How can I find the tangential and normal components of the acceleration vector at t=2 for: r(t)= ti + (t^2-1)/2j + (t^2+1)/2k
I found the velocity vector at t=2 to be <1,2,2>
and acceleration vector to be <1,0,1>
What goes next for the tangential and normal components of acceleration vector?
Best Answer
The tangential component of $\vec a$ is given by $$ a_{tan} = \frac{\vec a \cdot \vec v}{\|\vec v\|} $$ The normal component is given by $$ a_{norm} = \left\|\vec a - \frac{a_{tan}}{\|\vec v\|}\vec v \right\| $$