Question

The speed of an object and the direction in which it moves constitute a vector quantity known as the velocity. an ostrich is running at a speed of 14.0 m/s in a direction of 54.0 ° north of west. what is the magnitude of the ostrich's velocity component that is directed (a) due north and (b) due west?

Answer 1

Velocity of an object is its rate of change of the object's position per interval of time. Velocity is a vector quantity which means that it consists of a magnitude and a direction. Magnitude is represented by the speed and the direction is represented by the angle. To determine the velocity components, we use trigonometric functions to determine the angle of the components. For the north component we, use the sine function while, for the west component, we use the cosine function. We calculate as follows:
north velocity component = (16.8 m/s) (sin 54°) = 16.4 m/s
west velocity component = (16.8 m/s) (cos 54°) = 3.49 m/s