Fundamentals of Physics Extended (10th Edition)

Published by Wiley
ISBN 10: 1-11823-072-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-11823-072-5

Chapter 3 - Vectors - Problems - Page 57: 12a

Answer

$\text{We label the displacement vectors $\vec{A}, \vec{B},$ and $\vec{C}$ (and denote the result of their }$ $\text{ vector sum as ). We choose east as the $\hat{i}$ direction (+x direction) and north as}$ $\text{the $\hat{j}$ direction}$ $(+y \text { direction }).$ $\text{We note that the angle between $\vec{C}$ and the $x$ axis is $60^{\circ} .$ Thus, }$ $\text{see the image below:} \downarrow$ $\text{The total displacement of the car from its initial position is represented by}$ $$ \vec{r}=\vec{A}+\vec{B}+\vec{C}=(62.5 \mathrm{km}) \hat{\mathrm{i}}+(51.7 \mathrm{km}) \hat{\mathrm{j}} $$ $\text{which means that its magnitude is}$ $$ |\vec{r}|=\sqrt{(62.5 \mathrm{km})^{2}+(51.7 \mathrm{km})^{2}}=81 \mathrm{km} . $$

Work Step by Step

$\text{We label the displacement vectors $\vec{A}, \vec{B},$ and $\vec{C}$ (and denote the result of their }$ $\text{ vector sum as ). We choose east as the $\hat{i}$ direction (+x direction) and north as}$ $\text{the $\hat{j}$ direction}$ $(+y \text { direction }).$ $\text{We note that the angle between $\vec{C}$ and the $x$ axis is $60^{\circ} .$ Thus, }$ $\text{see the image below:} \downarrow$ $\text{The total displacement of the car from its initial position is represented by}$ $$ \vec{r}=\vec{A}+\vec{B}+\vec{C}=(62.5 \mathrm{km}) \hat{\mathrm{i}}+(51.7 \mathrm{km}) \hat{\mathrm{j}} $$ $\text{which means that its magnitude is}$ $$ |\vec{r}|=\sqrt{(62.5 \mathrm{km})^{2}+(51.7 \mathrm{km})^{2}}=81 \mathrm{km} . $$
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