PROBLEM 1a. A skier of mass 65 kilograms is at the top of a slope with initial velocity 5 meters/sec. The slope has a vertical descent of 150 meters and is near frictionless. Find the skier's velocity at the bottom of the slope.
The skier is in a conservative system, as the only force acting upon him is gravity. Instead of calculating the work done over the curved hills, we can construct an alternate path, because of the principle of path independence:
