An airplane is flying at 500 km/hr at an angle of 310 degrees. The wind is blowing at 45 km/hr at an angle of 225 degrees. What is the resultant speed and direction of the plane?
+128474 We can set this up as two vectors, the first for the plane and the second for the wind...so we have
u = < 500cos310, 500sin310 > v = < 45cos225, 45sin225 >
Adding the x components, we have 500cos310 + 45cos225 = 289.57
Adding the y components, we have 500sin310 + 45sin225 = -414.84
The resultant is given by √(289.572 + (-414.84)2 ) = about 505.9 km'hr
The direction is given by tan-1(-414.84/289.57) = about (- 55.08) degrees = about 304.91 degrees
This makes sense......the wind is helping to increase the speed of the plane but it is also blowing it toward a more "southerly" direction.....
+128474 We can set this up as two vectors, the first for the plane and the second for the wind...so we have
u = < 500cos310, 500sin310 > v = < 45cos225, 45sin225 >
Adding the x components, we have 500cos310 + 45cos225 = 289.57
Adding the y components, we have 500sin310 + 45sin225 = -414.84
The resultant is given by √(289.572 + (-414.84)2 ) = about 505.9 km'hr
The direction is given by tan-1(-414.84/289.57) = about (- 55.08) degrees = about 304.91 degrees
This makes sense......the wind is helping to increase the speed of the plane but it is also blowing it toward a more "southerly" direction.....
