Abaseball player rounds third base and is heading for home when he is signalled by the base coach to slide. the player has a speed of 3.5 m/s when he begins to slide and he travels through a linear distance of 1.50 m before coming to rest. determine the coefficient of kinetic friction between him and the ground.

0.42

Explanation:

The force of friction exerted on the player is:

(1)

where

is the coefficient of kinetic friction

m is the mass of the player

g is the acceleration due to gravity

According to Newton's second law,

(2)

where a is the player's acceleration. Substituting (1) into (2),

(3)

So in order to find , we need to find the acceleration. We know the following:

u = 3.5 m/s is the initial speed of the player

v = 0 is the final speed

d = 1.50 m is the distance travelled

So we can use the following equation

and solving for a

Substituting this into (3), we find the coefficient of kinetic friction: