Question

Atlas and Hercules, two carnival sideshow strong men, each lift 200.-kgbarbells 2.00 m off the ground. Atlas lifts his barbells in 1.00 s and Herculeslifts his in 3.00 s. a) Which strong man does more work? b) Calculate whichman is more powerful.

Answer 1

Given

Weight of the barbells, m=200 kg

The height it is lifted, h=2.00 m

Atlas lifts the barbell in time t=1.00 s

Hercules lifts the barbell in time t'=3.00 s

To find

a. Which man does more work

b. Which man is more powerful

Explanation

a. The work done is the potential energy of the barbell

Since both lift the barbell to same height so both does the same amount of work.

Thus the work done

$\begin{gathered} W=mgh \\ \Rightarrow W=200\times9.8\times2 \\ \Rightarrow W=3920J \end{gathered}$

b. Now power is work done per unit time.

Power of Atlas

$P_a=\frac{W}{t}=3920\text{ W}$

Power of Hercules,

$P_h=\frac{W}{t^{\prime}}=\frac{3920}{3}=1306.66\text{ W}$

Thus Atlas has more power than Hercules

Conclusion

a. Both the man does same amount of work.

b. Atlas has more power than Hercules.