According to ABC's Wide World of Sports show, there is the "Thrill of victory and the agony of defeat". On March 21 of 1970, Vinko Bogataj was the Yugoslavian entrant into the World Championships held in former West Germany. By his third and final jump of the day, heavy and persistent snow produced dangerous conditions along the slope. Midway through the run, Bogataj recognized the danger and attempted to make adjustments in order to terminate his jump. Instead, he lost his balanced and tumbled and flipped off the slope into the dense crowd. For nearly 30 years thereafter, footage of the event was included in the introduction of ABC's infamous sports show and Vinco has become known as "The agony of defeat" icon.After descending the 55 meters, Vinko tumbled off the track and descended another 11 meters down the ski hill before finally stopping.
Determine the change in potential energy of Vinko from the top of the hill to the point at which he stops. (+ would be a gain and - would be a loss)

where: ΔPE = change in potential energy m = mass of Vinko (we'll assume a typical adult male mass of around 70 kg) g = acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.8 m/s²) Δh = change in height

From the problem, we know that Vinko descended 55 meters down the slope and then another 11 meters down the ski hill. So, the total change in height is:

Δh = -55 m - 11 m = -66 m

The negative sign indicates a decrease in height, which means a loss of potential energy.

Now, let's plug in the values:

ΔPE = 70 kg × 9.8 m/s² × -66 m = -45,516 J

The change in potential energy is approximately -45,516 Joules, which represents a loss of potential energy as Vinko descends the hill.