Suppose a 300–g kookaburra (a large kingfisher bird) picks up a 84.0–g snake and raises it 2.30 m from the ground to a branch. How much work did the bird do on the snake?
I know that W=deltaPE, and PE=mgh. I keep getting 1046.64. Please help!
Maybe buy a new calculator. mgh is quite correct but I get 1893
Sorry m was in grams, make that 1.893
To calculate the work done by the bird on the snake, we need to use the formula W = ΔPE, where W represents work and ΔPE represents the change in potential energy.
First, we need to calculate the initial potential energy (PEi) of the snake when it was on the ground before the bird picked it up. Using the formula PE = mgh, where m is the mass, g is the acceleration due to gravity, and h is the height, we have:
PEi = (mass of snake) * g * h
= 84.0 g * 9.8 m/s^2 * 0 m [The snake is on the ground, so the initial height is 0]
= 0 J
Next, we calculate the final potential energy (PEf) of the snake when it is raised by the bird to a height of 2.30 m. Using the same formula as above:
PEf = (mass of snake) * g * h
= 84.0 g * 9.8 m/s^2 * 2.30 m
≈ 1861 J
Now, we can calculate the work done by the bird on the snake by taking the difference between the final and initial potential energies:
ΔPE = PEf - PEi
= 1861 J - 0 J
= 1861 J
Therefore, the work done by the bird on the snake is 1861 Joules.
It seems like you are getting a different result. Make sure you are using the correct values for the mass of the snake and the height, and be careful with unit conversions.