Exercise 6: Suppose you drop a 2 kg book to a friend who stands on the ground at distance D = 10 m below. If your friend's outstretched hands are at distance d = 1.5 m above the ground, (a) how much work Wg does the gravitational force do on the book as it drops to her hands? (b) What is the change AU in the gravitational potential energy of the book-Earth system during the drop? If the gravitational potential energy U of that system is taken to be zero at ground level, what is U (c) when the book is released and (d) when it reaches his hands?

Question

Exercise 6: Suppose you drop a 2 kg book to a friend who stands on the ground at distance D = 10 m below.  If your friend's outstretched hands are at distance d = 1.5 m above the ground, (a) how much work Wg does the gravitational force do on the book as it drops to her hands?  (b) What is the change AU in the gravitational potential energy of the book-Earth system during the drop?  If the gravitational potential energy U of that system is taken to be zero at ground level, what is U (c) when the book is released and (d) when it reaches his hands?