An airplane of mass 1.5x10^4kg is moving at 60m/s. The pilot then revs up the engine so that the forward thrust of the propeller becomes 7.5x10^4 N, find the speed of airplane after it has traveled 500m. Assume that the airplane is in level flight through this motion.

Answer 1

COMPONENTS OF VECTORS

Vectors are not given all the time in the four directions. For doing calculation more simple sometimes we need to show vectors as in the X, -X and Y, -Y components.

components of vector





For example, look at the vector given below, it is in northeast direction. In the figure, we see the X and Y component of this vector. In other words, addition of Ax and Ay gives us A vector. We benefit from trigonometry at this point. I will give two simple equations which you can use and find the components of any given vector.

components of vector



All vectors can be divided into their components. Now we solve an example and see how we use this technique.

Example Find the resultant vector of A and B given in the graph below. (sin30º=1/2, sin60º=√3/2, sin53º=4/5, cos53º=3/5)

vector example

We use trigonometric equations first and find the components of the vectors then, make addition and subtraction between the vectors sharing same direction.

vector example solution