A girl walks 4 km towards west, then she walks 3 km in a direction 30° east of north and stops. Determine the girl’s displacement from her initial point of departure.
The girl's displacement from her initial point is km (approximately 3.6 km) in a direction tan⁻¹(3/5) 46° north of west.
Explanation
This problem applies the triangle law of vector addition from the chapter. The girl's total displacement is the vector sum of her two individual displacements. By resolving each displacement into its components along the coordinate axes (East-West and North-South), we can add them algebraically to find the resultant vector.
Solution Steps
Step 1: Set up coordinate system and define vectors. Let the initial point be the origin. Let East be the positive x-axis and North be the positive y-axis. The first displacement vector is 4 km towards West: d⃗₁ = -4î km.
Step 2: Resolve the second displacement. The second displacement is 3 km, 30° east of north. This means the angle with the positive y-axis is 30° towards the positive x-axis. The angle with the positive x-axis is 90° - 30° = 60°. The components are: x-component = 3 cos 60° = 3 × ½ = 1.5 km; y-component = 3 sin 60° = 3 × (/2) = 3/2 km. So, d⃗₂ = 1.5î + (3/2)ĵ km.
Step 3: Find the resultant displacement vector. Using the triangle law of vector addition: D⃗ = d⃗₁ + d⃗₂ = (-4î) + (1.5î + 3/2 ĵ) = (-4 + 1.5)î + (3/2)ĵ = -2.5î + (3/2)ĵ km.
Step 4: Calculate the magnitude of displacement. |D⃗| = √[(-2.5)² + (3/2)²] = √[6.25 + 27/4] = √[6.25 + 6.75] = km 3.6 km.
Step 5: Determine the direction. The resultant vector has a negative x-component (west) and positive y-component (north). The angle θ with the West direction is given by: tan θ = |y-component| / |x-component| = (3/2) / 2.5 = 3/5. Therefore, θ = tan⁻¹(3/5) 46°. The displacement is km at an angle of tan⁻¹(3/5) north of west.