches up?
[c] How much sugar (which is a carbohydrate) would that person’s body need to metabolize to produce that much energy? You can estimate that stair-jumping is about as efficient as climbing.
[d] A typical fun-size (not full-size) candy bar has, in addition to other ingredients, 10 grams of sugar. How many 12-inch stair-jumps would this person need to do to use up the food energy stored in the sugar of such a candy bar? Does that seem like a reasonable number of stair-jumps to do in a typical
