Problem 81.

An object travels a distance of 5 km towards east, then 4 km towards north

and finally 10 kmtowards east
1) what is total traveled distance?
2) what is resultant displacement?

Solution:

We show each displacement (travelled paths) in the figure.

(1) The total traveled distance is the sum of all traveled distances. It does
not matter what the relative directions of displacements are, we just need to
add the magnitude of displacements:

(2) The second part of the problem is easier to solve in terms of components
of vectors.
The net (resultant) displacement is the vector sum of three displacements:
the first displacement ( ), the second displacement ( ), and the third
displacement ( ):

Then we can find the x and y components of the displacement vectors and
finally the net displacement:

Then the magnitude of the net displacement is

Problem 82.

Can two displacements (vectors) of different magnitudes be combined to

give a zero displacement (resultant)?

Solution:

The sum of two vectors (displacements) is zero only if

1. vectors have opposite directions;
2. vectors have the same magnitude.

Indeed, the sum of two vectors is shown in the figure below for a fixed
orientation of the first vector and different orientations of the second vector. In
the picture we assume that the magnitude of the second vector is less than
the magnitude of the first vector.

We can see that the sum of two vectors has the smallest magnitude when
the vectors have opposite directions. In this case the sum is zero only if the
vectors have the same magnitude.
Problem 83.

What is the speed (m/sec) needed for a stunt driver to launch from a 20
degree ramp to land15 m away?
What is his maximum height?

Solution:

Initial speed.
This is the projectile motion. There are two sets of equations, which describe
the motion of the projectile (stunt driver):

Set 1: motion along horizontal axis (axis x see figure). This is the motion
with constant velocity. There is only one equation, which describe this motion:
..............................(1)
Here

and

Set 2: motion along vertical axis (axisy see figure). This is the motion with
constant acceleration free fall motion. There are three equations, which
describe this motion. Only two equations are independent, but it is convenient
to write all three equations:

................(2)

...........................(3)

...........................(4)

We know that the y-coordinate of the final point (point B) is 0 and the xcoordinate of the final point is 15 m. We substitute these values in equations
(1) and (2) and obtain

Then from the first equation we can find

Substitute this expression into the second equation:

From this equation we can easily find the initial velocity:

Maximum height.
The condition that the projectile is at the point with the maximum height is
that the y-component of its velocity at this point is zero. It is easier to find the
maximum height from equation (4). Indeed, we substitute
equation and obtain:

in this

Then

We know

Problem 84.

, then we can find the maximum height:

A body moves 4 km towards East from a fixed point A and reaches point B.
Then it covers 5 km towards North and arrives at point C. Find the distance
and directions of the net displacement.

Solution:

We show two displacements (travelled paths) in the figure.

The net (resultant) displacement is the vector sum of two displacements: the
first displacement ( ) and the second displacement ( ):

The easiest way to find the net displacement is to introduce coordinate

system (axes x and y) and then find the x and y components of the net vectordisplacement. The x and y components of the displacement ( ) and
displacement ( ) are the following:

Then the x and y components of the net displacement is

Then the magnitude of the net displacement is

The direction of the net displacement is characterized by angle (shown in

the figure), which can be found from the known x and y components of the net
displacement:

Problem 85.

A baseball player hits a homerun, and the ball lands in the left field seats,
which is 120 maway from the point at which the ball was hit. The ball lands
with a velocity of 20 m/s at an angle of 30 degrees below horizontal. Ignoring
air resistance

(A) find the initial velocity and the angle above horizontal with which the ball
leaves the bat;
(B) find the height of the ball relatively to the ground.

Solution:

(A) Initial velocity.

Without air resistance this is simple projectile motion. In the present problem
we do not know initial velocity: we do not know the magnitude of the velocity
(speed) and we do not know its direction.
There are two sets of equations, which describe the motion of the projectile
(ball).
Set 1: motion along horizontal axis (axis x see figure). This is the motion
with constant velocity. There is only one equation, which describe this motion:
................................................(1)
Here

Since the motion along the axis x is the motion with constant velocity then
the x-component of the velocity is constant. We know the velocity at the final
point. Then we can find the x-component of the velocity at the final point:

This x-component of the velocity is equal to the x-component of the initial

velocity:
...........(2)

We also know the x-coordinate of the final point (point B): it is 120 m. We
substitute this value in equation (1) and obtain

From this equation we can find the time of travel from point A to point B:

Now we need to analyze the second set of equations.

Set 2: motion along vertical axis (axis y see figure). This is the motion with
constant acceleration free fall motion. There are three equations, which
describe this motion. Only two equations are independent, but it is convenient
to write all three equations:

.............(3)
................................................(4)

Since the initial y-coordinate is zero, then

.............................................(5)

We know the y component of the final velocity

This is the y-component of the velocity at the moment of time

We substitute these values in equation (4) and obtain

From this equation we can find the y-component of the initial velocity:

Finally we know the x- and y-components of the initial velocity:

From these expressions we can find the magnitude of the initial velocity and
the direction (angle) of the initial velocity:

Now we know the initial velocity.

(B) Final height.

We need to find the final height of the ball (the final y-coordinate). To find the
final height we can use equation (3). We just need to substitute the ycomponent of the initial velocity and the traveled time in this equation:

Problem 86.

A body covers 1/4 journey with a speed of 40 km/h, 1/2 of it with 50

km/h and remaining with the speed of 60 km/h. Calculate average speed for
entire journey.

Solution:

In this problem we need to use the definition of the average speed. The
average speed is equal to the ratio of the total travelled distance and the total
traveled time:

We introduce the total traveled distance as

traveled time.

and then calculate the total

We know that 1/4 of the journey a body moves with a speed of 40 km/h. It
means that the body moves a distance of
km/h. Then we can find the time of this motion:

with the speed of 40

Then the body moves 1/2 of the journey with a speed of 50 km/h. It means
that the body moves a distance of
can find the time of this motion:

with the speed of 50 km/h. We

Then the body moves the rest of the journey (which is 1/4 of the journey)
with a speed of 60 km/h. It means that the body moves a distance
of

with the speed of 60 km/h. We can find the time of this motion:

Then the total traveled time is

Then the average speed is