Angle of line of sight for a vertically lauched rocket

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a vertically launched rocket and an observer's line of sight. The height of the rocket is described by a quadratic function, and the observer is trying to determine how to adjust the angle of elevation to keep the rocket in view.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Mathematical reasoning, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to relate the rate of change of the rocket's height to the angle of elevation. They express uncertainty about how to connect these two quantities and seek clarification on the relationship.

Discussion Status

Participants have provided hints regarding the use of trigonometric functions to relate the height of the rocket to the angle of elevation. There is an acknowledgment of the need to differentiate the angle function to find the rate of change, but no consensus on the final approach has been reached.

Contextual Notes

There is a specific focus on the time of 2 seconds after launch, and the observer's angle is noted to be in radians rather than degrees. The original poster expresses some uncertainty about their calculations and the relationships involved.

ziddy83
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Hey...whats up,
ok... here's the problem.

A rocket is launched vertically from a point on the ground that is 100 horizontal meters from an observer with binoculars. The rocket is rising vertically and its height above the ground (in meters) is given by : [tex]y(t)=60t-5t^2[/tex]
Two seconds after launch, how fast must the observer change the angle of elevation of her line of sight to keep the rocket in the binoculars?

I drew out the figure and...i know that i need to somehow compare the rate of change of the height of the rocket and the angle of her line of sight. So the rate of change of the height is y ' , which i got [tex]y' = t - 10t[/tex]

now how can i relate the two? I can plug in 2 seconds in y' to get the rate at which the height is changing, but what about the angle? as always, any help would be awesome.
 
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Hints:
[tex]\tan{angle} = y(t)/100[/tex]
And you want to know d(angle)/dt at t=2
 
Last edited:
ok, correct me if I am wrong (which i think i am)...so to relate the two, the height and the angle, i can use the following function, [tex]arctan (\frac {60t-5t^2} {100})[/tex]
and then differentiate that to find the rate of change of the angle, right? :rolleyes:
 
yeap, you got it, but remember the angle is in radian instead of degree
 
great...thanks a lot you guys
 

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