Question

a coast guard ship is traveling at a constant velocity of 4.20m/s, due east, relative to the water. on his radar screen the navigator detects an object that is moving at a constant velocity. the object is located at a distance of 2310m with respect to the ship, in a direction 32.0 degree south of east. six minutes later, he notes that the object's position relative to the ship has changed to 1120m, 57.0 degree south of west. what are the magnitude and direction of the velocity of the object relative to the water? express the direction as an angle with respect to due west.

Answer 1

You should start by drawing triangles to model the problem.

Tell us how you would go about solving the problem, and then we can critique your thinking.

Answer 2

Remember, Your ship is moving, so the positions of the target object are relative to the ship moving.

First find the velocity relative to the ship.

velocity= change position/time
do it in x then y components.

Then, to get velocity of object relative to water, add the x,y component of the velocity of the ship in x,y.