Question

What does increasing the friction of the surface do to the skater’s speed?

Answer 1

The energy related to the velocity of an object is the kinetic energy and is given by:

`K=(1)/(2)mv^2`

Due to the conservation of energy, the energy lost due to friction and the kinetic energy plus the potential gravitational energy are constant. Therefore, in the presence of friction the kinetic energy would decrease and therefore the velocity of the skater will decrease also.