In: Physics
A runner jogs for 150 m due west (displacement A) and then turns to a direction 30.0 degrees east of south and jogs for another 100 m (displacement B). Showing all work and units, and putting boxes around your answers, calculate
(a) the total distance between her initial and final positions. (Answer: 132 m)
(b) the direction of her net displacement C as an angle θC south of west. (Answer: 41°)
I am not really sure how to start this. Could someone please help with a STEP BY STEP explanation? I know you need to find the x and y components of A and B and then square both of those and take the square root to find C, but how would I go about doing that?
Given:
A runner jogs for 150 m due west (displacement A) and then turns to a direction 30.0 degrees east of south and jogs for another 100 m (displacement B). Showing all work and units, and putting boxes around your answers, calculate
(a) the total distance between her initial and final positions. (Answer: 132 m)
(b) the direction of her net displacement C as an angle θC south of west. (Answer: 41°)
I am not really sure how to start this. Could someone please help with a STEP BY STEP explanation? I know you need to find the x and y components of A and B and then square both of those and take the square root to find C, but how would I go about doing that?
It is standard to use the positive x direction for east with
unit vector
, and the positive y direction for north with unit vector
. We can then write for the first displacement vector
---
. The magnitude of
is
and its angle is
east
of south --- in normal math angles measured from the positive x
axis that is
measured
clockwise --- that is
because angles are measured positive for counter
clockwise from the positive x axis . We can then
write
in component form :
.
(a) The total displacement vector
is just the vector sum of
and
:
.
The distance from the initial to final position is just the
magnitude of
:
(b)
The standard math angle of
with respect to the positive x axis is then :
---
that is about
clockwise from the positive x axis . We can call the angle from the
west direction ( or negative x direction )
south of west .