Question

a hydrogen balloon is flying eastward with speed 22m/s . when wind starts blowing from north to south with velocity of 5 m/s
, the resultant velocity of balloon?

Answer 1

This question is testing the concept of resultant force of perpendicular forces.

The wind is moving perpendicular to the velocity of the balloon.

This motion forms a right angled triangle with the horizontal (base) velocity as 22m/s and the vertical velocity (height) as 5m/s.

The resultant velocity is the hypotenuse which is given by Pythagoras theorem.

Resultant velocity is thus :

22² + 5² = 509

√509 = 22.56m/s

To get the direction of the motion, we get the angle the hypotenuse makes with the base :

Tan © = 5/22 = 0.2273

Tan ⁻¹© = 14⁰

The balloon moves 14° South Eastward.