Question

A tow truck drags a stalled car along a road. The chain makes an angle of 30° with the road and the tension in the chain is 1000 N. How much work is done by the truck in pulling the car 1 km? (Round your answer to the nearest ten thousand.) joules

Answer 1

To develop this problem it is necessary to apply the work theorem. This tells us that the energy on a body is equivalent to the product between the Force applied on it and the distance traveled. The vector product of these measures can be expressed as

$W = \vec{F}\times \vec{x}$

And its magnitude is equivalent to

$W = Fx cos\theta$

Where $\theta$ is the angle formed between the applied force and the line of displacement of the body.

Our values are given as,

$\theta = 30\°$

$F= 1500N$

$x = 1000m$

Applying this value and replacing we have,

$W = Fxcos\theta$

$W = (1500)(1000)cos(30)$

$W = 1.299*10^6J$

Therefore the work done by the truck is 1.299 Mega Jules