Question

A jet moving at 500 km/h due east moves into a region where the wind is blowing at 120 km/h in a direction 30 degrees north of eat. What is the new velocity and the direction of the aircraft relative to the ground?

I am completely lost on this question...

Answer 1

You have two velocity vectors that you want to add. For this case, you might want to think of the x axis as the east/west line and the y axis as the north/south line. The jet is moving at 500 km/h due east. There is no y component, just the x component which is 500km/h. The wind is said to be blowing at 120 km/h IN a direction of 30 degrees north of east. In this scenario, that would be 30 degrees off the x axis. What is the x and y component of the wind? Calculate that and then add the x components. Recall that there was no y component to the jet. After you get the x and y components of the resultant vector, calculate the magnitude and direction. (x^2 + y^2 = r^2 and tan (theta) = y/x ) of the resultant vector of the jet relative to the ground.

Answer 2

606.9