September 21, 2009

PHY2048 Discussion-Fall 09

Quiz 3
Name:

UFID:

Three astronauts, propelled by jet backpacks, push and guide a 150 kg asteroid toward a processing
dock, exerting the forces as shown in the figure, with F1 = 60.0 N, F2 =
110 N, F3 = 85.0 N, 1 = 30.0 and 3 = 60.0.
(a) Express F1, F2 and F3 in unit-vector notation.
F1 makes 120(= 30+90) to the +x axis, thus we have
F1= F1cos120i+F1sin120j = -30.0i+52.0j (N)
F2 is along +y axis, so it only has y-component
F2 = F2j = 110j (N)
F3 makes 30 (= 90-60) to the +x axis, thus we have
F3 = F3cos30i+F3sin30j = 73.6i+42.5j (N)

(b) What is the acceleration of the asteroid in unit-vector notation?

The net force on the asteroid is
F = F1+F2+F3 =(F1x+F2x+F3x)i+(F1y+F2y+F3y)j = (-30+73.6)i+(52+110+42.5)j = 43.6i+
204.5j (N)
Applying the Newtons 2nd law, we have
ma = F a = F/m = (43.6i+204.5j)/150 = 0.291i+1.36j (m/s2)
(c) What are the magnitude and direction (relative to the +x axis) of the acceleration?
Using the Pythagorean theorem, the magnitude is
a = (ax2+ay2) = (0.2912+1.362) = 1.39 m/s2
The angle with respect to the +x axis is
tan-1(ay/ ax) = tan-1(1.36/0.291) = 77.9