PARTS C AND D ARE WHAT I'M HAVING TROUBLE WITH.

a tobaggan of mass 20kg is dragged horizontally across snow by someone who exerts a force of 45N. the tobaggan travels 8m under the action of the force and has a final speed of 2.6 m/s.
a)calculate the actual kinetic energy of the tobaggan based on its speed

Ek=1/2mv^2
=1/2(20)(2.6)
=67.6J

b)Calculate the amount of work actually done on the tobaggan by the applied force

W=F X d
=450X8
=3600J

c)From your answers to parts a and b, calculate the amount of thermal energy generated.

Ethermal=Ekinetic + Epotential
I know that kinetic =67.6J from part a, but what would potential be?

d)Explain how this thermal energy was generated and state one effect it might have. ????? no idea of this one.

1 answer

c. The equation is nuts. It should read:
work done=changeinKE+changeinPE+changeinThermal

you have the change in KE, the change in PE is zero, you know work done, so you calculate the changeinThermal.

As a side note, b is wrong, F=45, not 450N