Additional Problem 2. (gdoh93@gmail.

com)

Q. There is a ball moving at initial velocity 0 on a frictionless straight horizontal track. The
drag force by air is where is a constant coefficient and is the velocity of the ball.

(a) What is the work done by the air drag force until the ball stops?

(b) What is the distance the ball moved until the ball stops?

(c) Assume that the track is now tilted by so that the ball is initially moving down-hill.
Assuming that the gravitational acceleration is given by , qualitatively describe the
motion of the ball

Figure 1. Diagram of the problem

Answer.

(a) The ball lost all energy by the air drag, so the answer is

(b) Equation of motion: = = =

Therefore, = = =

(c) Force balance: = 0 = sin

sin
Therefore, the terminal speed of the ball will be =

i. > : Velocity will be decreased until get to the terminal velocity.

ii. < : Velocity will be increased until get to the terminal velocity.

iii. = : Keep the initial velocity