Question

A truck travels up a hill with a 5.7° incline. The truck has a constant speed of 22 m/s. What is the horizontal component of the truck’s velocity? Answer in units of m/s.

Answer 1

Answer:

The horizontal component of the velocity is 21.9 m/s.

Explanation:

Please see the attached figure for a better understanding of the problem.

Notice that the vector v and its x and y-components (vx and vy) form a right triangle. Then, we can use trigonometry to find the magnitude of vx, the horizontal component of the velocity.

To find vx, let´s use the following trigonometric rule of right triangles:

cos α = adjacent / hypotenuse

cos 5.7° = vx / 22 m/s

22 m/s · cos 5.7° = vx

vx = 21.9 m/s

The horizontal component of the velocity is 21.9 m/s.