a plane flying due east at 200 km/h encounters a 40-km/h wind blowing in the north-east direction. the resultant velocity of the plane is the vector sum v = $v_1$ + $v_2$, where $v_1$ is the velocity vector of the plane and $v_2$ is the velocity vector of the wind. the angle between $v_1$ and $v_2$ is pi/4. determine the resultant speed of the plane(the length of the vector v).
how do you approach this problem? Im not sure why the angle comes into play.
is the length of the vector just the magnitude?
tried that and then doing side angle side to solve for the length.so i did a2=2002+402-2(200)(40)(cos135). But then I ended up getting 201 for the answer but it should be 230. Where did I do wrong?
Best Answer
You have to use vectorial addition - the angle is the difference of direction. Hint: Draw a triangle with
By the way, the information about the angle (pi/4) can be retrieved from the directions (east and north east) already and is thus redundant. If you draw your triangle you will see that the angle does have a big influence on the length of the resulting velocity vector.